Lavoie, O’Neill Win Roll-offs to Advance to Kia PBA Playoffs Quarterfinals
Milford, Conn.—François Lavoie and Bill O’Neill both needed tie-breaking roll-offs to win their respective Kia PBA Playoffs Round of 16 matches and advance to the quarterfinals, in which they’ll face each other. Lavoie, the No. 4 seed, survived a scare from Dick Allen and 12th-seeded O’Neill, the defending PBA Playoffs champion, came from behind to knock out Jakob Butturff.
In a race-to-two-points format, one point is awarded to the winner of each game. If the players split the games, a ninth-and-10th-frame roll-off breaks the tie.
Lavoie, the 2021 PBA Tournament of Champions and Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam winner, won game one handily over Allen, rolling the front seven on the way to a 266-185 win. In the second game, Allen built a lead with the front five and, although it was close throughout, never let Lavoie catch him. Allen’s 258 game tied the match at one point apiece and required a roll-off to break the tie.
As the higher seed, Lavoie had the choice of starting lane and order and opted to bowl first on the left lane. After a strike from Lavoie, Allen rolled a spare and three straight strikes, forcing Lavoie to get two strikes and a pin in the 10th to win. Lavoie got the first two strikes and nine on his fill ball to secure the victory and advance to the quarterfinals.
Butturff, the No. 5 seed who finished second in both the Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship and U.S. Open this season, struck in eight of the first nine frames to take the first game from O’Neill, 257-193.
O’Neill, who finished second in the 2019 PBA Playoffs and won the 2020 PBA Playoffs, finished the second game with a 227, forcing Butturff to mark in the 10th frame to win. Instead, Butturff left a 6-7 split and failed to convert, knotting the match at one point each.
Butturff opted for O’Neill to bowl first in the roll-off. After O’Neill struck, Butturff left a solid 8 pin in the ninth frame and a 7 pin in the 10th, finishing with a score of 39. A strike and a spare in the 10th for O’Neill gave him the victory and moved the defending champion into the quarterfinals.
The Kia PBA Playoffs Round of 16 continues Saturday, May 1 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Fox Sports’ FS1 and will feature Chris Via taking on Cristian Azcona and Kris Prather battling EJ Tackett.
The winner of the PBA Playoffs will receive a PBA Tour title, $100,000 and an official WWE championship title belt.
Viewers can live stream the PBA on the FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps or at FOXSports.com. Select highlights will be available on @FOXSports social handles across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. International fans can watch live on FloBowling.com.
Round of 16 Results (Saturday, Apr. 24 on FS1)
No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 16 Andrew Anderson, 2-1
Game 1 – Troup def. Anderson, 234-233
Game 2 – Anderson def. Troup, 225-212
Roll-off – Troup def. Anderson, 58-26
No. 9 Thomas Larsen def. No. 8 Anthony Simonsen, 2-0
Game 1 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 244-238
Game 2 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 279-224
Round of 16 Results (Sunday, Apr. 25 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1)
No. 4 François Lavoie def. No. 13 Dick Allen, 2-1
Game 1 – Lavoie def. Allen, 266-185
Game 2 – Allen def. Lavoie, 258-238
Roll-off – Lavoie def. Allen, 59-50
No. 12 Bill O’Neill def. No. 5 Jakob Butturff, 2-1
Game 1 – Butturff def. O’Neill, 257-193
Game 2 – O’Neill def. Butturff, 227-222
Roll-off – O’Neill def. Butturff, 49-39
Round of 16 (Saturday, May 1 at 11:30 a.m. ET on FS1)
No. 2 Chris Via vs. No. 15 Cristian Azcona
No. 7 Kris Prather vs. No. 10 EJ Tackett
Round of 16 (Sunday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1)
No. 3 Tom Daugherty vs. No. 14 Jason Sterner
No. 6 Jesper Svensson vs. No. 11 Sam Cooley
Quarterfinals (Sunday, May 9 at noon ET on FS1)
No. 1 Kyle Troup vs. No. 9 Thomas Larsen
No. 4 François Lavoie vs. No. 12 Bill O’Neill
Quarterfinals (Monday, May 10 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1)
To be determined after Round of 16
Semifinals (Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m. ET on FS1)
To be determined after quarterfinals
Kia PBA Playoffs Championship (Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX)
To be determined after semifinals
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.