April 19, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Eight-time PBA Tour champion Jakob Butturff put himself on the precipice of PBA history on Saturday afternoon at historic AMF Riviera Lanes.

Butturff advanced out of the prelims round and into the five-player championship round of the PBA Tournament of Champions powered by 1800 Tequila. Butturff would become title-eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame with a win.

Butturff will meet top-seeded Jesper Svensson, Graham Fach, EJ Tackett and Kevin McCune in Sunday’s major championship finals, the final major championship and regular season event of the 2025 season.

Sunday’s championship round will air live on FOX at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

AMF Riviera Lanes, the revered Fairlawn, Ohio venue, has hosted the TOC 36 times dating back to 1966. So many of the PBA's most iconic moments — from Don Johnson's 299 game to George Branham III's 1993 TOC title — have taken place on the lanes 27-28 on which Butturff prevailed on Saturday.

“Walking through those doors is already a very special moment. To get to the final show, I’m speechless,” Butturff said. “At the same time, I’ve still got work to do. I’ll try to give it the same as I did today. I have a lot of momentum going into tomorrow because of the 278 and the front-eight against Keven, so I'm going to use that to my advantage and try to take down a couple of future Hall of Famers.”

Saturday’s prelims round featured four left-handed players, an unusually high percentage. Butturff, who will be one of three southpaws in Sunday’s championship round, said he is able to benefit from the oil pattern’s transition.

“One of my favorite things to do when I follow lefties is to play a little bit deeper than them,” Butturff said. “I’m able to create a little bit more shape that most lefties can't do. I think that was the advantage I had against Keven.”

Butturff owns eight career PBA Tour titles along with his 2019 USBC Masters major championship. A TOC win would elevate Butturff into rarefied air — air that Bill O’Neill, Sean Rash, George Branham III and Dave Schroeder will forever share.

“To top it all off, if I win this major, I'm (title-eligible) for the PBA Hall of Fame,” Butturff said, referring to the threshold of 10 titles or five titles with two majors. “Winning this one, especially because it's something I've looked forward to my whole life, I could take that home with the pride and joy of something I really love to do.”

Butturff had an opportunity to become title-eligible two years ago in the 2023 PBA Players Championship, but he fell in the title match to his opponent in Sunday's opening match: McCune.

The TOC championship round will air live at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

 

Williams was the top seed in Saturday’s prelims round, which featured the fifth through ninth qualifiers after 42 games of qualifying and match play.

Williams said he left more than 200 pins on the table by missing spares during qualifying and match play. He finished 28 pins shy of McCune and an automatic berth in the championship round.

While he needed just one win to make up for those prior mistakes, Butturff fired eight straight strikes to start the final match and gave Williams little opportunity. Williams’ 247 marked the second-highest game of the afternoon, trailing only Butturff’s 278.

“I bowled a good game. He bowled a better one,” Williams said. “I missed a move in the 10th frame. Otherwise, I probably shoot 260 and I force him to double. It’s frustrating that (278) happened to be the score he shot against me, but this is the PBA Tour and a major championship. It’s how it goes.”

Butturff defeated Matt Sanders in the semifinal prelims match, ending the Indiana native’s climb of the stepladder. Sanders needed a double in the 10th frame to win the match — or a strike and a nine-count spare to tie — but missed right to lose 234-221.

Sanders won each of his first two matches with a score of 223, defeating Packy Hanrahan and AJ Johnson.

More information on the PBA Tournament of Champions powered by 1800 Tequila is available here.

Prelims Round Matches

Match One: No. 8 Matt Sanders def. No. 9 Packy Hanrahan, 223-208
Match Two: No. 8 Matt Sanders def. No. 7 AJ Johnson, 223-146
Match Three: No. 6 Jakob Butturff def. No. 8 Matt Sanders, 234-221
Championship: No. 6 Jakob Butturff def. No. 5 Keven Williams, 278-247

Championship Round Matches

Match One: No. 6 Jakob Butturff vs. No. 4 Kevin McCune
Match Two: winner vs. No. 3 EJ Tackett
Match Three: winner vs. No. 2 Graham Fach
Championship: winner vs. No. 1 Jesper Svensson

Tournament Schedule

AMF Riviera Lanes | Fairlawn, Ohio

All times Eastern/local

Sunday, April 20 | FOX
3 p.m. — Championship Round (stepladder finals)