Anthony Simonsen Wins PBA Tour Finals for Eighth Career PBA Tour Title Defeats Kyle Troup in the title match to avenge loss in last year’s PBA Tour Finals Allen Park, Mich.—Anthony Simonsen won the race-to-two-points championship match, 2-1, over Kyle Troup to win the 2021 PBA Tour Finals as Simonsen’s eighth career Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour title. In a rematch of last season’s PBA Tour Finals title match, Simonsen avenged his 2020 loss and claimed his first title since he won twice in 2019. “I wanted to get out and bowl well,” said Simonsen. “If you bowl well and you lose, it’s a little easier to accept than when you bowl badly and lose. I was able to just bowl today and not have to manipulate everything.” In the race-to-two points format, Troup took the first game and Simonsen responded with a 279 in game two to force a ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off. “We’re bowling two games for a reason in this format,” said Simonsen. “I wanted to get myself lined up and find a clear mindset going into the next game. Once I got into a rhythm, it was on from there.” Simonsen, the higher seed, elected to have Troup start the roll-off. Troup struck. Simonsen spared and then filled the 10th with three strikes, forcing Troup to get two strikes and a single pin to win. Troup struck on his first shot but left a 10 pin on the second shot, giving Simonsen his eighth career title. “My double in the 10th was huge,” said Simonsen. “Making him have to get up and double on a lane that didn’t seem like any of us were super comfortable on. He made two really good shots, but the 10 pin is hard to knock over.” Simonsen and Troup made it to the championship match by winning their respective groups during yesterday’s four-game qualifying block, then surviving the group stepladder finals earlier today. Simonsen led Group 2 into the stepladder, then defeated Kris Prather in a roll-off in the Group 2 final match to advance to the championship against Troup. Troup qualified as the second seed after four games of qualifying, then defeated Chris Via in a single game and Bill O’Neill in a roll-off to win the Group 1 stepladder and get to the championship match. In the opening match of the Group 1 stepladder, Chris Via rolled the 32nd televised 300 game in a PBA Tour title event, knocking out two-time PBA Tour Finals champion EJ Tackett. Via, who joined Sean Rash and François Lavoie as the only players in PBA history to roll two televised perfect games in title events, also became the first player ever to bowl two televised perfect games in the same season, having rolled his first during the PBA Players Championship East Region Finals earlier this year. Via received a $10,000 bonus for the feat. PBA Tour Finals Results Thunderbowl Lanes – Allen Park, Mich. Saturday, June 26 – Group 1 Qualifying Bill O’Neill, 1,062 (201, 235, 237, 239 plus 150 bonus pins) Kyle Troup, 997 (258, 212, 214, 213 plus 100 bonus pins) Chris Via, 869 (182, 183, 238, 206 plus 60 bonus pins) EJ Tackett, 804 (151, 192, 220, 211 plus 30 bonus pins) Saturday, June 26 – Group 2 Qualifying Anthony Simonsen, 1,079 (289, 227, 249, 219 plus 95 bonus pins) Kris Prather, 1,068 (234, 239, 227, 258 plus 110 bonus pins) Jesper Svensson, 1,041 (231, 279, 203, 243 plus 85 bonus pins) François Lavoie, 945 (215, 204, 260, 216 plus 50 bonus pins) Sunday, June 27 – Group 1 Stepladder Match 1 – Chris Via def. EJ Tackett (earns $3,000), 300-236 Match 2 – Kyle Troup def. Chris Via ($3,500 for finishing third in his group plus $10,000 for bowling a perfect game), 253-220 Match 3 (race to two points) – Kyle Troup def. Bill O’Neill ($7,500), 2-1 Game 1 – Troup def. O’Neill, 229-219 Game 2 – O’Neill def. Troup, 257-235 9th/10th-frame roll-off – Troup def. O’Neill, 50-49 Sunday, June 27 – Group 2 Stepladder Match 1 – François Lavoie def. Jesper Svensson ($3,000), 259-211 Match 2 – Kris Prather def. François Lavoie ($3,500), 245-208 Match 3 (race to two points) – Anthony Simonsen def. Kris Prather ($7,500), 2-1 Game 1 – Prather def. Simonsen, 231-208 Game 2 – Simonsen def. Prather, 256-243 9th/10th-frame roll-off – Simonsen def. Prather, 49-28 Sunday, June 27 – Championship Match (Race to Two Points) Anthony Simonsen ($30,000) def. Kyle Troup ($17,000), 2-1 Game 1 – Troup def. Simonsen, 247-212 Game 2 – Simonsen def. Troup, 279-202 9th/10th-frame roll-off – Simonsen def. Troup, 50-49 About the PBA The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.