Tom Daugherty knocks out Jason Sterner, Sam Cooley defeats Jesper Svensson
Milford, Conn.—Tom Daugherty and Sam Cooley earned the final two berths in the Kia PBA Playoffs quarterfinals, winning tie-breaking roll-offs against Jason Sterner and Jesper Svensson, respectively. Daugherty, who has won two Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour titles in 2021 including the Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship, and Cooley, who won his first career PBA Tour title in the PBA Cheetah Championship, will face each other in the quarterfinals.
In a race-to-two-points format, each game is worth one point. If the players are tied after two games, a ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off decides the winner of the match.
In his opening game against Sterner, No. 3 seed Daugherty rolled the first seven strikes before a 7-10 split derailed his pursuit of perfection. It did not derail his big lead, though, and Daugherty took game one, 245-204.
Sterner, the 14th seed, countered in game two, throwing the front four on his way to a 225-213 win and forcing a ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off. For the first time in this season’s PBA Playoffs, an additional one-ball sudden-death roll-off was needed when both players posted scores of 39 in the first attempt to break the tie.
Daugherty, the higher seed, opted to have Sterner start the first roll-off, meaning Daugherty would finish on the left lane. In the one-ball roll-off, Daugherty chose to bowl first on the right lane. Daugherty struck and Sterner left a 10 pin, advancing Daugherty into the quarterfinals.
Cooley and Svensson battled in a high-scoring first game, with Svensson rolling nine strikes on the way to a 268-248 win. In the second game, Svensson finished first with a 223, forcing Cooley to get all three strikes in the 10th to split the series and force a tie-breaking roll-off. Cooley got the first two strikes, but a 10 pin on his fill ball left the players tied at 223.
To decide the winner of game two, the players dueled in a single-ball roll-off. No. 6 seed Svensson decided to bowl first on the left lane, leaving a 7 pin. Cooley left a 10 pin, requiring another shot from each player. On the right lane, Svensson again got nine, but Cooley struck, claiming game two and forcing the ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off to decide the match.
Cooley took over from there, striking in the ninth frame before Svensson opened in both the ninth and the 10th, sending Cooley into the quarterfinals.
The Kia PBA Playoffs quarterfinals begin Sunday, May 9 at noon ET on Fox Sports’ FS1 and will feature Kyle Troup versus Thomas Larsen and François Lavoie taking on Bill O’Neill.
The winner of the PBA Playoffs will receive a PBA Tour title, $100,000 and an official WWE championship title belt.
Viewers can live stream the PBA on the FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps or at FOXSports.com. Select highlights will be available on @FOXSports social handles across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. International fans can watch live on FloBowling.com.
Round of 16 Results (Saturday, Apr. 24 on FS1)
Bowlero Milford, Milford, Conn.
No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 16 Andrew Anderson, 2-1
Game 1 – Troup def. Anderson, 234-233
Game 2 – Anderson def. Troup, 225-212
Roll-off – Troup def. Anderson, 58-26
No. 9 Thomas Larsen def. No. 8 Anthony Simonsen, 2-0
Game 1 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 244-238
Game 2 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 279-224
Round of 16 Results (Sunday, Apr. 25 on FS1)
No. 4 François Lavoie def. No. 13 Dick Allen, 2-1
Game 1 – Lavoie def. Allen, 266-185
Game 2 – Allen def. Lavoie, 258-238
Roll-off – Lavoie def. Allen, 59-50
No. 12 Bill O’Neill def. No. 5 Jakob Butturff, 2-1
Game 1 – Butturff def. O’Neill, 257-193
Game 2 – O’Neill def. Butturff, 227-222
Roll-off – O’Neill def. Butturff, 49-39
Round of 16 Results (Saturday, May 1 on FS1)
No. 15 Cristian Azcona def. No. 2 Chris Via, 2-0
Game 1 – Azcona def. Via, 258-226
Game 2 – Azcona def. Via, 238-215
No. 10 EJ Tackett def. No. 7 Kris Prather, 2-1
Game 1 – Tackett def. Prather, 267-170
Game 2 – Prather def. Tackett, 205-188
Roll-off – Tackett def. Prather, 38-26
Round of 16 (Sunday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1)
No. 3 Tom Daugherty def. No. 14 Jason Sterner, 2-1
Game 1 – Daugherty def. Sterner, 245-204
Game 2 – Sterner def. Daugherty, 225-213
Roll-off – Daugherty def. Sterner, 39-39 (10-9)
No. 11 Sam Cooley def. No. 6 Jesper Svensson, 2-1
Game 1 – Svensson def. Cooley, 268-248
Game 2 – Cooley def. Svensson, 223-223 (9-9, 10-9)
Roll-off – Cooley def. Svensson, 35-16
Quarterfinals (Sunday, May 9 at noon ET on FS1)
No. 1 Kyle Troup vs. No. 9 Thomas Larsen
No. 4 François Lavoie vs. No. 12 Bill O’Neill
Quarterfinals (Monday, May 10 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1)
No. 10 EJ Tackett vs. No. 15 Cristian Azcona
No. 3 Tom Daugherty vs. No. 11 Sam Cooley
Semifinals (Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m. ET on FS1)
To be determined after quarterfinals
Kia PBA Playoffs Championship (Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX)
To be determined after semifinals
About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.
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