By BILL SNIER
FAIRLAWN — If you liked last year’s FOX broadcast of the PBA Tournament of Champions stepladder finals, you’re going to love this one.
With one notable exception.
After taking the lead during Game 4 of Thursday morning’s second match-play round, Anthony Simonsen maintained that status throughout the remainder of the tournament to earn the No. 1 seed for the 1 p.m. Sunday stepladder finals at AMF Riviera Lanes.
He will be joined by defending PBA Player of the Year and past TOC winner EJ Tackett; Matt Ogle, who led the initial match-play round and owns two PBA titles; Marshall Kent, who led following the opening two qualifying rounds and owns six PBA titles; and Jason Sterner, who owns five PBA titles.
Simonsen led the field with 9,977 total pinfall, compiling a 16-7-1 match-play mark and finishing 133 pins in front of Tackett.
Four of the five stepladder finalists — Simonsen, Tackett, Ogle and Sterner — were on the 2023 broadcast, with the latter two seeking their first major titles.
Absent this year? Four-time TOC winner Jason Belmonte, who finished 11th overall, missing the cut by 246 pins. Kent, also seeking his first major title, will meet Sterner in the opening match.
“I executed really well at a high quality throughout the week. My biggest thing was just trying to hunker down in the back half of the game, where it’s really easy to turn 240 or 250 into 210 or 220 in a hurry,” said Simonsen, the 27-year-old Las Vegas two-handed righty who is making his fourth TOC appearance in five years — all among the top two seeds — without a win.
“I think it just goes back to the scoring pace. When you know it’s probably not going to take an eight-bagger to win a game, it makes it a little easier to accept not striking, knowing that you can still throw a five-bagger and bowl 220 and still have a really good opportunity to win.”
POSITION ROUND DRAMA
Heading into the position round, the final game of match play, 19-year-old two-handed left-hander Eric Jones and qualifying leader Brad Miller still were in the hunt to advance. Sterner, who was facing Jones in the final match, had a 46-pin cushion over the lefty and just 48 pins over Miller.
“I was just trying to be in the present and not get ahead of myself,” said Sterner, a 40-year-old Rochester, N.Y., right-hander whose last title came in 2019.
“When (Jones) had the front three, then the fourth and fifth, I knew it was time to bowl. In my mind, it was about pacers … trying to make 12 good pacers. If I’m focusing on him, I can’t commit to what I’m doing and I’m going to make more marginal shots. You can’t bowl timid.”
Jones ran the first seven strikes before leaving a 2-7 baby split in the eighth to end his run. He was able to strike out for 278. Sterner also got a break in the seventh when he tripped out a 7-pin to avoid a 7-9 split.
But the big shot was in the 10th frame, when he broke up another 4-9 split.
“It was about knowing what I needed to do and staying ahead of the moves,” said Sterner, an analytical thinker when it comes to his game and a follower of BowlU concepts. “I knew I had to make a move on the right lane. Unfortunately at a critical moment I chose not to make it and chose my tendencies.
“I trusted it, threw it slower and luckily broke up a split. I didn’t know the count or I could have thrown the ball down the middle. But I assumed I needed all of them, so I then made the move and ‘bang’ ”
Sterner finished with 237. Miller was on a 280 pace in his match with Jason Peters, but came up short in the 10th frame for 253. Sterner earned his spot in the show by just five pins.
The worst case scenario could have produced a three-way tie between Jones, Miller and Sterner with a rolloff for the final TV spot.
“The guys are so good out here … 240 is the new 220. I need those extra two hits a game so I do what I have to do,” said Sterner, who was seventh heading into the final match play round.
“Every week, it’s how many hits am I off the pace to get to the show. Missing spares is unacceptable to me. It’s just not reality to miss and then expect an eight-bagger.”
THE NEW GUY
Kent’s week could be described as a “roller-coaster” after leading the first two qualifying round.
“My second ball really didn’t work well until the last block,” said Kent, a 31-year-old Clarkston, Mich., right-hander referring to his spare shooting as he finished fourth with 9,6. “It decided to take a vacation early.
“Luckily, I was able to draw on my experience in this building to stay patient enough to where I could keep an open mind to throw some six baggers to make up for those nine outs, eight ones and seven twos.”
Kent said he battled issues with his physical game and spare shooting all week. Kent made 84 percent of his spare attempts, five percent below the field average, according to Lanetalk. He made 89 percent of his 57 10-pin attempts, below the field average of 95 percent.
Kent was able to put his frustration into his game when it counted during the final round of match play.
