May 5, 2024 Nolan Hughes

Kyle Troup, the two-time defending PBA Playoffs champion, began his quest for a third championship belt on Sunday afternoon at Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in Arlington, Wash.

Troup won his Round of 12 match against Chris Via to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2024 PBA Playoffs.

Jason Belmonte, David Krol and Jesper Svensson also won their Round of 12 matches on dual patterns with 39-foot Mike Aulby pattern on the right lane and 45-foot Dick Weber pattern on the left lane.

Top qualifiers EJ Tackett, Marshall Kent, Anthony Simonsen and Bill O’Neill await the winners in the quarterfinals, which will air next Sunday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on FS1.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by PBA TOUR (@pbatour)

Krol fell behind in the opening match as Zach Wilkins fired the front-five. But Krol, who made the Playoffs after starting the season competing in pre-tournament qualifiers, has never been one to go down without a fight. 

Wilkins, the two-handed Canadian, left an untimely pocket 7-10 in the sixth frame and the 10-pin in the ninth. Krol, after starting with a spare and an open frame, rallied with nine of the final 10 strikes to close out Wilkins.

“I just want to get one strike first,” Krol said of needing the final four strikes to shut out Wilkins. “Throughout this whole year, it's always been that I need to get one before I get the rest of them. I didn’t think about the next three. I made sure to get the one in the ninth frame. Then that 10 frame is there.”

Krol advances to face top seed EJ Tackett, who Krol defeated in seven games to make the PBA Delaware Classic finals earlier this year. Krol went on to win his first career PBA Tour title in that event, ending his PTQ career.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Krol said of advancing to the quarterfinals. “I’ll treat it like Delaware, except I have one game instead of seven. I get him on the fresh, too. We'll see what happens but I feel pretty confident.”

Belmonte took out Tom Smallwood in the second match, 218-207. Smallwood fired 298 in Saturday's play-in stepladder final match to advance to Sunday’s Round of 12.

“I think Tommy is one of the better heads-up bowlers, especially over the past five-10 years,” Belmonte said. “I knew if he was feeling it, he was going to be really hard to beat and the fact that he bowled 298 last night is a pretty good indication that his bowling ball rolls well here.”

However, Smallwood’s A-game did not translate from Saturday to Sunday.

“I don't think Tommy gave me his best today. I think he'll tell you that,” Belmonte said. “But it was still relatively close; I still needed a mark. There's honestly not many spares worse than looking at the 10 pin knowing you need to make it.”

Belmonte converted the 10-pin in the 10th frame to advance with a 218-207 victory. Belmonte will face Bill O’Neill in next Sunday’s quarterfinals.

The third match featured the season’s top two lefties, Svensson and Matt Russo, and the only left-handers remaining in the field. The two southpaws qualified first and second in the World Championship, but were both defeated by EJ Tackett.

“I was picturing in my mind bowling Russo for the World Championship title. That didn't happen, but this is pretty much how I visualized the World Championship title match going,” Svensson said. “

Svensson fired six straight strikes to start the match, a stark contrast from the nine-count fest he endured at the World Series of Bowling. His pin carry reverted back late in the match as he left two 7-pins and a 10-pin to allow Russo a chance to steal the match.

Russo, needing a double and two pins, struck on the first shot. Russo left a 10-pin on the second shot, allowing Svensson to advance with a 249-246 victory.

The final Round of 12 match pitted Troup against Chris Via. Troup, in addition to his two PBA Playoffs victories, also won the Tour Finals at Angel of the Winds last season.

“I've won here, I bowled 300 here, so I've done just about everything you can here,” Troup said of Angel of the Winds. “I love this building, the fans and I match up pretty well to the lanes as well. So I had a lot of confidence coming in.”

Seemingly every year, Troup finds a way to lock in for the postseason events. But he admitted he was not locked in to start his match against Via, starting with two spares on the high-scoring patterns.

“I was definitely not locked in the first few frames and got a little thrown off my process," Troup said. "That's why I had to almost punch myself and tell myself to wake up a little bit."

The match between the two-handers was closer than the 236-194 final score would indicate. Via guttered twice, once on a double and once on a spare. Those two shots alone were the difference in the match.

“100% is not enough in this moment,” Troup said. “(Simonsen) is a freak. Anytime I've bowl him, I've got to be 110% locked in. We're going to be the last match, so it's going to be about carrying and matching up with the right gameplan. That's going to be part of the battle as well, but it's going to be a fun match.”

The PBA Playoffs feature the top 16 players in competition points from the 2024 season. The top four qualifiers earned a bye to the semifinals, while the 12th through 16th qualifiers competed in Saturday’s play-in stepladder for the right to face Belmonte in the Round of 12.

The quarterfinals will be taped on May 5 at Angel of the Winds, but will air next Sunday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on FS1.

Round of 12 Scores

No. 9 David Krol def. No. 8 Zach Wilkins, 246-233
No. 5 Jason Belmonte def. No. 12 Tom Smallwood, 218-207
No. 10 Jesper Svensson def. No. 7 Matt Russo, 249-246
No. 6 Kyle Troup def. No. 11 Chris Via, 236-194

PBA Playoffs Schedule

Round 3: Quarterfinals | May 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1

No. 1 EJ Tackett vs. No. 9 David Krol
No. 4 Bill O’Neill vs. No. 5 Jason Belmonte
No. 2 Marshall Kent vs. No. 10 Jesper Svensson
No. 3 Anthony Simonsen vs. No. 6 Kyle Troup

Finals | May 19 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX