Swedes Steal the Show in PBA Cheetah Championship Qualifying
Approximately one in 96 Swedes bear the surname Svensson. Exactly two in three of the leaders at the PBA Cheetah Championship rep the name on the back of their jerseys.
William Svensson led the 10-game qualifying round at +473, while Jesper Svensson, no relation, averaged over 235 to finish third. Fellow Swede Martin Larsen finished 10th.
Andrew Anderson—a native of Holly, Michigan and honorary native of the Scandinavian bowling powerhouse, as Andersson is the second-most popular surname—snuck in as the cut number. The pseudo-Swede, if you will, started the day with games of 197, 179 and 199. He then averaged more than 242 across his final seven games to climb inside the cut.
Anderson’s final game of 259 slammed the door on a pair of Hall of Famers. Norm Duke came up four pins shy of the cut at +269. Wes Malott fired 300 and 821 over his final three games to sneak into contention, but finished 13 pins shy of Anderson.
AJ Johnson’s perfection in Game 10 helped him ascend from 18th, and outside of the cut, into fourth place. EJ Tackett’s dominance from the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship stepladder finals yesterday carried into today, as Tackett finished fifth at +325.
Kyle Sherman said on the FloBowling live stream that he threw the wrong Pitch Black for almost seven frames of Game 4. He said the expectedly poor ball reaction led to his switch from urethane to reactive, which set up his 300 in the subsequent game. Sherman finished 14th, just 20 pins inside the cut, perhaps thanks to a serendipitous moment of obliviousness.
The top 16 players advance to match play to be held March 14. The scores from PBA Cheetah Championship qualifying also count as the first 10 games of the PBA World Championship presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon, which resumes Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET with PBA Scorpion Championship qualifying.
PBA CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH PLAY QUALIFIERS
- William Svensson +473
- Tommy Jones +362
- Jesper Svensson +351
- AJ Johnson +334
- EJ Tackett +325
- Jakob Butturff +318
- Sean Rash +311
- Ronnie Russell +309
- Kristopher Prather +307
- Martin Larsen +296
- Patrick Hanrahan +295
- Stuart Williams +291*
- Cristian Azcona +291*
- Kyle Sherman +289
- Kris Koeltzow +283
- Andrew Anderson +273
*Ties are broken by the higher final block, which was bowled by Williams.
GUARANTEED RATE PBA WORLD SERIES OF BOWLING XIII STREAMING AND TV SCHEDULE
Qualifying and match play – Mar. 8-11 on FloBowling
PBA World Championship presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon – Mar. 13, 1 p.m. ET on FOX
PBA Cheetah Championship – Mar. 14, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Scorpion Championship – Mar. 15, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Shark Championship – Mar. 16, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Collegiate Invitational presented by Storm – Mar. 20, 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1
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.