MaineQuarterly.com Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship

Two-Handed Teammates Kyle Troup, Jesper Svensson Top Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Stepladder Finalists

PORTLAND, Maine – For the first time in Professional Bowlers Association history, a team of two-handed players will compete for the title as top qualifiers in the MaineQuarterly.com Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship finals at Bayside Bowl Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Kyle Troup, a 25-year-old right-handed two-hander from Taylorsville, N.C., and Jesper Svensson, a 22-year-old left-handed two-handed player from Sweden, rolled a 289 in the 40th and final “alternate frame” game Wednesday to take the top berth in Sunday’s stepladder finals away from EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., and Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash.

Troup, who owns one PBA Tour title, and Svensson, the first player to win five PBA Tour titles by age 21,

finished qualifying with a composite total of 9,353 pins for 24 individual games and 16 alternate-frame games, topping Tackett and Kent by 21 pins with their big closing game. Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., and partner Jason Belmonte of Australia, qualified third, and Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., and first-time TV finalist Zeke Bayt of Westerville, Ohio, qualified fourth. DJ Archer of Friendswood, Texas, and partner Shawn Maldonado of Houston claimed the fifth spot in the finals, holding off defending champions Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, and Connor Pickford of Plano, Texas, by 26 pins.

Troup and Svensson are two of four two-handed players to advance to the stepladder finals. Belmonte and Maldonado also bowl with both hands. Among the finalists, Bayt and Maldonado are the only non-title winners.

Troup is known for his Afro hairstyle and wearing the same kind of colorful clothing his equally-flamboyant father, eight-time PBA winner Guppy Troup, wore. And he said he is converting the normally-conservative Svensson to his distinctive apparel for Sunday’s finals.

The two players had never bowled together prior to Maine, but it was a match against each other that led to their partnership.

“Jesper initiated it,” Troup said. “We were bowling against each other in the Las Vegas Open last fall, and in the middle of the match, he asked me if I wanted to bowl the doubles tournament with him. I think he wanted to rattle me, but we’ve spent a lot of time together ever since.”

“The first time I met Kyle, I decided he was a cool guy – a great bowler and a good person,” Svensson said. “We have developed good chemistry. We’ve been joking around since then about bowling together. We said we were going to bowl for the title in Portland, and here we are.”

Although they bowl on opposite sides of the lane, they are able to communicate well.

“That last round was exciting,” Troup said of the final eight games, where the lead changed almost every game. “We knew we had a little cushion going into the final round. We had a bad game and got frazzled for a few minutes, but we let it go.”

“We decided we weren’t going to look at the scoreboard, just bowl,” Svensson said.

“Going into the final game, we knew we were one pin out of the lead,” Troup said. “I told Jesper I had five good shots in me if he did.”

The pair started the final game with 10 strikes before Troup left a solid 10 pin to end their bid for a perfect game.

In addition to airing live on ESPN Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, the finals will be simultaneously streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

MAINEQUARTERLY.COM MARK ROTH/MARSHALL HOLMAN PBA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP

Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine, April 12

Final Qualifying Standings (after 40 games [16 alternate frame and 24 individual games]; top five advance to ESPN stepladder finals Sunday at 1 p.m. ET):

1, Jesper Svensson, Sweden/Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 9,353.
2, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind./Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 9,332.
3, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa./Jason Belmonte, Australia, 9,229.
4, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C./Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 9,144.
5, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas/Shawn Maldonado, Houston, Texas, 9,141.
6, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas/Connor Pickford, Plano, Texas, 9,115, $7,000.
7, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz./Andres Gomez, Colombia, 8,981, $7,000.
8, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J./AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 8,841, $5,500.

EJ Tackett, Marshall Kent Lead 8 Teams into Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Match Play

Former PBA Rookies of the Year “just having fun” rolling through the field

PORTLAND, Maine – EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., and Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., Professional Bowlers Association Rookies of the Year for 2013 and 2014, respectively, were “relaxed and having fun” Tuesday as they ransacked the field in the MaineQuarterly.com Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship at Bayside Bowl.

The 24-year-old doubles partners, who characterized themselves as “polar opposites” as far as bowling styles are concerned, averaged a combined 232 for 12 doubles (24 individual) games to lead the field of eight teams that advanced to Wednesday’s final qualifying rounds. Their 5,586 pinfall total gave them a 32-pin lead over a pair of two-handed players, Sweden’s Jesper Svensson and Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C. First-round leaders Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., and Jason Belmonte of Australia were in third place and defending champions Connor Pickford of Plano, Texas, and Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, advanced in fifth place.

