PBA Tour Playoffs

Last updated

The PBA Tour Playoffs is an annual invitational event on the PBA Tour in North America that debuted in the 2019 season. After two years as a 24-player tournament, the event was set up in a 16-player bracket-style format since 2021. [1]

Contents

Tournament Structure

PBA Tour Playoffs participants are chosen and seeded based on points earned in qualifying to-date tournaments of the current season. (For 2019, this included 13 events, from the PBA Hall of Fame Classic through the USBC Masters; for 2020, this included 12 events due to the cancellation of the USBC Masters.) PBA Tour points are awarded on a tier system, as follows:

For 2019 and 2020, the top eight players in points received byes into the second round (round of 16). The #9 through #24 seeds competed in single-elimination matches (one standard ten-frame game each) to determine who advanced to the second round. [2]

For 2019, Round 2 and all subsequent rounds featured double-elimination matches, also known as the "race to two points". Any player winning both games in a match earns two points and advances to the next round. If the match is split one game each, the players bowl a 9th/10th frame roll-off to determine who wins the second point and the right to advance. If the 9th/10th frame roll-off results in a tie, a one-ball, sudden death roll-off is used until a winner is determined. For 2020, only the championship finals used the race to two points format. All other rounds were single-elimination matches.

The PBA Players Committee originally voted to make the playoffs a non-title event, citing the low number of games bowled as the primary reason. [3] However, on December 6, 2019, the PBA announced that the winner of the 2019 PBA Playoffs would retroactively be awarded a PBA Tour title, and that the winner of the 2020 PBA Playoffs and subsequent events will be credited with a PBA title. [4] As of 2020, winners also receive a WWE championship belt, as part of a cross-promotion with WWE wrestling, which is also broadcast on Fox Sports (current home of the PBA). [5]

Since 2021, the PBA Playoffs feature a 16-player field rather than a 24-player field. All PBA Playoffs matches are double-elimination ("race to two points") except for the final match, which uses a "race to three points" format. Players bowl a maximum of four games, with the first player to win three games earning the championship. If the match is split two games each, the players bowl a 9th/10th frame roll-off for the third point and the title. [6]

In 2024, the PBA Playoffs has a 16-player starting field, with the 12 through 16 seeds competing in a separate stepladder event to qualify for the #12 seed. The 5 through 11 seeds are then joined by the #12 seed in a bracketed round of eight. The top four seeds automatically gain entry into the quarterfinal round of eight, facing the four survivors of the 5 through 12 brackets. Elimination brackets then continue until a champion is crowned. [7]

Tournament history

Past winners

SeasonStarting FieldFinals AirdateFinals LocationFinals Format(Seed) WinnerFinals Score(Seed) Runner-up
201924June 2, 2019 Portland, ME Race to 2 pts.(9) Kris Prather [8] 2–0(7) Bill O'Neill
202024November 8, 2020 Centreville, VA Race to 2 pts.(2) Bill O'Neill [9] 2–0(4) Anthony Simonsen
202116May 16, 2021 Milford, CT Race to 3 pts.(1) Kyle Troup [6] 3–1(11) Sam Cooley
202216May 15, 2022 Jupiter, FL Race to 3 pts.(9) Kyle Troup3–1(6) Tommy Jones
2023not held
202416May 19, 2024 Kissimmee, FL Race to 2 pts.(9) David Krol1–1 (48–40)*(10) Jesper Svensson


2024 event

16-player field based on 2024 PBA Tour points through April 28. $301,000 prize fund. All matches until the final round are single-game elimination.

Play-in round

Held May 4 in Arlington, Washington. [10]

Stepladder match 1:#15 Andrew Anderson defeats #16 A. J. Johnson, 217–193 (Johnson earns $5,000)
Stepladder match 2:#15 Andrew Anderson defeats #14 Graham Fach, 257–227 (Fach earns $6,000)
Stepladder match 3:#15 Andrew Anderson defeats #13 Packy Hanrahan, 191–185 (Hanrahan earns $7,000)
Stepladder match 4:#12 Tom Smallwood defeats #15 Andrew Anderson, 298–247 (Anderson earns $8,000)

Round of 12

Held May 5 in Arlington, Washington. Includes the #5 through #12 seeds. Winners (bold text) join the top four seeds in the quarterfinals. Losers earn $10,000. [11]

Match 1: #8 Zachary Wilkins (233) vs. #9 David Krol (246)
Match 2:#5 Jason Belmonte (218) vs. #12 Tom Smallwood (207)
Match 3: #7 Matt Russo (246) vs. #10 Jesper Svensson (249)
Match 4:#6 Kyle Troup (236) vs. #11 Chris Via (194)

