Rob Cross

For the American college basketball coach, see Rob Cross (basketball).

Robert Cross (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked world number five; he reached a peak ranking of world number two in 2018 and 2019. Nicknamed "Voltage", Cross is a former PDC World Champion, defeating Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Championship final after turning professional less than a year beforehand. He has won three other PDC major titles: the 2019 World Matchplay and the European Championship in 2019 and 2021. He has also won five World Series of Darts titles. Cross has won a total of twenty-one PDC titles in his professional career; sixteen ranking and five non-ranking.

Rob Cross
Cross in 2025
Personal information
Full name	Robert Cross
Nickname	"Voltage"
Born	(1990-09-21) 21 September 1990 (age 34) Pembury, Kent, England
Home town	Hastings, East Sussex, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	2001
Darts	21.5g Target Signature Gen 1
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"I Don't Wanna Wait" by David Guetta and OneRepublic
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	2015–2016
PDC	2016– (Tour Card: 2017–)
WDF	2015–2016
Current world ranking	(PDC) 5 (4 May 2025)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 48: 2015
PDC premier events – best performances
World Championship	Winner (1): 2018
World Matchplay	Winner (1): 2019
World Grand Prix	Quarter Final: 2024
UK Open	Runner Up: 2019
Grand Slam	Runner Up: 2023
European Championship	Winner (2): 2019, 2021
Premier League	Runner Up: 2019
PC Finals	Runner Up: 2022
Masters	Runner Up: 2023
Champions League	Group Stage: 2018, 2019
World Series Finals	Runner Up: 2020
Other tournament wins
European Tour Events (x2) Baltic Sea Darts Open 2024 European Darts Grand Prix 2023 Players Championships (x10) Players Championship (Barnsley) (x5) 2017 (x2), 2021, 2022 (x2) Players Championship (Dublin) 2017 Players Championship (Leicester) 2023 Players Championship (Milton Keynes) 2017 Players Championship (Wigan) 2018, 2025 World Series of Darts (x5) Brisbane Darts Masters 2018 Dutch Darts Masters 2025 New South Wales Darts Masters 2023 New Zealand Darts Masters 2023 US Darts Masters 2024 Challenge Tour PDC Challenge Tour 2016 (x3)
Other achievements
2016 Tops the PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit

Before turning professional he reached the last 32 at the UK Open, losing there to Michael van Gerwen, and won four titles on the PDC Challenge Tour in 2016, which earned him his PDC Tour Card.

BDO career

2015

In October 2015, Cross attempted to qualify for the 2016 BDO World Darts Championship, where he was knocked out in the last 64 by Tony Martin.^[2] He also competed in the 2015 World Masters, losing to Darius Labanauskas in the last 48.^[3]

PDC career

2016

Cross competed in the 2016 UK Open as an amateur Rileys qualifier; making it to the last 32 before falling to world number one Michael van Gerwen, who achieved a nine-dart finish in the process.^[4][5] Following this, he competed in the PDC Challenge Tour, winning three of the 16 events and ultimately topping the Order of Merit, consequently earning a Tour Card for the 2017 PDC Pro Tour.^[6][7]

2017

At the 2017 UK Open, Cross reached the fifth round before being knocked out by the eventual winner Peter Wright.^[8] The following week, he won his first PDC title by defeating Mervyn King 6–5 in the final of the third Players Championship.^[9] His first year on the tour continued positively, winning the 12th event with a 6–5 victory over Ian White, who missed five darts for the title.^[10] Cross then beat Peter Wright 6–2 in the 19th Players Championship in Dublin and quickly added his 4th Players Championship (PC21) with a 6–3 win against Adrian Lewis to move into the top 32 for the first time.

Cross reached the final of two events in the 2017 PDC European Tour, the German Darts Grand Prix and the European Darts Trophy, both times losing to Michael van Gerwen.^[11][12] He reached his first premier event final in October at the 2017 European Championship, again losing to van Gerwen.^[13]

2018

Cross made his PDC World Darts Championship debut as the 20th seed. He reached the final at the event, beating Phil Taylor 7–2 on New Year's Day 2018, following wins over Seigo Asada, Michael Smith (in which Cross survived two match darts), John Henderson, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Michael van Gerwen (in which Cross survived six match darts). In the final he defeated Taylor, who had previously announced that he would retire after the tournament,^[14] 7–2 in sets.^[15] He is the only player to have survived match darts in two rounds and then go on to win the World title.^[16] Winning the World Championship meant that he finished at number 3 in the PDC Order of Merit and earned automatic qualification for the 2018 Premier League Darts.^[17]

Cross was tipped by a few pundits to have an off year as they thought that the pressure of being world champion would get to him, despite this he made a good showing on his Premier League debut making it to the semi-finals. However, he only won one players' championship title in comparison to 2017 where he won 4, he won players' championship 13 by defeating Peter Wright in the final and he won his first World Series event which was the Brisbane Darts Masters by defeating Michael Van Gerwen 10–6 in the final. He had made two previous World Series finals that year: Las Vegas and Shanghai.

