Sean Rash
Rumors of Sean Rash’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
Coming off his worst season in 13 years on the PBA Tour, the 36-year-old pro bowler from Anchorage picked up his first victory in 40 events dating to 2017 after he and doubles partner Matt Ogle won the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman Doubles Championship in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
“You hear a lot of chat in the background like, ‘Is he ever going to win again?’ or people just generally writing you off,” Rash told PBA.com. “I finally saw some improvement at the end of last year but I was just hoping for the best when the new season started. You never know when you’re going to get it back again.”
Rash, of Dimond High fame, and Ogle beat Brad Miller and Kyle Sherma 213-200 in the title match televised by Fox Sports.
The winners prevailed in four consecutive stepladder matches under the Baker format, which requires each player to alternate frames in a game to combine for one score.
This was Ogle’s first TV appearance while Rash is a legend in the sport, having won 13 titles and two major championships. He’s also a former PBA Player of the Year.
But Rash fell on hard times last season.
He went winless for the first time since 2010. His 215.26 average was the lowest since his rookie season in 2005. And his season winnings of $44,222 were the lowest of his career.
“I was almost in a depression,” he said. “It got to the point where I wondered if I wanted to do (bowl) anymore. But then I just had to force myself to do the things I needed to do to get better by getting in shape, eat right and make the changes with my game like going from a 16-pound ball to a 15.”
So far, so good.
Rash currently carries a career-high 229.77 average and already has his first win and three cashes through the first four events of the 2019 season.