PBA

Eight PBA, PWBA Champions In World Cup Field

Eight PBA, PWBA Champions In World Cup Field

The 54th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, will feature eight champions from the PBA Tour and PWBA Tour among the more than 80 countries represented.

Nov 6, 2018 by Lucas Wiseman
Eight PBA, PWBA Champions In World Cup Field

The 54th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, which begins today in Las Vegas, will feature eight champions from the PBA Tour and PWBA Tour among the more than 80 countries represented in the event.

Three-time PBA champion Kyle Troup, who won the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters earlier this year, will represent Team USA alongside eight-time PWBA champion Shannon O’Keefe in the event at Sam’s Town Bowling Center.

The World Cup competition consists of 24 games of qualifying followed by an additional eight games for the Top 24. The top eight will then bowl eight games of match play before the final four make the finals in each division.

Troup is coming off a strong season on the PBA Tour in which he set a personal best for earnings with nearly $75,000 and said he is excited to represent Team USA.

"Overall, this has been one of the best years I've had on Tour, plus starting off the year with a win at the Team USA Trials was awesome, too," Troup said. "Tulsa (FloBowling PBA Fall Swing) and the U.S. Open didn't go how I'd hoped, but I've been practicing every day to fix anything in my game that didn't look quite right. I've been very focused on staying competitive, even during practice, and I am excited to be able to represent Team USA at the World Cup."

O’Keefe, meanwhile, was the PWBA’s best player in 2018, earning player of the year honors after winning a pair of titles. Troup and O’Keefe earned spots to compete in the World Cup at the 2018 Team USA Trials in January.

"The World Cup trophy is iconic in our sport like the NCAA trophy is to our college team and seeing my Team USA teammates hold up the World Cup in the past really inspired me," said O'Keefe, the head women's bowling coach at McKendree University. "The possibility of being able to do that, too, would be such an amazingly proud moment."

Colombia is also sending a pair of professional champions to the World Cup as Andres Gomez and Maria Jose Rodriguez will represent their country.

Gomez is a three-time PBA champion who still bowls part-time on the PBA Tour, while Rodriguez has one PWBA title, the 2018 PWBA Tour Championship. Rodriguez also won the 2014 USBC Queens, however the PWBA Tour does not count that as a PWBA title.

Other notable bowlers in the men’s field include five-time PBA champion Osku Palermaa of Finland and one-time PBA winner JoJoe Yannaphon of Thailand.

On the women’s side, three-time PWBA champion Diana Zavjalova will represent Latvia, while one-time PWBA champ Sin Li Jane will represent Malaysia.