2019

Cross at the 2019 European Darts Matchplay

In defence of his world title at the 2019 World Championship, Cross lost to Luke Humphries 4–2 in the fourth round.

Cross made his 3rd major final and 6th televised final at the 2019 UK Open in Minehead. Cross was the eventual runner-up at the tournament, as he lost to Nathan Aspinall 11–4.^[18]

Cross made his second televised final of the year (4th major, 7th televised) at the 2019 Premier League Darts. After finishing 2nd in the league format, Cross went to the O2 in London for the Play-Offs. He took on James Wade in the semi-final and was successful in victory. He then took on World No. 1, Michael van Gerwen in the final, losing 11–6.

He won the World Matchplay, defeating Michael Smith 18–13 in legs in the final. Cross became only the fourth player to ever win the World Championship and World Matchplay (previously achieved by Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson).^[19][20] On his way to the final he beat Chris Dobey 10–3, Krzysztof Ratajski 11–5, Stephen Bunting 16–14 and Daryl Gurney 17–15, (from 15–9 down in the semi-finals).^[21]

Cross reached his 4th World Series final at the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters. He lost to Damon Heta in a last leg decider 8–7.

On 27 October, Cross won his 3rd PDC major title, the 2019 European Championship, beating Gerwyn Price 11–6 in the final.^[22]

2020

Cross was eliminated in the second round of the 2020 World Championship, winning only two legs in a 3–0 loss to Kim Huybrechts.^[23]

At the World Series of Darts Finals, Cross beat Michael Smith and James Wade en route to the final, before eventually succumbing to Gerwyn Price.^[24] Cross and Michael Smith, representing England, reached the final of the World Cup of Darts, where they were defeated 3–0 by Wales (Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton).^[25]

2021

Cross suffered another early exit at the 2021 World Championship, losing to Dirk van Duijvenbode 3–2 in the second round.^[26]

Cross won his fourth PDC major title at the 2021 European Championship, beating Michael van Gerwen in the final 11–8 to win the tournament for a second time.^[27]

2022

At the 2022 World Championship, Cross started his campaign with a 3–1 win against Raymond van Barneveld.^[28] In the next round, he beat Daryl Gurney in a deciding set, finishing the match with a 170 checkout.^[29] He was defeated 4–3 by Gary Anderson in the fourth round.^[30]

Cross was unsuccessful in his defence of the European Championship, losing to James Wade 6–5 in the first round.^[31] Cross reached the final of the Players Championship Finals but lost 11–6 to Michael van Gerwen.^[32]

2023

At the 2023 World Championship Cross reached the fourth round, losing to Chris Dobey 4–2.^[33] He was the runner-up at the Masters where he again lost to Dobey.^[34]

After seven previous losses in PDC European Tour finals, Cross won his first European Tour title at the 2023 European Darts Grand Prix, defeating Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final.^[35] He also won back-to-back titles on the 2023 World Series of Darts, winning the New Zealand Darts Masters and the New South Wales Darts Masters.^[36][37]

At the Grand Slam, Cross was the runner-up, losing the final to Luke Humphries 16–8.^[38]

2024

At the 2024 World Championship, Cross whitewashed Thibault Tricole in his second-round match 3–0, won against Jeffrey de Graaf 4–2 in the third round, whitewashed Jonny Clayton 4–0 in the fourth round and came back from four sets down to defeat Chris Dobey 5–4 to reach the semi-finals.^[39] He lost his semi-final to Luke Littler 6–2.^[40]

In May, Cross defeated Luke Humphries 8–6 in the final of the Baltic Sea Darts Open to win his second European Tour title.^[41] He also won the US Darts Masters, winning a last-leg decider to beat Gerwyn Price 8–7.^[42]

2025

Cross suffered an early exit at the 2025 World Championship, losing 3–1 to Scott Williams in the second round.^[43]

Cross won his fifth World Series title at the 2025 Dutch Darts Masters, defeating Stephen Bunting 8–5 in the final.^[44] It was his first World Series title in Europe.^[45] He was victorious in the first Pro Tour event of the year, Players Championship 1, with a 7–3 win over Andrew Gilding in the semi-finals before beating Joe Cullen 8–3 in the final.^[46] Cross achieved his first televised nine-dart finish on night five of the 2025 Premier League in his 6–5 semi-final loss to Nathan Aspinall.^[47]

