Troup swept Kris Prather in the championship match to win the PBA Tour Finals at Strikerz Bowling in Angel of the Winds in Arlington, Wash.
With the win, the 10th of his career, Troup becomes eligible to be voted into the PBA Hall of Fame when he crosses the 20-year service threshold. “I had to not think about the Hall of Fame the last few frames,” said an emotional Troup. “With the season that I’ve had, making the switch to grips… that’s number 10. It’s special, man.”
Though Troup achieved both of his preseason goals — winning title No. 10 and making match play at the U.S. Open — his season was filled with struggles. Following his U.S. Open runner-up performance, he earned just two more top-10 finishes before the Tour Finals.
In many ways, he replicated his 2022 season when he won the PBA Playoff following a disappointing regular season.
“It goes to show the fight that I have, sticking to the process during the tough times,” Troup said. “We normally always have the ball reps, and to get this win done without one… obviously I want to have my team here at all times, but that just gives me all the confidence in the world moving forward for the next month,” Troup said. “A lot of the hard work has really paid off. I’ve got to credit Eric Krauss and his buddy Andy. They gave me a tip to think about — and that was it.”
The Group 1 positioning round on Saturday featured a heavyweight battle between Troup and EJ Tackett, one the latter earned a narrow victory to secure the top seed today. However, Troup flipped the script on Sunday afternoon as competition shifted to dual patterns (38-foot Webb on the left lane and 43-foot Anthony on the right lane).
Tackett, who sought to become the first player to win six titles in a season since 1993, won the opening game in the Race-to-Two match. However, Tackett squandered his opportunity to clinch the match by whiffing a 10-pin in the 10th frame. “I did remember once yesterday he left a 10-pin that he kind of stuck (on the approach) a little bit, so maybe there was a chance. But I still didn’t expect him to do it,” Troup said.
Troup answered with a game-stealing triple in the 10th and forced a two-frame roll-off.
Another 10-pin leave from Tackett in the roll-off opened the door again for Troup, who slammed it shut with a match-clinching strike.
“I’ve always said I’m a fan of those ninth and 10th frame roll-offs,” Troup said. “I started talking to Mr. K — a stuffed animal from Aubrey, his girlfriend Breanna’s daughter — and just told him I was gonna make some good shots.”
“I bowled really well last year and felt like I should have won my match and got to go further in the tournament,” Troup added. “My ball reads the lanes well here so I’m just fueling off a lot of confidence.”
In the championship match, not even a literal shark could have stopped Troup.
The two-handed superstar fired games of 268 and 266 to sweep Prather and clinch the title he so desperately coveted.
“Guppy better start working on his speech,” a beaming Troup said.
Story: pba.com