 Butturff in the 2019 PBA Tournament of Champions | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 28, 1994 Chandler, Arizona, U.S. |
| Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) |
| Bowling Information | |
| Affiliation | PBA |
| Dominant hand | Left |
| Wins | 8 PBA Tour (1 major) 27 PBA Regional Tour |
| 300-games | 19 |
| Sponsors | Columbia 300, Vise Grips |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's bowling | ||
Representing  United States
| ||
| World Bowling Championships | ||
 |
2017 Las Vegas | Team |
| World Bowling Championships | ||
 |
2018 Hong Kong | Team |
| Pan American Games | ||
|
2019 Lima | Doubles |
 |
2019 Lima | Singles |
Jakob Butturff (born April 28, 1994) is a left-handed American ten-pin bowler from Chandler, Arizona and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association. He competes in events on the PBA Tour and in global events as a member of Team USA. He has won eight national PBA Tour titles (including one major) and 27 PBA Regional Tour titles.[1] Jakob also rolled the 28th of the PBA Tour's 35 televised 300 games.[2]
Butturff is a pro staff member for the Columbia 300 division of Brunswick. He is also sponsored by Vise Grips.[3]
Butturff finished first at the 2017 Team USA Trials, and has been a Team USA member from 2017 through 2019. He won a team gold medal at the 2017 World Bowling Championships.[1]
Butturff and his Team USA teammates won the 2019 Weber Cup over Team Europe.[4] At the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru, Butturff and Team USA teammate Nick Pate earned a gold medal in doubles. During qualifying for this event, Jakob broke the Pan American Games record for a six-game block with a score of 1,516. In the next six-game block, he broke his own record with a 1,538 score. He also earned a bronze medal in the singles event.[5]
Butturff was part of the rotating four-person team (with A. J. Johnson, Andrew Anderson and Kristopher Prather) that won the trios gold medal for Team USA at the 2021 International Bowling Federation (IBF) Super World Championships in Dubai.[6]
Butturff became a PBA member in 2015, bowling primarily on the PBA Regional circuit that season. In his seven national events during 2015, he cashed four times and made three match play rounds.[7]
Butturff won his first PBA Tour title in the 2016 PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Southwest Open. In October that same year, he won the PBA Xtra Frame Las Vegas Open for his second title.[7]
While he had no PBA Tour victories in the 2017 season, Butturff did win the title at the QubicaAMF World Cup on November 11 in Hermosillo, Mexico.[8] Butturff had a chance to win his first major championship at the 2017 U.S. Open. He qualified as the #1 seed, leading his next-closest competitor by an astounding 617 pins, but he lost the televised championship match to Rhino Page, 256–222.[1][9]
Butturff won the Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary classic in February 2018 for his third PBA Tour title, and first on national television. He then won the PBA Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic in August for his fourth title. In October 2018, Butturff qualified as the #1 seed at the U.S. Open for a second straight season, but again lost the final match, this time by a single pin to England's Dominic Barrett on October 31. Butturff joined PBA Hall of Famer Earl Anthony as the only two bowlers to be the top qualifier in back-to-back U.S. Opens during the modern era (since 1971). Coincidentally, Anthony also lost the final match in both years (1979 and 1980).[10]
Butturff qualified as the #1 seed for the first two tournaments of the 2019 PBA Tour season, joining Johnny Petraglia, Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams Jr. as the only players to be the top qualifier in three consecutive PBA Tour events (going back to the final event of the 2018 season). Butturff lost the title match in the season-opening PBA Hall of Fame classic, but won the PBA Oklahoma Open the following week for his fifth PBA Tour title.[11] He captured his sixth PBA Tour title and first major at the 2019 USBC Masters, qualifying as the #1 seed for the stepladder finals and defeating Mykel Holliman in the championship match for the win.[12] Butturff won his seventh PBA title and third of the 2019 season on June 30 at the Lubbock Sports Shootout.[13] He also had runner-up finishes in 2019 at the PBA World Championship, DHC PBA Japan Invitational, and Barbasol PBA Tour Finals. On October 21, Jakob won the $50,000 winner-take-all top prize in the PBA Clash. This was a non-title made-for-TV event featuring the 2019 season's top eight money leaders, and was broadcast November 3 on Fox.[14] Butturff cashed a career-high $204,380 during the season, and finished runner-up to Jason Belmonte in the 2019 PBA Player of the Year voting.[15]
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Butturff took a step back, making only one championship round appearance and winning no titles.
In the 2021 PBA World Championship, Butturff charged from the #3 seed to the final match, but had to settle for his second runner-up finish in this major tournament, falling to top seed Tom Daugherty in the final match, 263–257.[16] Butturff also finished runner-up to Chris Via, 214–213, in the 2021 U.S. Open. This was his third runner-up finish in the event, and the second time he lost the final match by a single pin.[17] Despite not winning a tournament in 2021, Butturff rebounded in earnings after a disappointing 2020 season, collecting $120,225.[18]
2022 saw continued frustration for Butturff, as he made four final round appearances but could not win a title.
After having multiple runner-up finishes from 2020 through 2022, Butturff finally broke through in the PBA Scorpion Championship on Apr 18, 2023. Qualifying as the #1 seed, he defeated E. J. Tackett 225–217 in the championship match. With this emotional win (the first following the death of his mother in November 2020), Butturff claimed his eighth career PBA Tour title.[19] Butturff qualified for the May 20–21 PBA Super Slam, a special event intended to feature the five major championship winners in the 2023 season. He qualified as the top finisher without a 2023 major title when E. J. Tackett won his second major of the season at the PBA World Championship (where Butturff finished fourth).[20]
Butturff finished the 2023 season ranked fourth in points, third in average (223.92) and fourth in earnings ($175,125).[21]
Butturff has rolled 19 career perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the PBA's 28th televised 300 game, which he bowled on July 18, 2020 in the seeding round for the PBA Tour Playoffs broadcast on CBS Sports Network.[2]
Major championships are in bold type.
In addition to his national PBA Tour titles, Butturff has won 27 PBA Regional Tour titles,[22] including a PBA-record nine Regional titles in the 2016 season alone.[1] His 20th title came in just his 59th PBA Regional tournament on January 20, 2019. Of the 38 players to date with at least 20 Regional titles, Butturff is recognized as the youngest (age 24) to reach the plateau.[23]
Butturff has a unique delivery, in part due to being double-jointed with “hypermobility” in his wrist. According to bowling coach and author Bill Spigner, Butturff's starting wrist position is “almost an impossible position for someone with normal flexibility to achieve.”[24] This allows Jakob to impart high revolutions on his shot, achieving an RPM rate comparable to many two-handed bowlers. For this reason, Butturff frequently uses an older technology urethane bowling ball instead of reactive equipment.
Statistics are through the last complete PBA Tour season.
| Season | Events | Cashes | Match Play | CRA+ | PBA Tour Titles | Regional Titles | Average | Earnings ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 222.46 | 18,400 |
| 2016 | 26 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 218.42 | 59,500 |
| 2017 | 33 | 19 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 224.41 | 73,825 |
| 2018 | 34 | 19 | 17 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 223.59 | 110,870 |
| 2019 | 31 | 21 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 219.63 | 204,380 |
| 2020 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -- | 56,220 |
| 2021 | 24 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 220.57 | 120,225 |
| 2022 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 218.96 | 91,575 |
| 2023 | 19 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 223.92 | 175,125 |
+CRA = Championship Round Appearances