Sean Rash’s Persistence Pays Off in Sweden

Sean Rash felt like a man 10 years younger.

He had been competing in Olympia Bowling, the prominent Swedish bowling center, for more than 20 years. In those two decades, he compiled 17 PBA Tour titles, a Player of the Year award and earned an eternal home in the PBA Hall of Fame.

Injuries, particularly to his back, have taken their toll on the 43-year-old. He can still strike, but not quite as often and not without waking up to an aching body. His last win came on his 39th birthday, just over four years ago.

Rash had never won in the Scandinavian nation. He had a feeling that could change in the 2025 Storm Lucky Larsen Masters, especially after especially after he shot a jet-lagged 270 in his first game off the plane.

“I was very confident,” Rash said. “I had the fresh figured out. I had good ball reaction on the fresh with two or three different bowling balls. I knew that if I got off to a good start, things would be good.”

He wielded total control of the fresh oil pattern and, ultimately, advanced through the tournament to earn a berth in the semifinals.

Though Rash hasn’t made as many championship rounds in recent years as he did in his prime, he does have a knack for rising to the moment.

He made both finals in his home state of Illinois this year — the same week he learned of his election to the PBA Hall of Fame.

His motivations in Sweden, while left unsaid, weren’t hard to decipher.

Rash struck on his first shot of the semifinals against Nate Purches, who sports a notable-but-not-quite-Belichickian age gap to Rash.

In the second frame, Rash started walking out the shot before the ball reached its breakpoint, a mark of self-confidence he had sparsely shown during the past few years. The pins, however, humbled him in a hurry.

Rash left a pocket 7-10 in that second frame, escaped a 4-9 split with just the 9-pin in the fourth, chopped the 3-6 in the sixth and split again in the seventh. 

Bowling is a fickle beast. The same guy who could split the 8-9 at will on the fresh suddenly fell behind Purches’ max score by 27 pins.

But the veteran, who has been on tour almost as long as his opponent has been alive, maintained his poise. He knew the scoring pace would be low and he knew Purches hadn't been in this position before. 

Rash struck in his ninth and 10th frames, which forced Purches to mark. The reigning Rookie of the Year left the 3-6-9-10 and missed it.

All of a sudden, Rash sat one game away from his first title in almost half a decade.

As Andrew Anderson took on Juho Rissanen in the other semifinal, Rash headed over to the warm-up pair. The 43-year-old threw two shots — and then his hand “locked up.”

A day’s worth of start-and-stop competition along with using a ball with a slightly longer span than his others aggravated a hand injury he suffered bowling a regional in Florida earlier this summer. 

Combine the injury with Rash’s elevated anxiety during competition and the “holy s***, I’m a game away from the title” realization, and it was easy to see a disaster scenario unfolding.

Rash told Martin Larsen, the Swedish star whom the tournament is named after, that he did not think he could bowl the championship match.

Larsen, likely doubting the severity of Rash’s message, responded, “I need you to do something. I don't care how you bowl.”

When internal panic starts to build, Rash relies on his trusted inner circle. He called his wife, Sara, who was watching the livestream from back in the U.S.

“Mind over matter,” she told him. “You got this. Do what you can.”

“She kept me in the right frame of mind,” Rash said. “She didn't say anything negative. She said everything positive.”

More positive reinforcement came from the other semifinal match as the Finnish amateur Rissanen threw four clutch strikes to eliminate Anderson.

Neither player would be a pushover by any means, but only one of them twice beat EJ Tackett for a title this season and it wasn’t Rissanen.

There was still one, big problem: Rash can’t throw a bowling ball.

Facing a dearth of alternatives, Rash decided to deploy a gameplan he hadn’t used in almost 20 years.

“I decided to throw it like the U.S. Open in the early 2000s when I came out on tour,” Rash said. “Hit the 1-3 and keep it in play.”

In other words, his plan was to throw the ball straight at the head pin. He aimed his ball across the fifth arrow directly at the 3-pin, utilizing the modicum of a rev rate he could generate to get the ball to tip into the pocket.

It did not take the announcing crew of Dave Ryan and Matt McNiel long to realize this strategy was no act of lane-play brilliance, but desperation born out of an injury.

And yet, it was working.

After converting the 3-5-6 in the first frame, an odd leave for a righty, Rash buried four consecutive strikes. The hambone gave Rash a massive advantage over Rissanen, who opened in the third and fourth frames.

Rash’s strong start meant the title was his to lose as the lower scoring pace continued in the championship match.

After Rash spared the 1-2 in the ninth frame, he needed just a mark in the 10th to secure the title. He struck, then struck two more times for good measure.

“I aced it,” Rash said of his first shot in the 10th frame. “I can't say anything else. It was one of the best shots I've thrown in a long time.”

The win marked Rash’s 18th career PBA Tour title, moving himself into a tie for 19th all time with Nelson Burton Jr., Dave Davis, Billy Hardwick and Dave Soutar.

“Before the injuries, No. 18 didn’t matter. It was just another number,” Rash said. “But after starting to think about it, it’s like Man, I really did that. I really pulled out my C-, D- or E-game and found a way to win.”

Rash could not recall using this strategy in any event since those U.S. Open tournaments. Although, he said he wished he had used the strategy in the 2019 U.S. Open title match, when François Lavoie beat him 221-172.

This realization, of course, comes with the benefit of hindsight.

“Man, I was shocked that it worked,” he said with a chuckle.

For Rash to reach his goal of 20 titles, he will have to take advantage of each opportunity like he did in Sweden.

He understands he can no longer contend for titles simply by putting on his shoes, and he will do everything in his power to prepare his mind and his body

But for now, all he can do is commemorate 2025 — a year Rash will not soon forget.

It wasn’t a perfect year by any stretch of the imagination, particularly as drama regarding his ball-manufacturing sponsor engulfed the latter half of his season.

Nonetheless, 2025 was the year Rash was elected and inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame. The year he made two shows in his home state with his entire family watching. The year he won the first title of his 40s.

For Rash, personally, he saved the best for last.

“With the atmosphere and all the other circumstances, I can never forget about this win,” he said.