Tackett, PBA’s 2016 Player of the Year, and Kent reunited after bowling together on the ‘Merica Rooster Illusion team that won the PBA Team Challenge in Las Vegas last fall, where they found the magical blend they both were looking for.

“I was looking for a personality I could match up with,” said Kent, who led the duo by 120 pins with his six-game, 2,863 pinfall total that included a 300 game. “It’s easy to find good players to bowl with, but I wanted to bowl with someone I could relax with…” and “…we absolutely do that,” said Tackett, finishing Kent’s thought.

“Marshall’s ball roll is a lot different than mine. He sees the lane a lot differently than I do,” Tackett added. “He’s hooking the ball; I was throwing a urethane ball and trying to play straighter. The way we bowl, we’re polar opposites.

“The team we won with last fall was strategically put together with guys who all have fun,” Tackett continued. Other members of their team were Ronnie Russell, Rhino Page and Chris Loschetter. “It’s so important in this kind of environment.

“We were ragging on each other all day,” Kent chimed in. “There was a lot of banter.”

“A lot,” Tackett laughed.

“That’s why we could save ourselves from bad games,” Kent said. “We didn’t let anything get us down. We always pulled it back together the next game.”

Wednesday’s competition will include two eight-game rounds of Baker format (alternate frame) match play at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Based on combined standard and Baker pinfall totals, the top four teams will advance to the live ESPN stepladder finals on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The finals also will be simultaneously streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

Both of Wednesday’s match play rounds will be covered live on PBA’s Xtra Frame live streaming service. For subscription information, visit xtraframe.tv.

Following Wednesday’s final rounds of doubles qualifying, the PBA will present a special pay-per-view King of Bowling match involving Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas; Tackett and Jason Belmonte of Australia is a winner-take-all three-game total pinfall match. Fans can purchase the special match for $2.99 by visiting http://www.xtraframe.tv/#!liveevent?EV_pid=3574. The special webcast begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.

MAINEQUARTERLY.COM MARK ROTH/MARSHALL HOLMAN PBA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP

Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine, April 11

Second Round Standings (after 12 doubles/24 individual games):

1, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash./EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 5,586.
2, Jesper Svensson, Sweden/Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 5,552.
3, Jason Belmonte, Australia/3, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 5,533.
4, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C./Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 5,519.

5, Connor Pickford, Plano, Texas/Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 5,442.
6, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J./AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 5,441.
7, Andres Gomez, Colombia/Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 5,420.
8, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas/Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 5,409.
Failed to advance:

9, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 2,709/Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., 5,404

10, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla./Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 5,387.
11, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y./Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 5,385.
12, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas/Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 5,376

13, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas/Sam Cooley, Australia, 5,371.

14, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa./John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 5,361.
15, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C./Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 5,354.
16, Jeff Evans, Supply, N.C./Dwight Adams, Greensboro, N.C., 5,348.
17, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz./Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 5,332.
18, Matthew McNiel, Minneapolis/Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., 5,325.
19, Dave Wodka, Beavercreek, Ohio/Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., 5,322.
20, Tim Mack, Indianapolis/Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 5,296.
21, BJ Moore III, Greensburg, Pa./Matthew O’Grady, Rahway, N.J., 5,270.
22, Graham Fach, Canada/Brett Spangler, Niles, Ohio, 5,236.
23, Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore./Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 5,214.
24, Martin Larsen, Sweden/Stuart Williams, England, 5,212.
25, John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, N.Y./Francois Lavoie, Canada, 5,085.
26, Jason Sterner, Rockledge, Fla./Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 5,063.
27, Dom Barrett, England/Osku Palermaa, Finland, 5,039.

28, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind./Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 5,030.
29, w-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y./w-Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y., 5,002.
30, n-Jimmy Clark, Hermon, N.H./n-James Goulding, Lewiston, Maine, 4,989.
31, n-Joseph Ramsdell III, Skowhegan, Maine/n-Sarah Pelletier, Lewiston, Maine, 4,931.
32, n-Terrence Robinson, Gray, Maine/n-Charlie Mitchell, Portland, Maine, 4,360.

300 Games: Zeke Bayt, Marshall Kent, Tim Mack.

n-denotes non-member

Jason Belmonte, Bill O’Neill Take 11-Pin Lead After Opening Round of Roth/Holman PBA Doubles

PORTLAND, Maine – Australia’s Jason Belmonte, chasing his third title of 2017, and close friend Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., averaged 232.67 as a team Monday to take the first round lead in the MaineQuarterly.com Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship Monday Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.

