Austrian youngster Rodriguez – the third of four darting brothers from Vienna – came from two legs down as he picked up the title.

The pair had won through the early rounds of the tournament in Bristol two weeks ago, and played out an entertaining contest at Alexandra Palace to contest the title. After falling behind early on, Rodriguez levelled before finishing 80 in two darts for a 3-2 advantage.

Five missed doubles from the Austrian allowed Roelofs to level in leg three, and the next two were shared as the tie went to a decider, which Rodriguez won by landing double ten. The Junior Darts Corporation’s 2017 campaign had seen the six-event Modus UK Tour followed by the European Open before the Junior World Championship rounded off the year’s action.

Rodriguez, 16, made his European Tour debut at the 2017 Austrian Darts Open and also won a PDC Unicorn Development Tour event, and is the younger brother of former Roxy-James and former World Youth Championship finalist Rowby-John – with their youngest sibling, Regi-Jorg, expected to follow the trio onto the circuit in future.

For more information about the JDC, visit www.juniordarts.com or follow @JDCDarts on Twitter.