{"id":74177,"date":"2026-04-11T08:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T12:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=74177"},"modified":"2026-04-11T08:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T12:53:10","slug":"wny-pba-rookie-almost-didnt-make-it-to-rochester-ends-up-as-the-number-three-seed-for-tv-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/wny-pba-rookie-almost-didnt-make-it-to-rochester-ends-up-as-the-number-three-seed-for-tv-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"WNY\/PBA rookie almost didn\u2019t make it to Rochester, ends up as the number three seed for TV finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finalists for Sunday\u2019s televised finals (1 p.m., The CW) of the Surfside PBA New York Classic at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester are, from left, Austin Grammar, Patrick Dombrowski, Riley Woodard, Kris Prather and Chris Via. Photos by Mike Pettinella\/For Video News Service.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riley Woodard of Orem, Utah, says that reaching the televised finals of a Professional Bowlers Tour event for the first time is a dream come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, except for a last-minute change of plans, he wouldn\u2019t have found his way to Rochester earlier this week to compete in the Surfside PBA New York Classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday night before a packed house at ABC Gates Bowl, Woodard, fellow PBA rookie Austin Grammar and veterans Patrick Dombrowski, Kris Prather and Chris Via advanced to Sunday\u2019s TV show (1 p.m., The CW) with victories in the best-of-seven Round of 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammar earned the No. 1 seed for the finals and will need to win one game for the $30,000 top prize. Dombrowski is No. 2, followed by Woodard, Prather and Via.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Via earned the No. 5 seed despite losing his match to Woodard, four games to one, because he was the highest seeded player (based on his 16-game qualifying round total) that lost in the Round of 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodard, speaking to Video News Service after rolling games of 257, 236, 230 and 257 against Via, said he was on his way to bowl in a tournament in Boise, Idaho, last weekend when he found out he could compete in Rochester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is my first year out here and I’ve been bowling all the PTQs (Pre-Tournament Qualifiers),\u201d the 21-year-old right-hander said. \u201cAnd I wasn’t aware that this event and the last one were open fields. There were no PTQs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I found out in Missouri, I believe, from somebody else that they were getting on the wait (waiting list). So I got on the wait for the last stop and this one. And I didn’t make it into the last event and I got an email Friday night at like 8:30 saying I made it off the wait list for this event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that news, he said he booked a 7 a.m. flight out of Salt Lake City on Monday and arrived in Rochester too late to miss the scheduled practice session for the 132 entrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I flew in with six balls,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the (Storm) reps have been more than helpful. I’ve been able to drill a couple balls. It\u2019s all worked out so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodard said he was \u201call but raised in a bowling center.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been part of my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents, Ryan and Aneda, and my grandpa, Rick, owned the bowling center where I\u2019m from back in Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked how he will handle bowling on national TV for the first time, he said he will \u201ctry to take it step by step.\u201d He added that his parents will be flying in for the show on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A self-described \u201cbowling nerd,\u201d Woodard, the 2024 PBA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year, said he grew up watching bowling on TV and still subscribes to the Brad & Kyle YouTube videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is just awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cLittle me would be geeking out right now, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRAMMAR DELIVERS IN GAME SEVEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grammar, a 23-year-old righty two-hander, saved his best game for last \u2013 rolling the front nine strikes in a 274 effort \u2013 to defeat Japan\u2019s Shota Kawazoe, four games to three. He earned the No. 1 seed as the highest qualifier to win all matches in the elimination match play bracket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Woodard, he has experience bowling on television, having competed in the Junior Gold Championships, Intercollegiate Singles Championships and Intercollegiate Team Championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A victory on Sunday by either Grammar or Woodard would be the third by a PBA rookie this season. Brandon Bonta won the PBA Players Championship title, shooting 300 in the championship match, and Spencer Robarge captured last week\u2019s Pilgrim\u2019s PBA Ohio Classic title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japan\u2019s Shota Kawazoe talks to Tom Hess of the PBA video crew after recording a 300 game during Friday afternoon\u2019s Round of 16 matches.