By NOLAN HUGHES
PBA Communications
ARLINGTON, Wash. — At 16 years old, Kyle Troup followed in his father Guppy’s footsteps and joined the PBA Tour. Sixteen years later, the two-handed North Carolinian celebrated the very moment he always dreamed of.
Troup swept Kris Prather in the championship match to win the PBA Tour Finals at Strikerz Bowling in Angel of the Winds.
With the win, the 10th of his career, Troup becomes eligible to be voted into the PBA Hall of Fame when he crosses the 20-year service threshold.
“I had to not think about the Hall of Fame the last few frames,” said an emotional Troup. “With the season that I’ve had, making the switch to grips… that’s number 10. It’s special, man.”
Though Troup achieved both of his preseason goals — winning title No. 10 and making match play at the U.S. Open — his season was filled with struggles. Following his U.S. Open runner-up performance, he earned just two more top-10 finishes before the Tour Finals.
In many ways, he replicated his 2022 season when he won the PBA Playoff following a disappointing regular season.
“It goes to show the fight that I have, sticking to the process during the tough times,” Troup said.
“We normally always have the ball reps, and to get this win done without one… obviously I want to have my team here at all times, but that just gives me all the confidence in the world moving forward for the next month,” Troup said. “A lot of the hard work has really paid off. I’ve got to credit Eric Krauss and his buddy Andy. They gave me a tip to think about — and that was it.”
The Group 1 positioning round Saturday featured a heavyweight battle between Troup and EJ Tackett, with the latter earning a narrow victory to secure the top seed today. However, Troup flipped the script Sunday afternoon as competition shifted to dual patterns (38-foot Webb on the left lane and 43-foot Anthony on the right lane).
Tackett, who sought to become the first player to win six titles in a season since 1993, won the opening game in the Race-to-Two match. However, Tackett squandered his opportunity to clinch the match by whiffing a 10-pin in the 10th frame.
“I did remember once yesterday he left a 10-pin that he kind of stuck (on the approach) a little bit, so maybe there was a chance. But I still didn’t expect him to do it,” Troup said.
Troup answered with a game-stealing triple in the 10th and forced a two-frame roll-off.
Another 10-pin leave from Tackett in the roll-off opened the door again for Troup, who slammed it shut with a match-clinching strike.
“I’ve always said I’m a fan of those ninth and 10th frame roll-offs,” Troup said. “I started talking to Mr. K (a stuffed animal from Aubrey, his girlfriend, Breanna’s, daughter) and just told him I was gonna make some good shots.”
“I bowled really well last year and felt like I should have won my match and got to go further in the tournamen. My ball reads the lanes well here so I’m just fueling off a lot of confidence.”
Following the Group 1 finals, Prather climbed Group 2’s stepladder to reach the championship. He defeated Anthony Simonsen, Packy Hanrahan and defending champion Jason Belmonte.
Belmonte missed two makeable spares in the first game of the Race-to-Two match, which afforded Prather all the room he needed.
But Belmonte said he envisioned this year’s Tour Finals going exactly the way last year’s did. In Game 2, he did all he could to ensure that would be the case.
Belmonte fired 300 to stave off elimination, becoming the first player in PBA history to throw three televised perfect games.
Prather didn’t flinch. He took advantage of Belmonte’s 10-pin leave in the two-frame roll-off, doubling in his final frame to advance to the championship.
With the win over Belmonte, Prather moved to 4-0 on television against the 31-time champion and 15-time major champion.
In the championship match, not even a literal shark could have stopped Troup.
The two-handed superstar fired games of 268 and 266 to sweep Prather and clinch the title he so desperately coveted.
“Guppy better start working on his speech,” a beaming Troup said.