Quarterfinals

Held May 5 in Arlington, Washington (air date: May 12). Top four seeds are automatically placed into this round. Winners (bold text) advance to the Semifinals. Losers earn $15,000. [12]

Match 1: #1 E. J. Tackett (213) vs. #9 David Krol (257)
Match 2:#4 Bill O'Neill (238) vs. #5 Jason Belmonte (206)
Match 3: #2 Marshall Kent (224) vs. #10 Jesper Svensson (289)
Match 4: #3 Anthony Simonsen (225) vs. #6 Kyle Troup (234)

Semifinals

Held May 19 in Kissimmee, Florida. Winners (bold text) advance to the finals. Losers earn $25,000. [13]

Match 1:#9 David Krol (243) vs. #4 Bill O'Neill (202)
Match 2:#10 Jesper Svensson (224) vs. #6 Kyle Troup (211)

Finals

Held May 19 in Kissimmee, Florida. Two semifinal winners face each other in a "race to two points" final round. [13]

Match 1:Jesper Svensson def. David Krol (220–213)
Match 2:David Krol def. Jesper Svensson (204–194)
Roll-off:David Krol def. Jesper Svensson (48–40)

David Krol earns $75,000.
Jesper Svensson earns $50,000.

Related Research Articles

There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series more commonly known as on aggregate, and the round-robin tournament.

The USBC Masters is a championship ten-pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 2000. A PBA rule change in 2008 retroactively awarded a PBA title to any Masters winners prior to 1998 who were PBA members at the time of the victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Barrett</span>

Dominic “Dom” Simon Barrett is one of England's leading ten-pin bowlers. He competes in world events and on the PBA Tour, where he has won ten titles. This total includes three PBA major titles: the PBA World Championship (2013), the U.S. Open (2018) and the Tournament of Champions (2022), which makes him one of nine triple crown winners in PBA history and the first European player to accomplish the feat. He has been the ranking winner on the European Bowling Tour (EBT) in three seasons and is also the only player to have been named as ‘World Bowling Writers’ bowler of the year three consecutive times. He is nicknamed "The Dominator".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Belmonte</span> Australian professional ten-pin bowler (born 1983)

Jason Belmonte is an Australian professional ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for using the two-handed approach style to deliver his shot. He has won 31 PBA titles, including a record 15 major championships; he is only one of eight bowlers in PBA tour history to achieve 30 wins, making him the only 30-time winner in PBA Tour history who is not currently a member of the PBA Hall of Fame.

The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional professionals, a small percentage of the bowling membership competes at the national and international level, forming the PBA Tour. Founded in 1958, the PBA Tour has been in continuous operation since the inaugural 1959 season.

Tommy Jones is an American professional bowler currently competing on the PBA Tour. He is a member of the PBA Hall of Fame and the USBC Hall of Fame. He is also an 11-time member of Team USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Rash</span> American ten-pin bowler (born 1982)

Sean Rash is an American ten-pin bowler who is considered one of the top players on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. He currently owns 17 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships, and was the 2011–12 PBA Player of the Year. Rash has rolled two of his 30 career PBA perfect 300 games on television, making him the first player in history with multiple perfect games in the TV finals of a PBA Tour event. Canadian François Lavoie and American Chris Via, and Australian Jason Belmonte have since joined Rash in this exclusive club. Rash has also been on the losing end of four televised 300 games, more than any other player. Sean owns ten PBA Regional Tour titles.

William O'Neill is a right-handed professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the PBA Tour in North America. A resident of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, his nickname on tour is "The Real Deal". O'Neill has won 14 PBA Tour titles, including three major championships at the 2009–10 U.S. Open and the 2020 and 2024 PBA Players Championship.