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOMBROWSKI OKAY WITH \u2018NUMBER TWO\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dombrowski, a 47-year-old righty from Parma, Ohio, swept Darren Tang of Las Vegas, Nev.. 4-0, with games of 245, 229, 235 and 222 on the 38-foot Bear \u201csport\u201d oil pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No. 2 seed could be an omen of good things to come for Patrick Dombrowski, who earned his first PBA title as the second-seeded finalist at the U.S. Open earlier this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always thinking ahead, Dombrowski said he\u2019ll be watching the first two matches on the TV pair (lanes 39-40) closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt depends how they break them down (the lanes\u2019 oil pattern) and we\u2019ll just go from there,\u201d he said. \u201cPay attention the first two matches, see how the gutter plays and adjust from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019s delivering the ball better than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStorm (bowling company) has helped me a lot,\u201d said Dombrowski, who keeps a detailed record on a spreadsheet of every game he bowls. \u201cI just feel like I\u2019m throwing the ball like I\u2019m in my thirties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Via, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, will take on Prather of Plainfield, Ill., a six-time PBA champion, in the first match on Sunday. Prather advanced by topping left-hander Matt Sanders of Evansville, Ind., four games to one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rochester area fans supported the tournament all week as this photo from Friday night attests.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TROUP \u2018DEVASTATED\u2019 AFTER LOSS TO PRATHER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Troup, the tournament\u2019s high qualifier and fan favorite, fought back the tears as he expressed his disappointment with losing his Round of 16 match to Kris Prather on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After averaging 238 over 16 qualifying games, Troup needed to win one best-of-seven match to reach Sunday\u2019s televised finals. It wasn\u2019t in the cards, however, as Prather jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-2 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prather won 221-196, 200-166, 245-153, before Troup rallied to win 232-225 and 214-200. Prather sealed the win, 228-179, in game six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel pretty devastated, honestly,\u201d he replied when asked what went wrong. \u201cI had some rough communication (regarding strategy) at the beginning and panic set in like it normally does in these bracket matches over the last couple of years. And then, I finally got comfortable and won a couple games, but at the end of the day I pissed this opportunity away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troup, noting that he hasn\u2019t made it onto TV in two years, said he thought he \u201chad it figured out this week, but s— went south and so did I.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledged that bowling has been \u201coverwhelming for quite some time now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just sucks that I didn’t give it all I had. I just to win one match. I had full belief the whole week that I was going to do it. Another setback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troup is a 12-time PBA tournament champion with two major titles, but coming into the Rochester event he had earned only $14,000 with a 16th<\/sup> place finish at the PBA Indiana Classic as his best performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019s been trying to stay positive from week to week, but admitted, \u201cIt\u2019s probably going to take me some time to find some positives from this week because I can’t find one from today so and that’s the devastating part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, he will have a check to cash and he said he\u2019s looking forward to bowling with Sweden\u2019s Jesper Svensson in next week\u2019s Owen\u2019s Craft Mixers PBA Roth\/Holman Doubles Championship in Portland, Me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe lean on each other and (I lean on) my wife,\u201d he said. \u201cJesper\u2019s girlfriend will be coming over from Sweden to be with us. It will be a good week together for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finalists for Sunday\u2019s televised finals (1 p.m., The CW) of the Surfside PBA New York Classic at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester are, from left, Austin Grammar, Patrick Dombrowski, Riley Woodard, Kris Prather and Chris Via. Photos by Mike Pettinella\/For Video News Service. By Mike PettinellaFor Video News Service Riley \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4449,919],"tags":[5744],"class_list":["post-74177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pin-points","category-wny","tag-pba-finals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-jip","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74151,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/wny-troup-one-win-away-from-reaching-finals-of-pba-tournament-at-abc-gates-bowl\/","url_meta":{"origin":74177,"position":0},"title":"WNY\/Troup one win away from reaching finals of PBA tournament at ABC Gates Bowl","author":"aka","date":"April 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Mike PettinellaFor Video News Service After dominating the qualifying round earlier this week, Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., is one match play victory away from reaching Sunday\u2019s TV finals of the Surfside PBA New York Classic at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester. The 34-year-old righty two-hander averaged 238 for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pin Points"","block_context":{"text":"Pin Points","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/pin-points\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kyle-troup.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":74215,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/13\/wny-pba-rookie-captures-surfside-new-york-classic\/","url_meta":{"origin":74177,"position":1},"title":"WNY\/PBA rookie captures Surfside New York Classic","author":"aka","date":"April 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Austin Grammar holds the championship trophy after rolling a 299 game in the title match of the Surfside PBA New York Classic on Sunday at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester. Photo courtesy of the PBA. 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Thanks to FOX Sports and CBS Sports Network, however, times have changed and pro bowling has become a regular offering on the cable and satellite programming menu. 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