François Lavoie

François Lavoie (born February 27, 1993) is a right-handed Canadian ten-pin bowler from Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, now making his home in Wichita, Kansas. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association, and has been a member of Team Canada. Lavoie has won five PBA Tour titles, including three major championships. He is one of only three players in history to roll a perfect 300 game in two televised PBA Tour title events, and the only player to bowl a 300 game in a U.S. Open telecast.[2]

François Lavoie
Born (1993-02-27) February 27, 1993[1]
Bowling Information
AffiliationPBA
Dominant handRight (tweener delivery)
Wins5 PBA Tour (3 majors)
11 PBA Regional Tour
300-games7
SponsorsStorm Products, Turbo Inserts
Personal blogfacebook.com/francoislavoiebowling/

Lavoie is a member of the Storm[3] and Turbo Grips pro staffs.

Amateur career

Lavoie won the 2013 World Bowling Championships trios gold medal (partners: Mark Buffa and Patrick Girard).[1]

In 2014, Lavoie won the Intercollegiate Singles Championship as a member of the Wichita State University bowling team.[1]

In 2015, Lavoie won the Intercollegiate Team Championship with Wichita State University, and the Pan Am Games doubles gold medal (with partner Dan MacLelland) in Toronto.[1] During the men's doubles event Lavoie scored a perfect game in the fifth round, the first in Pan American Games history.[4][5]

Lavoie was a four-time member of Youth Team Canada, and has been a four-time member of adult Team Canada.[1] With Team Canada, he has won eight international medals (4 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).[3]

In 2019, Lavoie was named to Canada's 2019 Pan American Games team.[6][7]

Professional bowling career

Lavoie joined the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) in 2015.[1] In his first full PBA Tour season (2016), Lavoie won two titles, including his first major championship at the U.S. Open. He was named the 2016 Harry Golden Rookie of the Year.[1] In 2017, Lavoie won his third PBA Tour title at the Xtra Frame Greater Jonesboro Open. He then went without a title for all of 2018.

On October 30, 2019, Lavoie won his fourth title and second major, again in the U.S. Open.[8]

On February 28, 2021, Lavoie won his fifth PBA Tour title and third major at the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions. Lavoie climbed from the No. 5 seed in the stepladder final, beating a PBA major champion in all four of his matches to take the title and $100,000 top prize.[9] On April 18, 2021, Lavoie won the Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam, a special non-title event featuring the five winners of the 2021 major championships. He defeated PBA Players Championship winner Kyle Troup in the final match to earn his second $100,000 first place check of the season.[10] Lavoie qualified as the #4 seed at the 2021 PBA Tour Playoffs and made it to the semifinal round before being eliminated by top seed Kyle Troup.[11] Lavoie finished runner-up to Troup in the 2021 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year voting.

Through the 2022 season, Lavoie's PBA earnings total over US$750,000, with $370,300 of that coming in the 2021 season alone.[12]

He has rolled seven 300 games in PBA competition. Among these perfect games, Lavoie recorded the PBA's 26th televised 300 game in the semifinal match of the 2016 U.S. Open against Shawn Maldonado, who scored 211. This was just the sixth televised perfect game in a major tournament, and the first ever in the U.S. Open finals.[1] Lavoie also recorded the PBA’s 29th televised 300 game[13] in the Round of 16 at the 2020 PBA Tour Playoffs, becoming the second bowler in PBA history to roll two televised 300 games in an official PBA Tour event (the first being Sean Rash, whom Lavoie coincidentally defeated in this PBA Playoffs match).[2] Chris Via and Jason Belmonte have since become members of this exclusive club.[14]

PBA Tour wins

Major titles in bold type.

  1. 2016 U.S. Open (Las Vegas, Nevada). (Followed Mika Koivuniemi as the second international player to win the U.S. Open.)[1]
  2. 2016 Shark Championship (Reno, Nevada)[1]
  3. 2017 Xtra Frame Greater Jonesboro Open (Jonesboro, Arkansas)[1]
  4. 2019 U.S. Open (Mooresville, North Carolina)[15]
  5. 2021 PBA Tournament of Champions (Jupiter, Florida)

Non-title wins
  • 2021 PBA Super Slam Cup

Lavoie also owns eleven PBA Regional titles, and he won the (non-title) PBA Regional Challenge at the 2017 PBA World Series of Bowling in Reno, NV.[16] He was the 2016 Southwest Region Rookie of the Year and 2018 Southwest Region Player of the Year.[3]

Career statistics
SeasonEventsCashesMatch PlayCRA+PBA Tour TitlesRegional TitlesAverageEarnings (US$)
201617118522222.7986,645
2017251811113222.8976,285
201827179102214.5452,983
201926128111215.1856,322
2020151110100220.7686,250
2021191313610218.62375,145
20221333000212.0230,100

+CRA = Championship Round Appearances (PBA Tour only)

Personal

Lavoie graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in business administration.[1] He claims to have started bowling at age 2, and he also enjoys ice hockey and tennis.[3]

In August of 2022, Lavoie was elected Chairman of the International Bowling Federation (IBF) Athletes Committee.[17]

References
  1. "Francois Lavoie (bowler profile)". PBA.com. July 6, 2017. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017.
  2. "FRANCOIS LAVOIE ROLLS PERFECT 300 GAME ON WAY TO PBA PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINALS". pba.com. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  3. "Storm Bowling - Athletes - Francois Lavoie". stormbowling.com. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  4. Bitton, Tyler (23 July 2015). "Francois Lavoie rolls perfect game to lift Canada to bowling gold". www.cbc.ca/sports/. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  5. "Francois Lavoie, Dan MacLelland shatter five records to cruise to Men's Doubles gold medal". www.bowlingdigital.com/. Bowling Digital. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2022. Lavoie ended the 300 game jinx ended when he fired the first 300 game in Pan American Games history in the fifth game
  6. Etchells, Daniel (11 April 2019). "Canadian Tenpin Federation names bowling team for Lima 2019 Pan American Games". Insidethegames.biz. Dunsar Media. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  7. "Canada's Lima 2019 bowling team announced" (Press release). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Olympic Committee. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  8. Cannizzaro, Matt (30 October 2020). "CANADA'S LAVOIE WINS 2019 U.S. OPEN". Bowl.com. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  9. Goodger, Jef (28 February 2021). "FRANÇOIS LAVOIE WINS KIA PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS FOR THIRD MAJOR TITLE". PBA.com. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  10. Goodger, Jef (18 April 2021). "FRANÇOIS LAVOIE WINS GUARANTEED RATE PBA SUPER SLAM". PBA.com. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  11. "KYLE TROUP WINS KIA PBA PLAYOFFS FOR EIGHTH CAREER TITLE". pba.com. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  12. Goodger, Jef (December 21, 2021). "2021 GUARANTEED RATE PBA TOUR SEASON IN REVIEW". pba.com. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  13. Halstrom, Brian. "François Lavoie Rolls Perfect 300 in PBA Playoffs Against Sean Rash". Bowlersmart.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  14. Goodger, Jef (June 27, 2021). "ANTHONY SIMONSEN WINS PBA TOUR FINALS FOR EIGHTH CAREER PBA TOUR TITLE". pba.com. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  15. Cannizzaro, Matt (October 30, 2019). "Canada's Lavoie Wins 2019 U.S. Open". bowl.com. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  16. Vint, Bill (November 7, 2017). "Norm Duke, Francois Lavoie Win PBA Challenge Titles to Kick Off GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX". pba.com. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  17. Richgels, Jeff (30 August 2022). "Canadian Francois Lavoie elected chair of IBF Athletes Committee". 11thframe.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
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