““This morning I got to the point where I got angry enough to start bowling better, and I tried not to let that feeling go away,” Kent said when he asked if he bowled angry Thursday. “Last week during Cheetah Championship match play, I got to the right level of frustration, (but) there have been times I’ve tried to bowl pissed off and it hasn’t worked out.
“There is something to having a little bit of an edge, but it’s something you have or you don’t.”
THROUGH THE PAIN
Tackett and his family drove straight from Detroit to Fairlawn after winning the PBA World Championship on Sunday night. How did he deal with back-to-back weeks in majors after a win?
“One of the best things that helped is being a dad,” the 31-year-old Bluffton, Ind., right-hander said of four-month-old Eddie III (Tripp). “It’s easier to get back into it when (bowling) is not the most important thing anymore. The most important thing was hanging out with Tripp and spending that time with him. It means more to me right now than it does to him, but I know someday that will change.”
Tackett, who has made four stepladder finals in six trips to Riviera, still is looking for his first win here. He will do it with a painful right shoulder that he injured earlier in he week.
“Right now, it’s almost as bad as when it first happened, and the break before the position round didn’t help,” said Tackett, who owns five major titles among his 23 total PBA crowns. “Holding the weight of the ball made it hurt. I’m lucky we have two days off so I don’t have to throw. I’ll do a little self therapy to get it right.
“I want to get back to where I was last night and this morning where it hurt, but it was manageable and it didn’t hinder anything. I want to get back to that.”
But with eight shows in 13 events and two titles this season, his season has been solid.
“It’s been an incredible year. The last two seasons have been just absolutely unbelievable. I have bowled the best of my career, by far,” Tackett said. “I just hope to keep riding the wave, bowling well, getting on TV shows and giving myself opportunities to win championships. That’s all you can do. I’ve done well in the last two shows to win them. I bowled some of the best I ever have in my career on those two shows. Hopefully Sunday I can do that again.”
IN OR OUT
Ogle, the 39-year-old Louisville, Ky., two-handed righty, came into the week on the cusp of making the PBA Playoffs, which featured the top 16 players on the points list. Unofficially, according to pba.com, Ogle must win two matches Sunday to get in. Sterner also can qualify for the playoffs with a win in his opening match against Kent.
“This place likes my ball roll and I like bowling here,” Ogle said. “I’m happy to be in the position that I am. I’d like to be the No. 1 seed, obviously I was there for a minute, but we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”
Asked if the playoffs were in his mind, Ogle says he can’t afford to look ahead.
“I can make the PBA Tour Finals if I win I think. But I get very anxious and can get ahead of myself,” Ogle said. “I had to settle down a little bit, buckle down, get in the right balls to get me comfortable. I have to stay in the moment and not get ahead at all.”
Will having four of the same players in the finals be an advantage?
“I don’t think so. It played last year about a 180 flip from this year’s,” Tackett said. “You just have to show up and see what’s in front of you, come up with the best game plan possible and throw some good shots on top of it.”
Sterner looks forward to competing against “four heavy hitters.”
“I’m going to have to see if I learned anything. I’ll have a couple of more options so I don’t get tied into anything,” Sterner said. “It was difficult mentally with the lanes being so tough. I have to be all in … I know that.”
And the lower scoring pace was something Simonsen liked.
“It feels good to be the top seed,” said Simonsen, a three-time USBC Masters winner. “You want to win this because you’re competing against the best of the best. Everyone here has to win a title.”
And at least four of the five will be looking for their first TOC win Sunday.
WHERE THEY STAND: According to pba.com, in unofficial statistics, Miller needed to make the title match to secure a spot on the 43-player exempt tour for next season.
Andrew Anderson and AJ Johnson are the players currently in the playoffs whose positions are in jeopardy.
If Sterner wins his opening match against Kent, Sterner would leapfrog both Anderson and Johnson in points, eliminating Johnson from the playoffs; if Ogle wins two matches and advances to the title match, he would pass both Anderson and Johnson in points, eliminating Johnson from the playoffs.
If Sterner wins his opening match and Ogle advances to the title match, they will both make the playoffs, eliminating Anderson and Johnson.
Chris Via entered the TOC 17th in points and will make the playoffs by virtue of his 10th place finish. Justin Knowles, who missed the pre-tournament qualifier cut for the TOC, dropped out of the playoffs.
COMING SATURDAY: After two pro-ams at 9 and 11 a.m., the next round of the PBA Elite League will begin at 4 p.m., featuring the Akron Atom Splitters vs. Las Vegas High Rollers and Portland Lumberjacks vs. Lucky Strike L.A. X. It will be broadcast live on FS1. Tickets are $20.
See complete TOC standings here: