Simonsen Beats Tackett in Roll-off to Win PBA Bear Open

For Seventh Career Go Bowling! PBA Tour Title

Simonsen beats Tackett in second one-ball roll-off 10-9 after tying 267-267 in title match

AURORA, Ill. (Aug. 29, 2019) – After tying 267-267 in the title match, Anthony Simonsen defeated stepladder finals top seed EJ Tackett 10-9 in a second one-ball roll-off to win the PBA Bear Open Thursday at Parkside Lanes for his second Go Bowling! PBA Tour title of the season and seventh of his career.

In the second tournament of the FloBowling PBA Summer Swing presented by the Brands of Ebonite International, Simonsen’s win came after a runner-up finish to winner Sean Rash in the PBA Wolf Open Tuesday, the first tournament of the Summer Swing.

Tackett, who finished the title match first, missed a 2 pin on his fill ball in the 10th frame which opened the door for Simonsen who needed two strikes and a nine count on his fill ball to win. Simonsen couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity after he got the two strikes leaving the 3-10 split on his fill ball sending the match into overtime. Both players struck on the first roll-off ball forcing another tiebreaker which Simonsen won with a strike after Tackett left a four pin on his shot.

“I was fortunate to get into a roll-off but I didn’t get it done on that last shot,” said the 22-year-old Simonsen who uses the two-handed delivery. “I threw two good shots in the 10th but I rushed the last shot and it got away from me a little bit. Looking back, I probably should have backed off and taken more time to refocus.

“Once we both struck on the first ball (of the rolloff) I felt I had to get it done the second time because EJ was throwing the ball well too and you’re not going to get many chances against a player of his ability, said Simonsen, who was the No. 2 seed for the finals.

Simonsen won the PBA Players Championship in February for his first title of the season to become the youngest player to win two majors.

“When I first started my dream was to win one title by this time in my career but to have seven is unbelievable,” Simonsen added.”

Tackett was trying for his second title of the season and 14th of his career after winning the Barbasol PBA Tour Finals in July.

The stepladder finals started with No. 5 seed Kyle Sherman, trying for a second tour title, beating No. 4 seed 10-time tour winner Wes Malott 207-191 in the opening match.  In the second match, Sherman beat No. 3 seed four-time PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte 247-237 who was trying for his fifth win of the season and 23rd of his career.  Simonsen then went on to beat Sherman 278-225 in the semifinal to advance to the title match.  

With the conclusion of Bear Open qualifying earlier in the day, Simonsen led 24 players who advanced to PBA Illinois Open match play with a 6,532 28-game pinfall total (233 average). The Illinois Open is the third and final event of the week-long Summer Swing at Parkside Lanes.

The first of two Illinois Open eight-game round robin match play rounds begin Friday at 11 a.m. CT with the second round at 5 p.m. The final match play round gets underway Saturday morning 11 a.m. which will determine the top five players for the Illinois Open stepladder finals at 3:30 p.m. 

The 24 players who advanced to match play will have the added challenge of bowling on the PBA Bear 41-foot lane condition on the left lane and the Wolf 32-foot lane condition on the right lane in each match.

The entire Summer Swing is streamed live on FloBowling. For subscription information visit www.flobowling.com.

PBA BEAR OPEN

Second event of the FloBowling PBA Summer Swing presented by the Brands of Ebonite International

Parkside Lanes, Aurora, Ill., Thursday

Final Standings

1, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, $10,000

2, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind.  $6,000

3, Kyle Sherman, O’Fallon, Mo., $4,000.

4, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $3,500.

5, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, $2,500.

Stepladder Results

Match One –.Sherman def. Malott, 207-191.

Match Two – Sherman def. Belmonte, 247-237

Semifinal – Simonsen def. Sherman, 278-225.

Final – Simonsen def. Tackett, 267-267

(Simonsen won second one-ball roll-off 10-9 for title)

CASHERS ROUND RESULTS

(20-game pinfall totals. Top five advance to stepladder finals)

1, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 4,672.
2, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 4,647.
3, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 4,631.
4, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 4,505.
5, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 4,493.
6, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 4,488, $2,000.
7, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 4,476, $1,600.
8, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 4,445, $1,400.
9, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 4,422, $1,400.
10, Dom Barrett, England, 4,420, $1,000.
11, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 4,419, $900.
12, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 4,402, $800.
13, Rhino Page, Spokane, Wash., 4,401, $750.
14, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 4,326, $740.
15, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 4,315, $730.
16, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 4,297, $720.
17, (tie) Dakota Vostry, Chicago, Ill., 4,265, and Tun Ameerul Al-Hakim, Malaysia, 4,265, $705.

