BY JEF GOODGER

Milford, Conn.—Top seed Kyle Troup defeated No. 11 seed Sam Cooley to win the 2021 Kia PBA Playoffs, 3-1, in a race-to-three-points competition, in which each game is worth one point. Troup’s second Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour title of the season is also the eighth of his career. With the $100,000 first-place prize, Troup has now earned a single-season PBA Tour record $469,200 in 2021.

Troup won the first game, then fell victim to Cooley rolling the 31st televised perfect game in PBA Tour title-event history, knotting the match at one point apiece.

“I felt really confident,” said Troup of his mindset entering game three despite Cooley having rolled 300. “I knew I pretty much lost that game by the seventh or eighth frame, so I switched my focus to rooting Sam on. I wanted to see him bowl 300 and get the extra $10,000. It’s one to one, all right, I just need to win a game. I really wanted to win game three to put the pressure on him to make him feel like it was a must-win situation.”

Troup did win game three, taking advantage of an open frame from Cooley in the seventh after Troup had also struggled with missed spares, including a missed 9 pin in the sixth.

“I was frustrated about the bad break,” said Troup of missing the 9 pin. “I flagged it. I had to get myself refocused. Once I did that, I was okay.”

Troup doubled in the 10th to clinch game three and take a 2-1 lead entering the fourth game.

“I felt like I bowled a fantastic game four,” said Troup. “The lanes were just toast. They were ugly.”

Troup struck on his first shot in the 10th frame of game four, then left an 8-10 split on his next shot, needing one pin to clinch the victory. Troup took down the 8 pin and immediately hoisted the WWE championship title belt.

“I wanted to pick this belt up, give the Ric Flair ‘Wooo,’ and bring the belt back home,” said Troup. “I know I have a lot of fans back home rooting me on and people around the world. It’s so special to get this win.”

Perhaps making it more special is Troup’s eighth career title ties him with his father, Guppy, who was in attendance for all of Kyle’s Playoffs victories, in all-time Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour titles.

“I caught up to him,” said Kyle Troup, adding, “I’m thinking I’m getting to nine a lot faster than he is.”

Viewers can live stream the PBA on the FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps or at FOXSports.com. Select highlights will be available on @FOXSports social handles across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. International fans can watch live on FloBowling.com.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS (SATURDAY, APR. 24 ON FS1)

Bowlero Milford, Milford, Conn.

No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 16 Andrew Anderson, 2-1
Game 1 – Troup def. Anderson, 234-233
Game 2 – Anderson def. Troup, 225-212
Roll-off – Troup def. Anderson, 58-26

No. 9 Thomas Larsen def. No. 8 Anthony Simonsen, 2-0
Game 1 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 244-238
Game 2 – Larsen def. Simonsen, 279-224

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS (SUNDAY, APR. 25 ON FS1)

No. 4 François Lavoie def. No. 13 Dick Allen, 2-1
Game 1 – Lavoie def. Allen, 266-185
Game 2 – Allen def. Lavoie, 258-238
Roll-off – Lavoie def. Allen, 59-50

No. 12 Bill O’Neill def. No. 5 Jakob Butturff, 2-1
Game 1 – Butturff def. O’Neill, 257-193
Game 2 – O’Neill def. Butturff, 227-222
Roll-off – O’Neill def. Butturff, 49-39

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS (SATURDAY, MAY 1 ON FS1)

No. 15 Cristian Azcona def. No. 2 Chris Via, 2-0
Game 1 – Azcona def. Via, 258-226
Game 2 – Azcona def. Via, 238-215

No. 10 EJ Tackett def. No. 7 Kris Prather, 2-1
Game 1 – Tackett def. Prather, 267-170
Game 2 – Prather def. Tackett, 205-188
Roll-off – Tackett def. Prather, 38-26

ROUND OF 16 (SUNDAY, MAY 2 ON FS1)

No. 3 Tom Daugherty def. No. 14 Jason Sterner, 2-1
Game 1 – Daugherty def. Sterner, 245-204
Game 2 – Sterner def. Daugherty, 225-213
Roll-off – Daugherty def. Sterner, 39-39 (10-9)

No. 11 Sam Cooley def. No. 6 Jesper Svensson, 2-1
Game 1 – Svensson def. Cooley, 268-248
Game 2 – Cooley def. Svensson, 223-223 (9-9, 10-9)
Roll-off – Cooley def. Svensson, 35-16

QUARTERFINALS (SUNDAY, MAY 9 ON FS1)

No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 9 Thomas Larsen, 2-0
Game 1 – Troup def. Larsen, 260-204
Game 2 – Troup def. Larsen, 239-199

No. 4 François Lavoie vs. No. 12 Bill O’Neill
Game 1 – O’Neill def. Lavoie, 190-182
Game 2 – Lavoie def. O’Neill, 217-188
Roll-off – Lavoie def. O’Neill, 46-40

QUARTERFINALS (MONDAY, MAY 10 ON FS1)

No. 15 Cristian Azcona def. No. 10 EJ Tackett, 2-1
Game 1 – Tackett def. Azcona, 257-213
Game 2 – Azcona def. Tackett, 240-214
Roll-off – Azcona def. Tackett, 49-47

No. 11 Sam Cooley def. No. 3 Tom Daugherty
Game 1 – Daugherty def. Cooley, 226-209
Game 2 – Cooley def. Daugherty, 236-218
Roll-off – Cooley def. Daugherty, 37-26

SEMIFINALS (SATURDAY, MAY 15 ON FS1)

No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 4 François Lavoie, 2-0
Game 1 – Troup def. Lavoie, 248-237
Game 2 – Troup def. Lavoie, 259-224

No. 11 Sam Cooley def. No. 15 Cristian Azcona
Game 1 – Cooley def. Azcona, 264-243
Game 2 – Cooley def. Azcona, 232-219

KIA PBA PLAYOFFS CHAMPIONSHIP (SUNDAY, MAY 16 AT 2 P.M. ET ON FOX)

No. 1 Kyle Troup def. No. 11 Sam Cooley, 3-1
Game 1 – Troup def. Cooley, 235-206
Game 2 – Cooley def. Troup, 300-248
Game 3 – Troup def. Cooley, 223-210
Game 4 – Troup def. Cooley, 221-209

Troup earns $100,000, Cooley earns $70,000 ($60,000 for finishing second and $10,000 for bowling a perfect game).