Justin Hood

About

Short answer: Justin Hood is an English PDC player who reached the quarter-finals on his World Championship debut in 2026, where Gary Anderson beat him 5-2. Darts Online stocks his Target Gen 1 Swiss Point, a 90% tungsten steel tip dart. Nickname Pocket Rocket Country England Born 1993 Darts brand Target Dart weight 23g Titles and achievements PDC World Championship quarter-final 2026 PDC Challenge Tour (Event 14) 2024 MODUS Super Series 2023 Who is Justin Hood? Justin Hood is a professional darts player from Glastonbury in Somerset, born in 1993. He worked as a hotel night porter until late 2024. In 2024 he won Event 14 on the PDC Challenge Tour, beating Dragutin Horvat 5-1 with a 107.24 average, and Target signed him that December. He earned his PDC Tour Card at Q-School in 2025, winning the second day of the final stage. How did Justin Hood break through? Hood made his PDC World Championship debut at the 2026 event at Alexandra Palace. He beat Nick Kenny in the first round, then knocked out seventh seed Danny Noppert in a sudden-death leg. After beating Ryan Meikle, he whitewashed Josh Rock 4-0 in the fourth round and hit his first 11 attempts at a double, a PDC World Championship record. Gary Anderson ended the run 5-2 in the quarter-finals. The run earned him £100,000 and lifted him to 50th in the world rankings. Why did Justin Hood change his nickname? He was known as "Happy Feet", from a county match as a teenager where he had to borrow shoes that were far too big. In 2026 he dropped the name because of rights to the animated film of the same name, and now plays as "Pocket Rocket". How is Justin Hood playing in 2026? In April 2026 he reached his first PDC ranking final at Players Championship 9 in Wigan, losing 8-4 to Chris Dobey. He was ranked 40th on the PDC Order of Merit as at 18 October 2026. What darts does Justin Hood use? Hood has been sponsored by Target since December 2024 and plays 23g darts. His first Target signature model is the Gen 1 Swiss Poin