INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 29, 2020) – Top seed Jesper Svensson of Sweden beat No. 2 seed Shawn Maldonado of Houston, 245-226, in the title match Saturday night to win the Go Bowling PBA Indianapolis Open at Royal Pin Woodland for his first win of the season and ninth of his career.

Down by one pin in the fourth frame, the 25-year-old Svensson was able to take command in the match when he threw five consecutive strikes from the fifth through ninth frames. On his first ball of the 10th frame he left the 2-4-5 but made the spare to clinch the match.

“You’d rather get a strike for the win, but I’ll take the spare,” Svensson said. “I didn’t have any splits and didn’t miss any spares so overall it was a good game to win.”

It was Svensson’s first win since the 2019 PBA/WBT Thailand Open and his first win on television since the 2017 PBA Cheetah Championship.  The Indianapolis Open was televised live on FS1.

“I’ve been bowling well but just feel like I haven’t been rewarded for it,” said Svensson, who won the 2016 PBA Tournament of Champions at age 20 to become the youngest to win that major. “I’m constantly working on my game and sometimes it’s the small things that can make the biggest differences.

“I’m working hard to improve my game to be a more versatile player so when there’s a week when you can play to your strength you can take advantage of that opportunity,” he added. “It takes more than being good at one thing and that’s especially true when you’re bowling on the dual (lane condition) patterns.”

Competition for the entire Indianapolis Open, including the stepladder finals, was conducted on a dual lane condition with the PBA 42-foot Mark Roth lane condition on the left lane and 37-foot Marshall Holman lane pattern on the right lane.

Maldonado advanced to the title match with a 246-230 semifinal win over No. 4 seed Nick Pate of Inver Grove, Minnesota, who was trying for his first PBA Tour title in his first telecast appearance.

The 33-year-old Maldonado was also trying for his first tour win with his career-best tour finish being second-place in the 2016 PBA Lubbock Sports Southwest Open.   

In the opening stepladder match, the 25-year-old Pate, who finished sixth in the recent PBA Players Championship, beat No. 5 seed, three-time tour winner Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Michigan, 227-164, to advance to the second stepladder match against No. 3 seed seven-time tour winner two-hander Anthony Simonsen of Little Elm, Texas.

In the match against Simonsen, Pate survived a missed four pin in the eighth frame and a pocket 7-10 split on his second shot in the 10th frame to beat Simonsen 226-213 to advance to the semifinal match against Maldonado.

The next Go Bowling PBA Tour telecast on FS1 will be the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship which will air Sunday, March 8 at noon ET.

GO BOWLING PBA INDIANAPOLIS OPEN

(a 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour Tier 2 event)

Royal Pin Woodland, Indianapolis, Saturday

Final Standings

1, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, $30,000.
2, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, $15,000.
3, Nick Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., $10,000.
4, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, $8,000.
5, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., $7,000.

Playoff Results:

Match One: Pate def. Smallwood, 227-164.

Match Two: Pate def. Simonsen, 226-213.

Semifinal: Maldonado def. Pate, 246-230.

Championship: Svensson def. Maldonado, 245-226.