June 3, 2025 Nolan Hughes

I lounged in the paddock during April’s PBA Tournament of Champions (TOC) pro-am, mesmerized by the card game Tim Cagle II and Ryan Barnes were playing.

Neither Ethan Fiore, fewer than 24 hours removed from winning his first title, nor myself could even begin to decipher a rhythm to the madness.

Watching these two-handers play a game better than myself, a one-handed schlub, ever could, I finally empathized with the deep-rooted resentment expressed by those in the PBA comment sections.

Early in the game — although who am I to assess the length of a game I do not understand — another player retreated into the safe haven of the paddock.

“It’s probably not a good sign if you have to make a ball change one frame into a pro-am, huh?” the lanky figure said.

We turned to see Jesper Svensson grab a ball from his bag — a red one, of course — before departing back to the hallowed grounds of AMF Riviera Lanes.

A short while later — just long enough to learn Cagle calls this chaotic card game cribbage; “nonsense” would be a more accurate name, I say — Svensson returned.

The typically-stoic Swede burst into the paddock and unleashed a fervent yelp, which I can only compare to a Ric Flair impression by pre-intervention John Mulaney.

“I’m winning this thing,” Svensson proclaimed, loosely in our direction.

Svensson struck out that game to shoot 270-something, so the ball change must’ve worked. He shot another 270-something the following game and probably more than 800 for his series.

I have no idea if he won the pro-am or not. The specifics don’t matter. Does anyone actually win those things, anyway?

Here’s what I do know: sometime during that unholy card game, Svensson became The Iceman once again.

Svensson's left arm is decorated in tattoos

The moment Svensson joined the PBA Tour — even before then, technically — everyone in the game knew they were witnessing something extraordinary.

Two months shy of his 18th birthday, Svensson won the WBT Brunswick Ballmaster Open as an amateur in Jan. 2013.

During his official rookie season in 2015, he won two titles and Rookie of the Year honors.

A year later, Svensson became the youngest ever to win the TOC and, two more titles later, became the first player to win five titles by the age of 21.

Two weeks after celebrating his 25th birthday, he won back-to-back titles in Indianapolis to become title-eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame.

Before the first of those two wins in 2020, Svensson said he felt “destined to win the title.” 

He was right. Unbridled confidence like that is how you earn a nickname like The Iceman.

More importantly, it’s how such a nickname sticks — even if that version of Svensson has been on holiday with the wooly mammoth and sabre-toothed tiger for much of the past half-decade.

Svensson celebrates after winning the 2020 Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open

It takes one gaze at Svensson to know he does not subscribe to the gospel of Nick Young, the notorious basketball caricature better known as Swaggy P.

The 30-year-old Swede boasts the highest rev rate on the PBA Tour and has won 14 titles, including the TOC and PBA Playoffs this season, in his 11-year professional career.

While Svensson wields substantially more talent than Mr. P, his past few seasons have been reminiscent of the hooper’s infamous GIF.

Prior to the TOC, Svensson had not won a televised PBA Tour title on American soil since his 2020 exploits in Indy.

The Iceman emerged from hibernation during the past two Storm Lucky Larsen Masters in his homeland, winning the 2024 title, but he still hadn’t shown the sustained brilliance it takes to win a televised PBA major championship in almost a decade.

“It takes a toll on you when you don’t achieve that for a long time,” Svensson said. “Throughout the years, it hasn’t been that bad, but I guess I have really high expectations for myself. You have people back home to support through it all, and you kind of feel like you let them down. Now I have a daughter. There are so many more aspects of (life). It's not just bowling anymore.”

Though the trophy ceremonies became less frequent, Svensson maintained his predominance of the lane’s first 60 feet. The final few inches, home to the four horse-pins of the apocalypse, was where his troubles arose.

How often has he had to scrape and claw just to sneak into match play? How many times has Svensson left the 7-pin on TV over the past two years?

(The answer: In 22 games, Svensson left 28 7-pins and 50 total single-pins from the back row.)

The pinnacle of Svensson’s exasperations came during the 2024 PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB).

In the PBA Scorpion Championship finals, he left five 7-pins in seven frames; in the PBA World Championship finals, Svensson left three 7-pins, three 10-pins and a 6-8-10 split in the first nine frames.

It goes without saying, he lost both matches.

 

In 2025, Svensson didn’t sniff a championship round through the first five tournaments. He earned the No. 5 seed in the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic, a moral victory for a player more accustomed to lapping the field than sneaking onto the show.

“It definitely takes a lot of mental grind to find bright things every week, to try to get better and learn,” Svensson said. “I feel like I needed this to show to myself that I'm still a competitor and I can still be a factor. The beginning of the season has been tough mentally.”

He said that before he stoned a 9-pin in the ninth frame of his championship-round match, all-but ending his tournament.

The torment continued into the subsequent WSOB. Svensson made match play in all five title events, but only advanced to one championship round — and promptly got run over 247-192 by Tom Smallwood — and missed the World Championship finals by two pins.

Progress, sure, but to what end?

Svensson's frustrations boil over after leaving a stone-9 to lose to Alec Keplinger

April’s PBA Players Championship could have been the moment Svensson allowed a half-decade of major shortcomings to consume him.

He finished 81st out of 172 players. With one tournament left, Svensson sat outside the cut to the PBA Playoffs.

It would’ve been easy for Svensson to ho-hum through the TOC and hop on the first flight home. But where many would have succumbed to inevitable despair, Svensson saw an opportunity.

If he could just find a way into the Playoffs — the event where he almost salvaged his 2024 season, losing the title match in a roll-off — maybe he could make amends and finish this season the right way.

He just needed to remember who he was.

"Through these doors walk the world’s finest bowlers"

The words that greet players and spectators who enter AMF Riviera Lanes, long-time host center of the PBA TOC, are the same words that helped reinvigorate Svensson one day after watching 20-year-old Ethan Fiore defeat 22-year-old Ryan Barnes for a major title.

The kids, who in many ways represent the future of the PBA, had their fun. But this is the TOC. This is Riviera. This is where legends add to their legacy.

Svensson sustained his pro-am prowess into the major championship, never finishing a round in lower than fifth place.

He was briefly usurped by Tackett, who closed qualifying with a perfect game to take the lead into match play.

Svensson, with an amplified level of resolve teeming through his veins, answered with a 300 of his own to start the next round.

“EJ is scary when he gets it going, but I am pretty confident that he would say the same thing about me right now,” Svensson said after retaking the lead.

Who would dare say that about a guy looking to win the Triple Crown in a single season?

The man who decided during the pro-am he was going to win — and then won the TOC.

The man who sought revenge in the PBA Playoffs — and then reaped it.

The man who vanquished the best player on the planet — and stifled the all-time great’s all-time great season in the process.

The Iceman, that’s who.