Personal life

Cross spent the majority of his early life living in Edenbridge, Kent. He was an electrician before turning professional. His nickname, "Voltage", comes from his former profession.^[48]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2018: Winner (beat Phil Taylor 7–2)
• 2019: Fourth round (lost to Luke Humphries 2–4)
• 2020: Second round (lost to Kim Huybrechts 0–3)
• 2021: Second round (lost to Dirk van Duijvenbode 2–3)
• 2022: Fourth round (lost to Gary Anderson 3–4)
• 2023: Fourth round (lost to Chris Dobey 2–4)
• 2024: Semi-finals (lost to Luke Littler 2–6)
• 2025: Second round (lost to Scott Williams 1–3)

Career finals

PDC major finals: 11 (4 titles)

Legend
World Championship (1–0)
World Matchplay (1–0)
Grand Slam (0–1)
Premier League (0–1)
UK Open (0–1)
Masters (0–1)
European Championship (2–1)
Players Championship Finals (0–1)
World Series Finals (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]	Ref.
Runner-up	1.	2017	European Championship	Michael van Gerwen	7–11 (l)	[13]
Winner	1.	2018	World Championship (1)	Phil Taylor	7–2 (s)	[49]
Runner-up	2.	2019	UK Open	Nathan Aspinall	5–11 (l)	[18]
Runner-up	3.	2019	Premier League	Michael van Gerwen	5–11 (l)	[50]
Winner	2.	2019	World Matchplay (1)	Michael Smith	18–13 (l)	[51]
Winner	3.	2019	European Championship (1)	Gerwyn Price	11–6 (l)	[52]
Runner-up	4.	2020	World Series Finals	Gerwyn Price	9–11 (l)	[53]
Winner	4.	2021	European Championship (2)	Michael van Gerwen	11–8 (l)	[54]
Runner-up	5.	2022	Players Championship Finals	Michael van Gerwen	6–11 (l)	[55]
Runner-up	6.	2023	Masters	Chris Dobey	7–11 (l)	[56]
Runner-up	7.	2023	Grand Slam	Luke Humphries	8–16 (l)	[38]

PDC World Series finals: 10 (5 titles)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score[N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2018	US Darts Masters	Gary Anderson	4–8 (l)
Runner-up	2.	2018	Shanghai Darts Masters	Michael Smith	2–8 (l)
Winner	1.	2018	Brisbane Darts Masters	Michael van Gerwen	11–6 (l)
Runner-up	3.	2019	Brisbane Darts Masters	Damon Heta	7–8 (l)
Winner	2.	2023	New Zealand Darts Masters	Nathan Aspinall	8–7 (l)
Winner	3.	2023	New South Wales Darts Masters	Damon Heta	8–1 (l)
Winner	4.	2024	US Darts Masters	Gerwyn Price	8–7 (l)
Runner-up	4.	2024	Nordic Darts Masters	Gerwyn Price	5–8 (l)
Runner-up	5.	2024	Poland Darts Masters	Luke Littler	3–8 (l)
Winner	5.	2025	Dutch Darts Masters	Stephen Bunting	8–5 (l)

PDC team finals: 1

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team	Teammate	Opponents in the final	Score[N 1]
Runner-up	1.	2020	World Cup of Darts	England	Michael Smith	Wales – Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton	0–3 (m)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNP		W	4R	2R	2R	4R	4R	SF	2R
World Masters	DNP		QF	1R	1R	2R	2R	F	2R	1R
UK Open	4R	5R	QF	F	QF	5R	4R	QF	QF	6R
World Matchplay	DNP	2R	2R	W	1R	2R	2R	1R	QF
World Grand Prix	DNP	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	1R	QF
European Championship	DNP	F	QF	W	1R	W	1R	2R	1R
Grand Slam	DNP	QF	2R	2R	2R	QF	2R	F	QF
Players Championship Finals	DNP	SF	1R	3R	2R	3R	F	2R	1R
PDC Non-ranked televised events
Premier League	DNP		SF	F	9th	9th	DNP		6th
Champions League	DNP	DNQ	RR	RR	NH
World Cup	DNQ		QF	2R	F	DNQ		QF	DNQ
World Series Finals	DNQ	QF	2R	2R	F	DNP		QF	QF
Career statistics
Season-end ranking	173	3	2	4	4	10	6	6	4

