Rash Goes 8-0 in Final Match Play Round to Take

PBA Lubbock Sports Open Stepladder Finals Top Seed

Rash will be joined by Dick Allen, Michael Tang, Kyle Troup and Rhino Page

in Sunday’s live FS1 stepladder finals telecast

LUBBOCK, Texas (Jan. 26, 2019) – Boosted by an 8-0 record in the final match play round, Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., earned the top seed for the stepladder finals of the PBA Lubbock Sports Open Saturday at South Plains Lanes.

After three qualifying and two match play rounds, Rash earned the top berth with a 37-game 8,586 pinfall total (including match play bonus pins) and 13-3 overall match play record, to lead the five players who advanced to Sunday’s finals that will air live on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT).

“Last week was a big confidence boost,” said the 13-time tour winner, who teamed with Matt Ogle to win the PBA Mark Roth-Marshall Holman Doubles Championship that aired on FS1 last Sunday. “Obviously winning is a big confidence boost but you’re always going to have the ups and downs. There’s still work to be done but it feels good to be riding the ups right now.”

Rash’s 8-0 performance moved him into the lead after finishing Friday’s match play round in fifth with a 5-3 record.

In match play, players bowled on a dual lane condition – the PBA 42-foot Scorpion lane condition on the left lane and 32-foot Wolf condition on the right lane. The same conditions will be used for the stepladder finals.

“It was about filling frames and taking advantage of opportunities,” said Rash, whose last singles tour title came in the 2017 Xtra Frame Gene Carter Pro Shop Classic. “If you were bowling an opponent who was struggling, you had to take advantage of that by bearing down and making your spares if you weren’t able to strike.”

Qualifying second for the finals with a 9-7 match play record and 8,428 pinfall was five-time tour winner Dick Allen of Lexington, S.C. Making his first telecast appearance of 2019, Allen’s last tour win came in the 2018 PBA Xtra Frame Maine Shootout.

San Francisco native Michael Tang rode an 11-4-1 match play record and 8,412 pinfall to qualify third for the finals to make his first career singles telecast appearance as a PBA member. Now living in Johnstown, Ohio, the 23-year-old right-hander finished second in the 2018 Roth-Holman Doubles Championship with his brother Darren and was runner-up in the 2017 USBC Masters as an amateur. Tang finished with a 7-0-1 record after Friday’s first match play round.

Three-time tour winner Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., had an 8-8 record in match play and 8,393 pinfall to qualify fourth. Making his first telecast appearance in 2019, the 23-year-old two-hander’s last tour win came in the 2018 Lucky Larsen Masters in Sweden.

Six-time tour winner Rhino Page of Orlando earned the No. 5 position with a 10-5-1 match play record and 8,373 pinfall. The left-hander jumped from seventh in the position round match with a 246-245 win over 12-time tour winner EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Ind., for his second telecast appearance of 2019. Page, the 2017 U.S. Open winner, finished fifth in the season-opening PBA Hall of Fame Classic.

PBA LUBBOCK SPORTS OPEN

South Plains Lanes, Lubbock Texas, Saturday

FIFTH ROUND RESULTS

(after 37 games. Includes match play record and total pinfall including bonus pins. Top five advance to Sunday’s live finals on FS1)

1, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 13-3, 8,586.
2, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 9-7, 8,428.
3, Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 11-4-1, 8,412.
4, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 8-8, 8,393.
5, Rhino Page, Orlando, 10-5-1, 8,373. 
6, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 8-8, 8,347, $4,600.
7, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 10-6, 8,310, $4,000.
8, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 7-8-1, 8,271, $3,500.
9, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 6-9-1, 8,258, $3,300.
10, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 5-11, 8,157, $3,100.
11, Stuart Williams, England, 7-9, 8,150, $3,000.
12, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 8-7-1, 8,132, $3,000.
13, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 6-9-1, 8,033, $2,800.
14, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 5-11, 7,964, $2,700.
15, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 5-11, 7,867, $2,600.
16, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 7-9, 7,865, $2,500.