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Kristopher Prather
Prather in 2019
Personal information
Born (1992-01-01) January 1, 1992 (age 32)
Years active2015-present
Bowling Information
AffiliationPBA
Rookie year2015
Dominant handRight (cranker delivery)
Wins6 PBA Tour (2 majors)
2 PBA Regional Tour
300-games26 (USBC Sanctioned)
SponsorsRoto Grip bowling balls, Vise Grips

Kristopher "Kris" Prather (born January 1, 1992)[1] of Plainfield, Illinois is an American professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the PBA Tour. He is known for winning the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs on June 2, 2019[2][3] and the PBA Tournament of Champions on February 9, 2020.[4] To date, Prather has won six PBA Tour titles, including two major championships. Prather is also a multi-year and current member of Team USA.[5]

Prather has been nicknamed "Shark" and "Shark Kent" (a play on Clark Kent). He is a member of the Roto Grip and Vise Grips pro staffs.[2]

Amateur career

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Prather bowled collegiately at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.[2] As an amateur, he won the 2012 Paragon Open in Grand Rapids, Michigan and finished second at the 2012 New Mexico Open.[1]

As of January 2020, Prather is a member of Team USA.[6] Prather was part of the rotating four-person team (with A. J. Johnson, Jakob Butturff and Andrew Anderson) that won the trios gold medal for Team USA at the 2021 International Bowling Federation (IBF) Super World Championships in Dubai.[7]

On August 23, 2022, Prather and partner A. J. Johnson won Doubles gold for USA at the PanAm Bowling Champion of Champions event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and Johnson were part of a USA sweep in Doubles, as Shannon O'Keefe and Bryanna Coté won Doubles gold in the women's event.[8] Prather then won gold in Singles on August 25, which also earned him All-Events gold.[9]

Professional career

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After qualifying for the championship finals four times in 2018 and twice more in early 2019 without winning, Prather broke through with his first PBA title in the PBA Scorpion Championship, held at the 2019 World Series of Bowling in Allen Park, Michigan.[10] Based on points earned during the first 13 events of the 2019 season, he qualified as the #9 seed for the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs. He was the only player to make the final four who did not earn a first-round bye. He defeated #4 seed Anthony Simonsen in the semifinal round on June 1, then topped #7 seed Bill O'Neill on June 2 to take the championship and $100,000 first place prize.[3] Originally, the PBA Tour Playoffs was considered a non-title event. However, on December 6, 2019, the PBA announced that Prather would retroactively be awarded a PBA title for his win, giving him his second career Tour title.[11][12]

Prather was a member of the Portland Lumberjacks team, winners of the 2019 PBA League competition.[13] He was again a member of the Lumberjacks when they successfully defended their PBA League title in 2020.[14]

On February 9, 2020, Prather won the PBA Tournament of Champions held in Fairlawn, Ohio. As the #4 seed for the stepladder finals, he won all four matches, defeating four major titlists (Sean Rash, Jason Belmonte, Anthony Simonsen and Bill O'Neill) to capture his third PBA Tour title, first major, and second career $100,000 prize check.[4]

On June 6, 2020, Prather won the PBA Strike Derby, a non-title made-for-TV event where competitors attempt to bowl as many strikes as possible in two minutes. Seeded #4 after rolling 10 strikes in the first round, Prather went on to defeat Anthony Simonsen in the championship (fourth) round, 7–6, to claim the win and the $25,000 top prize.[15] On July 22, Prather was crowned the PBA's "King of the Lanes" in a three-day, non-title event. He won the fifth challenge match (of six) in the event over PWBA player Gazmine Mason, and dethroned the reigning King, Sean Rash in the next match. He then defended his crown against the sixth and final challenger, PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber.[16] Despite the 2020 season being shortened by COVID-19, Prather posted a new career high in earnings with $223,285.[17]

On March 14, 2021, Prather won his fourth PBA Tour title (with partner Andrew Anderson) at the Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship.[18]

Prather qualified as the No. 1 seed at the 2022 PBA Tournament of Champions, but fell short of winning for the second time in this event when he was defeated by No. 2 seed Dominic Barrett in the final match.[19] Two weeks later, Prather won the 2022 PBA World Championship as the No. 1 seed, defeating Jason Sterner in an exciting final match that required a one-ball, sudden death roll-off after the two tied the regulation game, 237–237. Prather won the roll-off 10–6 to win his second major and third career $100,000 prize check.[20]

Based on points earned over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Prather qualified as the #6 seed for the 2023 PBA Tour Finals, held June 24–25 in Arlington, Washington. Prather climbed the stepladder in Group 2, eventually defeating top seed Jason Belmonte by way of a roll-off in the race-to-two points final match. He then went on to face Group 1 winner Kyle Troup for the title, but lost in a two-game sweep.[21]

In April 2024, Prather and partner Andrew Anderson won their second Roth-Holman doubles championship, giving Prather his sixth PBA Tour title.[22]

In addition to his six national PBA Tour titles, Prather has earned two PBA Regional Tour titles.[2] He has rolled 28 certified perfect 300 games, including five in PBA Tour competition, and has 11 certified 800 series.[1]

PBA Tour titles

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Major championships are in bold type.