PDC European Tour

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
2017	GDC DNQ	GDM DNQ	GDO QF	EDG QF	GDT QF	EDM DNQ	ADO 2R	EDO QF	DDM 3R	GDG F	IDO 2R	EDT F
2018	EDO 3R	GDG QF	GDO SF	ADO QF	EDG 3R	DDM WD	GDT QF	DDO 3R	EDM 2R	GDC QF	DDC DNP	IDO DNP	EDT QF
2019	EDO F	GDC 3R	GDG SF	GDO SF	ADO 3R	EDG 2R	DDM WD	DDO 2R	CDO DNP	ADC DNP	EDM QF	IDO F	GDT 3R
2020	BDC 3R	GDC 3R	EDG QF	IDO 2R
2021	HDT 3R	GDT 2R
2022	IDO 1R	GDC F	GDG 3R	ADO QF	EDO 2R	CDO F	EDG F	DDC 2R	EDM QF	HDT 2R	GDO 3R	BDO 3R	GDT SF
2023	BSD 2R	EDO SF	IDO QF	GDG 2R	ADO 3R	DDC 2R	BDO 3R	CDO SF	EDG W	EDM 3R	GDO 2R	HDT 2R	GDC QF
2024	BDO F	GDG 3R	IDO 3R	EDG SF	ADO 2R	BSD W	DDC DNP	EDO 2R	GDC DNP	FDT DNP	HDT 3R	SDT 3R	CDO WD
2025	BDO 2R	EDT 3R	IDO WD	GDG 3R	ADO 3R	EDG	DDC	EDO	BSD	FDT	CDO	HDT	SDT	GDC

PDC Players Championships

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
2017	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR W	BAR 3R	MIL 4R	MIL 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	MIL SF	MIL W	WIG SF	WIG SF	BAR 3R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	DUB W	DUB 4R	BAR W	BAR 3R
2018	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR 2R	MIL 1R	MIL QF	BAR 3R	BAR DNP	WIG 3R	WIG 3R	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG W	WIG F	BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	DUB 4R	DUB SF	BAR 1R	BAR 2R
2019	WIG 2R	WIG 4R	WIG 3R	WIG SF	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	WIG 4R	WIG DNP	BAR 2R	DNP									BAR 2R	BAR QF	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 4R	DUB 4R	DUB 2R	BAR DNP	BAR DNP
2020	BAR 4R	BAR 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	WIG QF	WIG 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	MIL 4R	MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL F	MIL 1R	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	NIE 3R	NIE 3R	NIE 3R	COV 3R	COV 3R	COV 1R	COV 1R	COV DNP
2021	BOL QF	BOL 1R	BOL 2R	BOL 2R	MIL 3R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL 3R	NIE 2R	NIE 2R	NIE QF	NIE 1R	MIL 1R	MIL 4R	MIL SF	MIL QF	COV 1R	COV 2R	COV 3R	COV 2R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	BAR 2R	BAR QF	BAR 4R	BAR W	BAR SF	BAR SF	BAR 2R	BAR 3R
2022	BAR 2R	BAR QF	WIG 1R	WIG QF	BAR QF	BAR 3R	NIE SF	NIE 4R	BAR 4R	BAR 3R	BAR SF	BAR 1R	BAR QF	WIG 1R	WIG 4R	NIE 2R	NIE QF	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR 4R	BAR W	BAR 1R	BAR 1R	BAR W	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 3R
2023	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 1R	BAR 2R	HIL 1R	HIL 1R	WIG 1R	WIG 2R	LEI W	LEI 4R	HIL 1R	HIL 2R	LEI 3R	LEI 2R	HIL 3R	HIL QF	BAR 3R	BAR QF	BAR 2R	DNP			BAR QF	BAR 3R	BAR 3R	BAR 2R	BAR SF	BAR 4R
2024	WIG 2R	WIG 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 1R	HIL DNP	HIL DNP	LEI 2R	LEI 4R	DNP						MIL 2R	MIL 1R	MIL 2R	MIL DNP	MIL DNP	WIG 4R	WIG 1R	LEI 4R	LEI 4R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	WIG 3R	WIG 4R	WIG 2R	LEI 3R	LEI 1R
2025	WIG W	WIG 1R	ROS QF	ROS 2R	LEI 1R	LEI 4R	DNP		LEI 2R	LEI 2R	DNP				HIL	HIL	LEI	LEI	LEI	HIL	HIL	MIL	MIL	MIL	HIL	HIL	LEI	LEI	LEI	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG	WIG

Performance Table Legend
W	Won the tournament	F	Finalist	SF	Semifinalist	QF	Quarterfinalist	#R RR Prel.	Lost in # round Round-robin Preliminary round	DQ	Disqualified
DNQ	Did not qualify	DNP	Did not participate	WD	Withdrew	NH	Tournament not held			NYF	Not yet founded

Nine-dart finishes

See also: Nine-dart finish

Rob Cross's televised nine-dart finishes

Date	Opponent	Tournament	Method	Ref.
6 March 2025	Nathan Aspinall	2025 Premier League Darts	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T19, T16, D18	[57]