Iconic Break Helps Tom Daugherty Win First Major At PBA World Championship
Iconic Break Helps Tom Daugherty Win First Major At PBA World Championship
Tom Daugherty claimed his first career major title in dramatic fashion Saturday at the 2021 PBA Guaranteed Rate World Championship.
TAMPA, Fla. – For a guy with a heart condition, it wasn’t exactly the finish his cardiologist would have drawn up.
Tom Daugherty, who revealed for the first time before the show he suffered a heart attack last year, claimed his first career major title in dramatic fashion Saturday at the 2021 PBA Guaranteed Rate World Championship. He defeated Jakob Butturff, 263-257, at AMF University Lanes.
What happened in the final frame can be described as nothing other than heart stopping as Daugherty got one of the biggest breaks in PBA Tour history to secure the win.
Needing a double and four pins for the shutout, Daugherty buried the first one. The second shot came up light and left the 2-8 combination but only for a split second.
A pin in the pit tapped the eight pin from behind. As the eight pin fell, it collapsed onto another pin that was already horizontal on the deck. That pin then rolled the two pin forward for a strike in what instantly became an iconic moment in PBA Tour history.
That break was nothing short of momentous as Butturff appeared to be dialed in and ready to punch out to win had Daugherty given him a chance. Butturff did end up punching out but it wasn’t enough.
The win was easily the biggest of Daugherty’s career and is his third overall title. In fact, Daugherty may have been known more for his bad bowling on television instead of for his wins.
It was 10 years ago he shot a 100 game in a 299-100 loss to Mika Koivuniemi in the semifinal match of the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions. His friendly “feud” with FOX play-by-play man Rob Stone is also widely joked about as Daugherty seemingly has had rare success with Stone in the booth.
Fortunately for Daugherty, Stone isn’t calling the action this week at the PBA World Series of Bowling, instead being replaced by Dave Ryan.
“Rob Stone, I hope you were watching; stay your ass at home,” Daugherty joked after the big break for the strike. Stone responded on Twitter with “Hell Yeah I was watching.”
Hell Yeah I was watching @TDBOWLS @PBATour 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UaMMvR01CD
— Rob Stone (@RobStoneONFOX) March 13, 2021
The semifinal matchup between Butturff and EJ Tackett was also dramatic as Butturff advanced with a 210-178 victory.
Butturff finished the match first and got a clutch double in the 10th frame to put the pressure on Tackett. Needing a double and nine pins for the win, Tackett sliced the ball through the face and left the 3-4-6-7-10 split to lose.
Butturff advanced into the semifinal with a 249-227 win over Chris Via as he was able to shut him out for the win in the 10th frame.
Needing nine, spare, strike to secure the win, Butturff instead struck out, including a perfect first shot, to move on.
In a match that was not as close as the final score indicates, Via defeated Kyle Troup, 210-201, in the opening match of the stepladder.
Troup, who won the PBA Players Championship to open the season, got off to a horrific start and didn’t throw his first strike until the eighth frame. Via was able to pull ahead by more than 50 pins and coast to the win.
Next up for the PBA Tour is the 2021 Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, which will be broadcast live Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern on FS1 (U.S.) and FloBowling (international).
After that, the World Series of Bowling keeps on going with match play and finals from all three animal pattern events on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. FloBowling will provide live exclusive coverage of the Round of 16 and Round of 8 each day.