Rusty-Jake Rodriguez is an Austrian darts player who established himself as one of his country's biggest talents at a young age. He made his breakthrough on the PDC Tour in 2021 - winning his tour card, his first World Championship participation and several successes on the Development Tour. After losing his tour card in 2024, he made his comeback to the professional ranks at Q-School 2025.

Rodriguez grew up in a real darts family. From an early age, he emulated his brothers Rowby-John and Roxy-James and gained international experience at youth level. From 2013, he regularly took part in international tournaments for Austria, including several Europe Cups and the WDF World Youth Cup, where he reached the singles final in 2015. In the same year, he won his first international title at the Austrian Open.

His first adult successes followed shortly afterwards: a semi-final appearance at the Czech Open, a tournament win at the Hungarian Masters - all before he turned 18. In 2017, he secured his first Development Tour title and won the JDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace. A year later, he celebrated his first victory on the European Tour against Ritchie Edhouse. He narrowly missed out on qualifying for the PDC World Championship in 2019.

2021 then became the most successful year yet for “RJR3”. Three titles on the Development Tour, World Championship qualification and a return to the professional circuit - Rusty was back and finally became part of the PDC elite. He beat Ben Robb in his World Championship debut, but was beaten by Chris Dobey in round two. He also impressed on the European Tour, reaching the quarter-finals of an event for the first time in Budapest in 2022.

But his momentum waned. There was no major breakthrough in 2023 and he only managed to qualify for the World Championships at the last minute. At the start of 2024, he lost his tour card after losing to Cameron Menzies in round one of the World Championships. The next attempt at the Q-School was unsuccessful.

But Rodriguez would not have been Rodriguez if he had given up. In 2025, he returned to the tour via Q-School. Despite an early exit at the UK Open, he once again showed the will to fight his way back to the top.

This is Rusty-Jake Rodriguez.
A talent. A returnee. A fighter.