June 26, 2021 Jef Goodger

 

PBA Tour Finals stepladders begin tomorrow at noon ET on CBS Sports Network

 

Allen Park, Mich.—Bill O’Neill leads Group 1 and Anthony Simonsen leads Group 2 into tomorrow’s stepladder finals of the 2021 PBA Tour Finals beginning at noon ET on CBS Sports Network. The winners of each stepladder will then face each other in a race-to-two-points championship match at 4 p.m. ET.

O’Neill rolled a four-game total of 912, boosted to 1,062 with bonus pins, to lead Group 1 into tomorrow’s stepladder finals. The player with the highest score in each game received 50 bonus pins, with 25 going to second and 10 going to third.

“The number one seed is important,” said O’Neill, “but it certainly isn’t the be all, end all. I need to be smart with the pattern I pick and not fall into thinking the lanes will be exactly the same tomorrow as they were today.”

Kyle Troup qualified second, Chris Via third and EJ Tackett fourth.

In Group 2, Simonsen began his four-game block with a 289 game, then held on to lead all players in his group with a total of 1,079 (984 plus 95 bonus pins).

“It’s unique with the scoring system and the bonus pins,” said Simonsen. “I get a number in my head I need to get to before we start, but then I just decided to hunker down and bowl a good game. If it was enough, it was enough.”

Trailing Simonsen are Kris Prather, Jesper Svensson and François Lavoie.

O’Neill and Simonsen have their choice of lane pattern for their respective stepladder finals, choosing between the 38-foot Marshall Holman pattern and 46-foot Johnny Petraglia pattern, on which all players bowled two games each during qualifying. Both players chose the Petraglia pattern.

The winners of each stepladder will battle in a race-to-two-points championship match with the Holman pattern on one lane and the Petraglia pattern on the other.

PBA Fans will be able to live-stream the PBA Tour Finals on CBS Sports Network. Select highlights will be available on @PBATour social handles across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. International fans can watch live on FloBowling.com.

PBA Tour Finals Results

Thunderbowl Lanes – Allen Park, Mich.

Saturday, June 26 – Group 1 Qualifying

  1. Bill O’Neill, 1,062 (201, 235, 237, 239 plus 150 bonus pins)
  2. Kyle Troup, 997 (258, 212, 214, 213 plus 100 bonus pins)
  3. Chris Via, 869 (182, 183, 238, 206 plus 60 bonus pins)
  4. EJ Tackett, 804 (151, 192, 220, 211 plus 30 bonus pins)

Saturday, June 26 – Group 2 Qualifying

  1. Anthony Simonsen, 1,079 (289, 227, 249, 219 plus 95 bonus pins)
  2. Kris Prather, 1,068 (234, 239, 227, 258 plus 110 bonus pins)
  3. Jesper Svensson, 1,041 (231, 279, 203, 243 plus 85 bonus pins)
  4. François Lavoie, 945 (215, 204, 260, 216 plus 50 bonus pins)

PBA Tour Finals Upcoming Television Schedule

Sunday, June 27 at Noon ET on CBSSN
Group 1 stepladder finals

Sunday, June 27 at 2 p.m. ET on CBSSN
Group 2 stepladder finals

Sunday, June 27 at 4 p.m. ET on CBSSN
Championship match (Group 1 winner vs. Group 2 winner)

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.

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