Kyle Troup eliminates Thomas Larsen, François Lavoie defeats Bill O’Neill
Milford, Conn.—Kyle Troup and François Lavoie were the first two players to advance to the Kia PBA Playoffs semifinals, in which they’ll face each other on Saturday. Troup, the No. 1 seed, swept his race-to-two-points match over USBC Masters champion Thomas Larsen. Lavoie, who won the PBA Tournament of Champions and Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam earlier this year, knocked out defending PBA Playoffs champion Bill O’Neill in a tie-breaking roll-off.
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.
Troup didn’t need a roll-off in his match with Larsen as Troup rolled the back eight strikes in the first game for a 260-204 victory. In the second game, Troup stayed clean to take advantage of two splits by Larsen, with Troup winning game two, 239-199.
Advancing to face Troup in the semifinals was Lavoie, who took out O’Neill in a roll-off, ending O’Neill’s two-year streak of making it to the PBA Playoffs finals. O’Neill finished second in 2019 and won in 2020.
After O’Neill left a 7-10 split and opened in the 10th frame of the first game, Lavoie needed a strike on his first shot in the 10th to win. Instead, he left a 10 pin to fall behind in the match.
Game two opened with another 7-10 split for O’Neill. Lavoie took the lead and never relinquished it, coming away with a 217-188 victory to force a ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off. Both players spared in the ninth frame of the roll-off. Lavoie finished his game first, posting two strikes and six in the 10th for a total of 46, forcing O’Neill to get two strikes and seven pins to win. O’Neill got the first strike but left a 10 pin on his second shot, ending his title defense.
Semifinal combatants Lavoie and Troup last bowled against each other in the championship match of the PBA Super Slam, which Lavoie won, 247-202.
The Kia PBA Playoffs semifinals, featuring Troup vs. Lavoie and the winners of tomorrow’s matches, air live on Fox Sports’ FS1 Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m. ET.
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 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 def. No. 9 Thomas Larsen, 2-0
Game 1 – Troup def. Larsen, 260-204
Game 2 – Troup def. Larsen, 239-199
No. 4 François Lavoie vs. No. 12 Bill O’Neill
Game 1 – O’Neill def. Lavoie, 190-182
Game 2 – Lavoie def. O’Neill, 217-188
Roll-off – Lavoie def. O’Neill, 46-40
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)
No. 1 Kyle Troup vs. No. 4 François Lavoie
Tackett/Azcona vs. Daugherty/Cooley
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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