GROUP 1 STEPLADDER SCORES
Match 1: No. 3 Dom Barrett def. No. 4 Jakob Butturff, 254-202
Match 2: No. 2 Kyle Troup def. No. 3 Dom Barrett, 278-215
Match 3: No. 2 Kyle Troup def. No. 1 EJ Tackett, 2-1
Game 1: Tackett def. Troup, 257-247
Game 2: Troup def. Tackett, 205-196
Roll-off: Troup def. Tackett, 48-40
GROUP 2 STEPLADDER SCORES
Match 1: No. 4 Kris Prather def. No. 3 Anthony Simonsen, 233-226
Match 2: No. 4 Kris Prather def. No. 2 Packy Hanrahan, 268-217
Match 3: No. 4 Kris Prather def. No. 1 Jason Belmonte, 2-1
Game 1: Prather def. Belmonte, 228-215
Game 2: Belmonte def. Prather, 300-202
Roll-off: Prather def. Belmonte, 47-40
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Kyle Troup def. Kris Prather, 2-0
Game 1: Troup def. Prather, 268-225
Game 2: Troup def. Prather, 266-236
FINAL STANDINGS
- Kyle Troup, $30,000
- Kris Prather, $15,000
- Jason Belmonte, $8,000
- EJ Tackett, $8,000
- Packy Hanrahan, $6,000
- Dom Barrett, $6,000
- Anthony Simonsen, $5,000
- Jakob Butturff, $5,000
SATURDAY’S RECAP
No players have achieved more success at the PBA Tour Finals than Tackett and Belmonte, the only two-time champions of the event.
On Saturday, the two continued their brilliance. Tackett and Belmonte each led their group’s four-game positioning round.
Players bowled two games on the 38-foot Webb pattern, then two games on the 43-foot Anthony pattern to determine seeding for Sunday’s group stepladder finals.
Tackett bested Kyle Troup, Dom Barrett and Jakob Butturff to lead Group 1, while Belmonte eclipsed Packy Hanrahan, Anthony Simonsen and Kris Prather in Group 2.
Group 1 featured what turned into a two-horse race between Troup and Tackett. Troup excelled the first game on each pattern, but Tackett responded to take the second each time.
Troup’s Greek Church leave in the ninth frame of Game 4 opened the door for Tackett, who doubled in his final frame to lock up the No. 1 seed.
“I knew all I had to do was get up there one strike pretty much and then get good count after that,” Tackett said. “I was very lucky to be in the position that I was. I threw several shots that weren’t good that struck. I was fortunate to be in that position and it was nice to be able to take advantage of it.”
“It was a pretty good shot, I just over hit it,” Troup said of his ninth frame. “Switching to grips a month and a half ago, that tends to happen a few shots. But I feel really sharp. My ball reaction is solid and I didn’t miss a spare. EJ used his breaks today so hopefully I get some tomorrow.”
“I bowled really good here last year,” Troup added. “I shot 300, then left like five 9-pins to lose to Belmo. I’ve got a lot of confidence in this building. The crowds are great and I just vibe off of them as early as I can.”
Troup earned the No. 2 seed with a 900 total pinfall, followed by Dom Barrett (866) and Jakob Butturff (806).
Butturff, who shot the lowest series of any player on Saturday, struggled to string strikes and missed a pair of single pins.
“There were a couple of games where I would start off strong and then kind of just lose my ball reaction,” Butturff said. “I think I just didn’t stay ahead of the move. With how dry the lanes are, I’ve gotta be quicker with my adjustments and find a way to get comfortable, especially with these approaches because it’s so tacky.”
Group 2 offered a more contested battle as all four players remained in contention for the top seed heading into the final game. Belmonte held a 24-pin lead, but fourth-placed Simonsen sat just 33 pins back.
However, the defending Tour Finals champ would not be denied. While Hanrahan and Simonsen fired the front-five, Belmonte fired six in a row to maintain his position. Belmonte never shot below 230 en route to a 969 series, the highest of the day.
Belmonte said his experience from last season’s event at Strikerz Bowling played into his success today.
“I knew based of how well this building can carry, if I can get to the pocket a little easier, a little more consistently, my ball will continue to strike really well,” said Belmonte, who used urethane for much of the afternoon. “It’s the most simplest, controlled way to get to the pocket now.
“In saying that, there’s nothing to say that reactive won’t strike,” Belmonte continued. “Our patterns aren’t easy. When you miss by one or two boards with a reactive ball, that’s the difference between getting light in the pocket with urethane or getting behind the head-pin and leaving a 2-8-10.”
Hanrahan staved off Simonsen’s late charge to earn the second seed with a 941 total pinfall. Simonsen (933) finished third.
Prather crushed the Webb pattern with games of 238 and 239, but the longer Anthony pattern left him puzzled him as he tallied games of 209 and 201 to finish fourth.
“My rev rate is not around 500 and I really struggled with the urethane on the longer pattern,” Prather said. “I tried to make reactive work, obviously that wasn’t a good idea. Moving forward to tomorrow, I do think that the urethane balls are just going to be what wins the early matches, so I’ve got to figure out how to make that work tomorrow.”