TROUP UPSETS BELMONTE

Troup Upsets Belmonte to Win PBA-WBT Storm Lucky Larsen Masters Title

Two-handed players finish one-two-three in Sweden; U.S. star Bill O’Neill rounds out top four

 

MALMO, Sweden (Sept. 9, 2018) – Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., threw strikes on seven of his first eight shots on his way to upsetting top qualifier and defending champion Jason Belmonte of Australia, 248-232, in the title match of the PBA International-World Bowling Tour Storm Lucky Larsen Masters at Baltiska Bowlinghallen Sunday.

 

Troup, a 27-year-old 10th-year PBA member, earned his third PBA Tour title along with a $16,500 first prize, completing a sweep of the top three positions by two-handed players. Belmonte, who led qualifying as well as the “Step Three” round leading into the stepladder finals, saw his hopes for a title repeat when he failed to convert the 2-10 split in the fourth frame and left the 2-8 in the ninth frame after rallying behind a string of four strikes.

 

The colorful Troup, dressed in matching jersey and slacks in Sweden’s blue-and-yellow national colors, also bowled without his trademark “afro” hairdo in denying Belmonte his third title of the 2018 season.

 

“This is my first trip to Sweden,” Troup said. “I couldn’t ask for a better result.”

 

In the first stepladder match, Ireland’s Christopher Sloan opened in the seventh frame of a close match, but recovered by throwing six strikes to close out the contest and eliminate nine-time PBA Tour champion Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., 236-234.

 

Troup advanced to the title match with a 235-187 win over Sloan, a 24-year-old third-year PBA member from Dublin, who was unable to sustain his first-game momentum. Sloan threw one strike and had an open in his first six frames while Troup started with four strikes. A pocket 7-10 in the sixth frame slowed Troup, but he came right back with another three strikes to roll to an easy win.

 

The Malmo tournament – named in honor of Swedish PBA star Martin Larsen – was a World Bowling Tour points event. The tournament format involved multiple six-game qualifying squads to arrive at 60 finalists. Qualifiers 34-60 bowled the four-game Step One, with the top 11 advancing to Step Two along with qualifiers 9-33. The 36 players in Step Two bowled another four-game block, with the top 16 joining qualifiers 1-8 in Step Three for an eight-game round to determine the four stepladder finalists. In each “Step” round, pinfall from all previous rounds was dropped. Under tournament rules, women bowling in the event were entitled to eight handicap pins per game.

 

The final PBA International-WBT event on the 2018 schedule is the WBT Thailand which will take place in Bangkok Sept. 22-28. Thailand’s Jojoe Yannaphon is defending champion. Fans can follow the event on the Asian Bowling Federation website (http://www.abf-online.org/results/ttbawbt18.htm).

 

PBA INTERNATIONAL-WORLD BOWLING TOUR STORM LUCKY LARSEN MASTERS

Baltiska Bowlinghallen, Malmo, Sweden, Sunday

 

Final Standings:

1, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., $16,498.

2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $12,099.

3, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, $8,799.

4, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., $6,599.

 

Stepladder Results:

Match One – Sloan def. O’Neill, 236-234.

Semifinal Match – Troup def. Sloan, 235-187.

Championship – Troup def. Belmonte, 248-232.

 

Step Three Cashers (after 8 games; top 4 advanced to stepladder finals):

1, Belmonte, 1,916.

2, Troup, 1,810.

3, O’Neill, 1,800.

4, Sloan, 1,776.

5, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 1,774, $4,949.

6, Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 1,767, $3,850

7, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 1,765, $3,300.

8, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,733, $2,750.

9, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,726, $2,200.

10, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 1,720, $1,980.

11, Annop Arromsaranon, Thailand, 1,714, $1,870.

12, Mattias Wetterberg, Sweden, 1,678, $1,787.

13, Stuart Williams, England, 1,671, $1,732.

14, Teemu Putkisto, Finland, 1,658, $1,677.

15, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,645, $1,650.

16, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,634, $1,622.

17, Karl Wahlgren, Sweden, 1,615, $1,595.

18, Jimmy Dan Mortensen, Denmark, 1,593, $1,567.

19, Jojoe Yannaphon, Thailand, 1,591, $1,540.

20, w-Sandra Gongora, Mexico, 1,571, $1,512.

21, w-Daria Pajak, Poland, 1,544, $1,485.

22, William Svensson, Sweden, 1,541, $1,457.

23, Mikael Roos, Sweden, 1,535, $1,430.

24, Tore Torgersen, Norway, 1,516, $1,375.

 

Step Two Cashers (did not advance, after 4 games):

25, Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland, 855, $1,320.

26, Peter Hellstrom, Sweden, 849, $1,265.

27, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 849, $1,237.

28, Gustaf Johansson, Sweden, 844, $1,210.

29, Matt McNiel, Minneapolis, 839, $1,182.

30, Richie Teece, England, 835, $1,155.

31, Joonas Hahl, Finland, 821, $1,127.

32, w-Liz Johnson, Palatine, Ill., 811, $1,100.

33, Alfred Berggren, Sweden, 810, $1,072.

34, Daniel Fransson, Sweden, 809, $1,045.

35, w-Li Jan Sin, Malaysia, 807, $1,017.

36, Emanuel Jonsson, Sweden, 790, $990.

37, Gaetan Mouveroux, France, 773, $962.

38, Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 771, $935.

39, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 762, $907.

40, Syafiq Ridhwan, Malaysia, 749, $880.

41, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 731, $852.

42, AJ Chapman, St. Paul, Minn., 724, $825.

43, Kim Andersson, Sweden, 709, $797.

44, Pyry Puharinen, Finland, 624, $770.

 

Step One Cashers (did not advance, after 4 games):

45, w-Jenny Wegner, Sweden, 840, $715.

46, Tomas Kayhko, Finland, 837, $660.

47, Kevin Lindbladh, Sweden, 825, $660.

48, Carsten Warming Hansen, Denmark, 824, $660.

49, Cameron Weier, Tacoma, Wash., 814, $605.

50 (tie), Rasmus Edvall, Sweden, and Viktor Albihn, Sweden, 808, $525.

52, Niko Oksanen, Finland, 796, $495.

53, Bendt Petersson, Sweden, 795, $495.

54, Jorgen Roos, Sweden, 780, $440.

55, Martin Paulsson, Sweden, 779, $440.

56, Francois Louw, South Africa, 776, $440.

57, Joachim Karlsson, Sweden, 769, $385.

58, Eric Ahlstrand, Sweden, 752, $385.

59, Robin Persson, Sweden, 714, $385.

60, Thor Morten Bjorge, Norway, 694, $385.

 

w-denotes woman (women received 8 handicap pins per game).