SECOND ROUND QUALIFYING RESULTS

(14-game pinfall totals. Top 18 advance to cashers round)

1, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 3,297.
2, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 3,294.
3, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 3,240.
4, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 3,153.
5, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3,146.
6, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,140.
7, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 3,122.
8, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 3,115.
9, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 3,111.
10, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3,103.
11, Dom Barrett, England, 3,095.
12, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 3,088.
13, Tun Ameerul Al-Hakim, Malaysia, 3,054.
14, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 3,045.
15, Dakota Vostry, Chicago, Ill., 3,036.
16, (tie) Rhino Page, Spokane, Wash., and Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 3,033.
18, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 3,027.

Failed to advance:
19, Tom Sorce, Blasdell, N.Y., 3,016.
20, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 3,009.
21, Sam Cooley, Australia, 3,005.
22, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 2,996.
23, Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., 2,992.
24, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 2,988.
25, Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 2,987.
26, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 2,979.
27, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 2,978.
28, (tie) Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, and Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 2,975.
30, Mitch Hupe, Canada, 2,968.
31, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 2,965.
32, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 2,961.
33, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 2,958.
34, Matt Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 2,956.
35, Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 2,954.
36, Zach Doty, Campbellsville, Ky., 2,951.
37, (tie) George Duke, Vidor, Texas, and Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 2,949.
39, Richard Teece, England, 2,941.
40, Zach Wilkins, Canada, 2,939.
41, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 2,937.
42, Greg Ostrander, Brick, N.J., 2,921.
43, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 2,919.
44, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 2,917.
45, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 2,916.
46, Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 2,911.
47, Jason Sterner, Rochester, N.Y., 2,908.
48, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 2,907.
49, Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 2,902.
50, Christopher O'Neil, Decatur, Ill., 2,898.
51, (tie) Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., and Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 2,895.
53, James Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 2,893.
54, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 2,886.
55, (tie) Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, and Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 2,884.
57, Raul Ayala Salazar, Ecuador, 2,880.
58, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 2,875.
59, JR Raymond, Clinton Twp., Mich., 2,872.
60, (tie) John Furey, Howell, N.J., and Kurt Pilon, Sterling Heights, Mich., 2,869.
62, William Svensson, Sweden, 2,868.
63, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 2,854.
64, Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 2,851.
65, Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, 2,846.
66, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 2,829.
67, Kenneth Ryan, Farmingdale, NJ, 2,818.
68, n-Kyle Salter, Montgomery. Ill., 2,807.
69, Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 2,803.
70, (tie) Darren Tang, Las Vegas, and Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 2,794.
72, (tie) Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, Ill. and Zac Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 2,790.
74, (tie) Oskar Wirefeldt, Sweden, and Stuart Williams, England, 2,788.
76, Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., 2,782.
77, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 2,771.
78, Mike Coffey, Melbourne, Fla., 2,746.
79, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 2,745.
80, (tie) Francois Louw, South Africa, and Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 2,741.
82, Russ Oviatt, Chandler, Ariz., 2,737.
83, n-Matt Russo, Fariview Heights, Ill., 2,733.
84, Christopher Dower, Cary, Ill., 2,718.
85, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 2,713.
86, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 2,711.
87, Ryan Lakota, Shorewood, Ill., 2,709.
88, Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 2,706.
89, Craig Schneider, Marcy, N.Y., 2,702.
90, Chandler Stevens, Archbold, Ohio, 2,692.
91, n-Tannya Lopez, Mexico, 2,670.
92, (tie) Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico, and Michael Martell, Brooklyn, N.Y., 2,668.
94, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 2,651.
95, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 2,650.
96, John Contos, Crystal Lake, 2,640.
97, Stephen Hahn, Sterling, Va., 2,616.
98, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 2,542.
99, Joseph Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 2,541.
100, Richard Lupo, St. Charles, Mo., 2,493.
101, Armando Santacruz, Ecuador, 2,444.

300 games – Francois Lavoie (2)

n-denotes non-PBA member