2016 is the 57th season of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. There were 26 singles title events, two doubles title events, and two team events on the 2016 schedule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesper Svensson (bowler)</span> Swedish professional bowler (born 1995)

Jesper Svensson is a Swedish professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014, and also competes on the European Bowling Tour (EBT). He has won eleven PBA Tour titles overall, including a major title at the 2016 PBA Tournament of Champions. He also owns six EBT titles and one PBA Regional title. He is known for using the two-handed shovel style delivery with a dominant left hand. He uses non-reactive urethane bowling balls almost exclusively. Svensson is a member of the Storm and Vise Grips pro staffs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Troup</span> American professional bowler (born 1991)

Kyle Troup is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Taylorsville, North Carolina, now residing in Mt. Washington, Kentucky. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw the ball as a young child, calling himself self-taught in that regard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Simonsen</span> American ten-pin bowler

Anthony Walter Simonsen is an American professional ten-pin bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014. Simonsen became known in bowling fan circles early in the 2016 season, when he earned the distinction as the youngest player in history to win a PBA major championship. He is now the youngest player in history to own five major PBA Tour titles. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. At age 25, Simonsen eclipsed $1 million in career PBA earnings during the 2022 season. Simonsen has also bowled internationally as a multi-year member of Team USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. J. Tackett</span> Professional ten-pin bowler

Eddie Dean Tackett Jr. is an American professional ten-pin bowler. A member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2012, Tackett has won 23 PBA Tour titles, including five major championships, and is one of nine professional bowlers that have completed the PBA Triple Crown. He was named PBA Player of the Year for the 2016 and 2023 seasons, and was runner-up for the award in 2017 and 2018. Tackett is right-handed and uses a cranker-style delivery. He has been called a "unicorn" in the sport, because of his ability to use a one-handed, thumb-in delivery to achieve RPM rates comparable to most two-handed bowlers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Lavoie</span> Canadian ten-pin bowler (born 1993)

François Lavoie 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.

The PBA Players Championship is one of five major tournaments on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristopher Prather</span> American ten-pin bowler (b. 1992)

Kristopher "Kris" Prather 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 and the PBA Tournament of Champions on February 9, 2020. 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.

The 2020 PBA Tour season, the 61st season of play for the U.S. Professional Bowlers Association's ten-pin bowling tour, began on January 14, 2020, with the PBA Hall of Fame Classic in Arlington, Texas, and concluded with the final round of the PBA Tour Playoffs on October 12 in Centreville, Virginia.

The 2021 PBA Tour season, the 62nd season of play for the U.S. Professional Bowlers Association's ten-pin bowling tour, began on January 14 with the Regional Portions of the PBA Players Championship. The season included 14 singles title events and two doubles title events.

Thomas Larsen is a Danish professional ten-pin bowler competing on the PBA Tour, World Bowling Tour and European Bowling Tour. He has won three titles on the PBA Tour and five titles on the EBT, having been the EBT rankings winner in 2014. He represented Europe at the 2020 and 2021 Weber Cup events.

Adam "A. J." Johnson is an American professional bowler from Oswego, Illinois. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2015. He won his first PBA Tour title in 2023. He has also been a multi-year member of Team USA, and is on the 2024 team.

References

  1. ↑ Lowe, Mike (7 April 2019). "Pros return to Bayside Bowl in Portland for new PBA playoffs". pressherald.com. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  2. ↑ "PBA Playoffs Bracket" (PDF). pba.com. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  3. ↑ Wiseman, Lucas (May 31, 2019). "PBA Players Committee Recommended Playoffs Not Count As A Title". FloBowling.com. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  4. ↑ Vint, Bill (6 December 2019). "Kris Prather Retroactively Awarded PBA Title for 2019 PBA Playoffs Win". BowlersJournal.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Warner, K. (11 October 2020). "JAKOB BUTTURFF, FRANCOIS LAVOIE, DICK ALLEN, MARSHALL KENT ADVANCE TO PBA PLAYOFFS ROUND OF 16". pba.com. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  6. 1 2 "KYLE TROUP WINS KIA PBA PLAYOFFS FOR EIGHTH CAREER TITLE". pba.com. 16 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "2024 PBA PLAYOFFS". pba.com. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Wallace, Eric J. (2 June 2019). "Milton's Kris Prather wins inaugural PBA Playoffs, $100,000 prize". pnj.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "BILL O'NEILL WINS PBA PLAYOFFS FOR 13TH TITLE". pba.com. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Hughes, Nolan (4 May 2024). "TOM SMALLWOOD WINS PLAY-IN ROUND OF PBA PLAYOFFS". pba.com. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Hughes, Nolan (5 May 2024). "TROUP, BELMONTE, KROL, SVENSSON ADVANCE TO QUARTERFINALS OF PBA PLAYOFFS". pba.com. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Nolan (12 May 2024). "TWO-TIME DEFENDING CHAMPION TROUP HEADLINES FINAL FOUR OF PBA PLAYOFFS". pba.com. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  13. 1 2 Hughes, Nolan (19 May 2024). "DAVID "BOOG" KROL WINS PBA PLAYOFFS". pba.com. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.