Josh Rock

Joshua Rock (born 13 April 2001) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is ranked world number eight. Nicknamed "Rocky", he won the PDC World Cup of Darts in 2025, representing Northern Ireland alongside Daryl Gurney. Rock has also won six PDC ranking titles, including two titles on the European Tour.

In his youth career, Rock found success in the PDC's youth system, most notably winning the PDC World Youth Championship in 2022. He also won five titles on the 2022 PDC Development Tour. He threw his first televised nine-dart finish at the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts in his match against Michael van Gerwen. In 2025, Rock reached the semi-finals of the UK Open, World Matchplay, and the World Series Finals.

Early life Rock was born on 13 April 2001 in Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He played for his local football club, Antrim Rovers, as a right-back. He later moved to the village of Broughshane. He started playing darts competitively in pub leagues at the age of 10 or 11 and began pursuing a career in the sport once he left school at age 16.

Career 2022 In January 2022, Rock attended PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School. He won a PDC Tour Card by defeating Nathan Rafferty in the Final Stage Day Four final.

He topped the Development Tour Order of Merit, winning five events. In November, Rock achieved his first televised nine-dart finish in the last 16 of the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts, in an eventual 10–8 defeat to Michael van Gerwen. Later that month, Rock won the PDC World Youth Championship by beating Nathan Girvan 6–1 with an average of 104.13, a record for a World Youth final.

2023 In his debut at the 2023 World Championship, Rock beat José Justicia, Callan Rydz and Nathan Aspinall before losing 4–3 to Jonny Clayton in the fourth round.

On the 2023 PDC Pro Tour, Rock reached the final of four Players Championship events and the Austrian Darts Open.

At the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts, Rock won Group B with wins against Chris Dobey, Jonny Clayton and Berry van Peer and reached the quarter finals with a 10–5 win over Krzysztof Ratajski. Rock lost in his quarter-final match 16–15 to James Wade.

2024 At the 2024 World Championship, Rock suffered a shock 3–1 second-round defeat to Berry van Peer. On the 2024 PDC Pro Tour, Rock reached the final of Players Championship 7, but lost to Chris Dobey 8–4. However, in May, Rock won his first PDC European Tour title; he beat Jonny Clayton 8–4 in the final of the Dutch Darts Championship. Rock added two more Players Championship titles at events 17 and 30.

Rock represented Northern Ireland in the PDC World Cup of Darts for the first time at the 2024 edition, serving as team captain and partnering Brendan Dolan. They reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, where they were defeated 8–4 by eventual champions England.

2025

At the 2025 World Championship, Rock reached the third round where he was eliminated in a 4–2 defeat to Chris Dobey. Following the tournament, he signed a deal with darts manufacturer Target Darts and claimed that he and new Target stablemate Luke Littler could "dominate the sport for years to come." At the UK Open, Rock reached his first PDC major semi-final after a 10–7 victory over Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals, but lost 11–2 to James Wade. He won his first title of the year – his fifth Pro Tour title – at Players Championship 10, defeating Cameron Menzies 8–4 in the final.

Rock and teammate Daryl Gurney won the World Cup of Darts for Northern Ireland for the first time, defeating Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price of Wales 10–9 in a deciding leg. He broke the record for most maximums (180s) hit in a World Cup final with nine.

Rock reached the semi-finals of the 2025 World Matchplay and the final of the 2025 Flanders Darts Trophy, losing to eventual champion Luke Littler on both occasions. He made it back-to-back European Tour finals at the Czech Darts Open, where he lost 8–5 to Luke Humphries. After making the semi-finals at the 2025 Hungarian Darts Trophy, Rock entered the top ten of the PDC Order of Merit for the first time.

2026 At the 2026 World Championship, Rock reached the fourth round of the tournament following wins over Gemma Hayter, Joe Comito and Callan Rydz. He exited the tournament after losing 4–0 to Justin Hood. On 5 January 2026, Rock was selected to compete in the Premier League for the first time in his career.

Rock reached his second straight UK Open semi-final, where he was beaten 11–9 by eventual champion Luke Littler. On 26 February 2026, during the fourth night of the Premier League in Belfast, Rock hit a nine-dart finish in his 6–2 defeat to Gian van Veen. He finished his first Premier League campaign in last place with eight points. At the Austrian Darts Open in May, he won his second European Tour title by defeating Kevin Doets 8–6 in the final.

Personal life In September 2024, Rock and his partner Sarah had a daughter. The couple married in January 2025, two days before Rock competed at the 2025 PDC World Masters. He is a supporter of Scottish football club Rangers, English club Manchester United, and local side Ballymena United; he was primary and secondary schoolmates with Northern Irish footballer Ross McCausland. Rock became an ambassador for Sensory Kids NI, a children's autism charity in Northern Ireland, after his stepson was diagnosed with autism.

World Championship results PDC World Championship 2023: Fourth round (lost to Jonny Clayton 3–4) 2024: Second round (lost to Berry van Peer 1–3) 2025: Third round (lost to Chris Dobey 2–4) 2026: Fourth round (lost to Justin Hood 0–4)

Career finals PDC team finals: 1 (1 title) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipTeamTeammateOpponents in the finalScore Winner 1. 2025 10–9 (l)

Performance timeline PDC

Premier League Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 F 2026 QF QF QF QF QF QF QF SF SF SF SF QF QF QF QF QFLONDNQ

European Tour

Players Championships

World Series

Titles PDC

PDC World Cup of Darts (1) 2025

PDC Pro Tour (6) PDC European Tour (2) 2024 (×1): Dutch Darts Championship 2026 (×1): Austrian Darts Open PDC Players Championships (4) 2022 (×1): 18 2024 (×2): 17, 30 2025 (×1): 10

Youth events PDC Development Tour (5) 2022 (×5): 3, 5, 16, 17, 21

PDC World Youth Championship (1) 2022

Nine-dart finishes