Sweden’s Svensson to Defend Home Title in Season Finale

The final title event of the 2025 PBA Tour is set to begin in Helsingborg, Sweden. The Storm Lucky Larsen Masters, held at Olympia Bowling, is the lone international title event of the season.

All rounds will be livestreamed on the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters YouTube channel.

Sweden’s own Jesper Svensson is the defending champion. The Swede finished runner-up two years ago to AJ Johnson before earning an emotional, redemptive victory over Teodor Samuelsson last year.

“Even though I’ve played a lot of big tournaments in the (United States), this is the one I really wanted to win,” Svensson said. “I don’t know how to put it into words right now. I’m unbelievably proud of myself. It’s truly special.

“To all my American friends: You are tough to beat over there in the states — but this is my house.”

PLAYER OF THE YEAR IMPLICATIONS

Svensson ended this year’s PBA Tour regular season by winning the PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA Playoffs, catapulting himself into the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year discussion.

EJ Tackett, who won four titles with two major championships, has the statistical lead in that award race. Andrew Anderson’s two titles and second-place finish in points places him among the front runners as well.

Jason Belmonte, Graham Fach, Ethan Fiore and Chris Via should also find themselves on the Player of the Year ballot.

There are a handful of players who enter the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters with a chance to become eligible for the ballot, which requires either two titles or one title and a top-10 earnings finish that season.

Ryan Barnes and Kyle Troup sit just outside the top 10 in earnings and have not won a title this season. However, a win in Sweden should propel either player into the top 10 in earnings and secure POY eligibility.

A win would represent quite the honeymoon for Troup, who is getting married on Aug. 23. Troup also won the event in 2018.

Barnes is also eligible for Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year honors.

Gary Haines won the USBC Masters in March, but currently sits outside the top 10 in earnings. A second title would automatically qualify himself for the ballot, and a top-two finish (with Barnes and Troup not winning) would likely get the job done as well.

Tim Foy Jr., Jakob Butturff and Anthony Simonsen rank currently among the top-10 earners, but lack a title and are not scheduled to compete in Sweden as of Aug. 21.

FORMAT

The Storm Lucky Larsen Masters features a unique qualifying format. There are 27 six-game qualifying squads to be held from Aug. 22-30. Players can bowl multiple squads.

There will be 55 advancing players once qualifying is completed. The No. 26-40 qualifiers as well as 15 special qualifiers (outlined here) will compete in Final Step 1, a six-game round with all previous pinfall dropped.

The top 15 players from Final Step 1 will meet the top 25 overall qualifiers in Final Step 2, another six-game round with all previous pinfall dropped.

The top 16 players will advance to the elimination match play bracket, which features three-game total pinfall matches in the Round of 16 and Round of 8 followed by single-game matches in the semifinals and finals.

The winner will receive 165.000 SEK (about $17,150 USD).