Belmonte, the two-handed star who has already won a pair of PBA major titles in 2017 (the Barbasol PBA Players Championship and a record fourth United States Bowling Congress Masters), and O’Neill rallied in their sixth game to take the lead with 2,792 total pins for their 12 individual games.

Belmonte carried the heavier load, rolling games of 269, 225 and 247 in the “new” side of the newly-renovated Bayside Bowl and then rolled the second 300 game of the tournament when the team moved over to the old section of Bayside for their final three games. Belmonte closed his found with games of 185 and 217. O’Neill started with 189 before ramping it up with games of 246, 235, 236, 206 and 237.

Bayside Bowl, a “boutique” bowling center built on the footprint of an aging furniture warehouse, underwent a major transformation over the winter, adding eight lanes to its original 12 lanes, along with other features to enhance the facility’s social appeal. With 20 lanes available, Bayside was able to accommodate the 32-team PBA doubles championship which is named after two PBA legends who had considerable success themselves as doubles partners. Coincidentally, Monday was Roth’s 65th birthday.

“(Jason) kept me in it early; I played lanes wrong the first game, but then I got things figured out,” said O’Neill, an eight-time PBA Tour winner. “Hopefully I can come back tomorrow and do a little better.”

“I had a good start, but things got rocky a little later,” Belmonte said. “It was just a bit of jet lag kicking in, but overall I’m really happy. I figured the (lane conditioning) pattern today was going to be medium to high scoring, so I wanted to come out of the gate strong.

“The two bays played a little different, but we finished our third game early so we went over and watched the guys play on the other side. I was able to make a good guess and after three frames (of his 300 game), I was pretty confident about bowling a good game.”

In second place, 11 pins behind O’Neill and Belmonte, were Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., and Zeke Bayt of Westerville, Ohio. Defending champions Connor Pickford of Plano, Texas, and Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, finished with 2,748 pins, 33 behind Allen and Bayt. Only 26 pins separated third from ninth place.

The 32 teams will bowl six more doubles games Tuesday with the top eight teams after 12 combined doubles games (24 individual games) advancing to two eight-game rounds of Baker format (alternate frame) match play on Wednesdays. Based on combined standard and Baker pinfall totals, the top four teams will advance to the live ESPN stepladder finals on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The finals also will be simultaneously streamed live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

All of the competition Tuesday and Wednesday will be covered live on PBA’s Xtra Frame live streaming service. For subscription information, visit xtraframe.tv.

MAINEQUARTERLY.COM MARK ROTH/MARSHALL HOLMAN PBA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP
Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine, April 10

First Round Standings (after six doubles games):
1, Jason Belmonte, Australia/Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 2,792.
2, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C.;/Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 2,781.
3, Connor Pickford, Plano, Texas/Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 2,748.
4, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash./EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 2,744.
5, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla./Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., 2,743.
6, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas/Sam Cooley, Australia, 2,740.
7 (tie), Dwight Adams, Greensboro, N.C./Jeff Evans, Supply, N.C., and Jesper Svensson, Sweden/Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 2,734.
9, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill./Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 2,722.
10, Andres Gomez, Colombia/Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz, 2,714.
11, Matthew McNiel, Minneapolis/Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., 2,706.
12, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas/Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 2,686.
13, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas/Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 2,677.
14, Martin Larsen, Sweden/Stuart Williams, England, 2,670.
15, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa./John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 2,662.
16, Bryon Smith, Roseburg, Ore./Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 2,645.
17, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla./Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 2,631.
18, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C./Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 2,628.
19, Dave Wodka, Beavercreek, Ohio/Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., 2,626.
20, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz./Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 2,619.
21 (tie), Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y./Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., and John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, N.Y./Francois Lavoie, Canada, 2,613.
23, Graham Fach, Canada/Brett Spangler, Niles, Ohio, 2,612.
24, BJ Moore III, Greensburg, Pa./Matthew O’Grady, Rahway, N.J., 2,582.
25, Tim Mack, Indianapolis/Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 2,566.
26, Osku Palermaa, Finland/Dom Barrett, England, 2,550.
27, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J./Jason Sterner, Rockledge, Fla., 2,519.
28, w-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y./w-Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y., 2,513.
29, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind./Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 2,488.
30, n-James Goulding, Lewiston, Maine/n-Jimmy Clark, Hermon, N.H., 2,432.
31, n-Joseph Ramsdell III, Skowhegan, Maine/n-Sarah Pelletier, Lewiston, Maine, 2,353.
32, n-Terrence Robinson, Gray, Maine/n-Charlie Mitchell, Portland, Maine, 2,247.