  1. 2019 PBA Scorpion Championship (Allen Park, Michigan)
  2. 2019 PBA Tour Playoffs (Portland, Maine)
  3. 2020 PBA Tournament of Champions (Fairlawn, Ohio)
  4. 2021 Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship w/Andrew Anderson (Tampa, Florida)
  5. 2022 PBA World Championship (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin)
  6. 2024 Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship w/Andrew Anderson (Allen Park, Michigan)

Non-title PBA wins

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  1. 2019 PBA League (Portland Lumberjacks)
  2. 2020 PBA League (Portland Lumberjacks)
  3. 2020 PBA Strike Derby
  4. 2020 PBA King of the Lanes
  5. 2022 PBA League (Portland Lumberjacks)

Career statistics

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Statistics are through the last full PBA Tour season.

Season Events Cashes Match Play CRA+ PBA Tour Titles PBA Regional Titles Average Earnings ($)
2015 15 5 2 0 0 0 214.55 12,040
2016 19 11 6 1 0 0 216.63 26,490
2017 18 10 7 0 0 2 219.34 27,935
2018 20 13 9 5 0 0 220.33 60,885
2019 26 17 12 5 2 0 216.50 179,348
2020 13 11 8 2 1 0 -- 223,285
2021 18 14 11 2 1 0 217.23 91,505
2022 14 11 11 2 1 0 220.92 222,750
2023 18 9 4 1 0 0 215.22 66,650

+CRA = Championship Round Appearances

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Team Roto Grip – Kris Prather". rotogrip.com. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Kristopher Prather PBA Profile". pba.com. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Wallace, Eric J. (June 2, 2019). "Milton's Kris Prather wins inaugural PBA Playoffs, $100,000 prize". pnj.com. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Schneider, Jerry (February 9, 2020). "Kris Prather Takes All Four Stepladder Matches to Win 55th PBA Tournament of Champions for First Major Title". pba.com. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "TEAM USA - TEAM MEMBERS". bowl.com. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  6. ^ Cannizzaro, Matt (January 8, 2020). "Champions Determined at 2020 USBC Team USA Trials, U.S. Amateur". bowl.com. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  7. ^ Cannizzaro, Matt (November 15, 2021). "TEAM USA SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS TRIOS TITLE AT IBF SUPER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN DUBAI". Bowl.com. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  8. ^ Kanak, Gene (August 24, 2022). "Team USA sweeps doubles gold at PanAm Champion of Champions". snieronbowling.com. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  9. ^ Kanak, Gene (August 26, 2022). "TEAM USA WINS EIGHT MEDALS ON FINAL DAY OF 2022 CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS, QUALIFIES FOR 2023 PAN AMERICAN GAMES". bowl.com. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Schneider, Jerry (March 20, 2019). "Kris Prather Wins PBA Scorpion Championship for First Career PBA Tour Title". pba.com. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  11. ^ Vint, Bill (December 6, 2019). "PBA Spare Shots: 2019 PBA Player and Rookie of the Year, Award Winners to be Announced on December 11". pba.com. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  12. ^ Vint, Bill (December 6, 2019). "Kris Prather Retroactively Awarded PBA Title for 2019 PBA Playoffs Win". BowlersJournal.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  13. ^ Vint, Bill (July 18, 2019). "Portland Lumberjacks Dominate L.A. X to Win First PBA League Elias Cup; Wes Malott Named Mark Roth MVP". pba.com. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  14. ^ "Portland Lumberjacks | PBA". www.pba.com. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  15. ^ Warner, K. (June 8, 2020). "Kris Prather Wins the Inaugural PBA Strike Derby on Fox". pba.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  16. ^ Warner, K. (July 22, 2020). "Kris Prather Reigns Supreme as the New PBA King of the Lanes on the Final Night of the Six-Part Series". pba.com. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  17. ^ Wiseman, Lucas (November 20, 2020). "Jason Belmonte Tops 2020 PBA Tour Earnings With Nearly $300k". flobowling.com. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  18. ^ Goodger, Jef (March 14, 2021). "Andrew Anderson and Kris Praher Win PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship". PBA.com. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Williams Jr., Emil (February 27, 2022). "DOM BARRETT WINS THIRD MAJOR TITLE AND EARNS TRIPLE CROWN STATUS AT KIA PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS". pba.com. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  20. ^ Hughes, Nolan (March 13, 2022). "KRIS PRATHER FINDS MAJOR REDEMPTION AT THE PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP". pba.com. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  21. ^ Hughes, Nolan (June 25, 2023). "KYLE TROUP WINS 10TH CAREER TITLE AT PBA TOUR FINALS". pba.com. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  22. ^ Hughes, Nolan (April 14, 2024). "ANDREW ANDERSON, KRIS PRATHER WIN ROTH/HOLMAN PBA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP". pba.com. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
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