The 2021

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional profess ...

season, the 62nd season of play for the U.S.

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Member ...

ten-pin bowling Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first rol ...

tour, began on January 14 with the Regional Portions of the

PBA Players Championship 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. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateu ...

. The season included 14 singles title events and two doubles title events. The 2021 season has featured three televised perfect 300 games, the 30th, 31st and 32nd in PBA Tour history. The first was accomplished by Chris Via (February 7, PBA Players Championship East Region finals) and the second by Sam Cooley (May 16, PBA Tour Playoffs). Via then rolled his second 300 game of the season on June 27 at the PBA Tour Finals, joining Sean Rash and François Lavoie as the only players in history with two televised 300 games in PBA Tour title events. This season has also seen the fourth-ever 7–10 split conversion in a televised PBA Tour event (and first since 1991), accomplished by 18-year old rookie Anthony Neuer in the semifinal match of the U.S. Open.

Kyle Troup Kyle Troup (born June 11, 1991) is an American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Taylorsville, North Carolina. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw ...

has set the PBA's single-season earnings record this season, with $496,900. The previous record holder was Walter Ray Williams Jr., who earned $419,700 in the 2002–03 season.

Season overview

The PBA announced it would open the 2021 season with a revamped and expanded PBA Players Championship that opens up the event to a broader portion of the PBA membership. Five Regional events (West, Southwest, Central, South and East) were hosted first. After 28 qualifying games (7 games on each of four different oil patterns), each Region held its own stepladder finals broadcast on

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. The five Regional winners then competed in the tournament finals held in

Jupiter, Florida Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 84 miles north of Miami, and the northernmost community in the Miami met ...

on February 21, which was broadcast live on Fox. The Regional concept was introduced, in part, due to travel restrictions that have resulted from the continuing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, and will allow most PBA professionals to compete in safe events closer to home. In addition, the 2021 PBA Players Championship featured a $1 million prize fund, with a PBA record-tying $250,000 first place prize. The

PBA Tournament of Champions The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qualifications to b ...

took place February 23–28, also in Jupiter, Florida (following the conclusion of the PBA Players Championship finals in the same location). The PBA then moved to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

for World Series of Bowling (WSOB) XII. WSOB XII featured three animal oil pattern title events (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion), with these three tournaments serving as initial qualifying for the

PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateurs to enter.) ...

major. WSOB XII also included the PBA Roth-

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Doubles Championship. The PBA World Championship finals aired on Saturday afternoon, March 13 on Fox, kicking off five consecutive days of broadcasts. The Roth-Holman Doubles, Cheetah Championship, Chameleon Championship and Scorpion Championship aired March 14–17 on FS1. The U.S. Open was originally scheduled to take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin while the USBC Masters was to be held in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. In December 2020, the USBC announced the two events would be held in back-to-back weeks (March 30 through April 11). Both tournaments were held in

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due to COVID-19 continuing to impact USBC operations. Following the U.S. Open was the PBA Super Slam on April 18, which saw the five PBA major winners vying for a $100,000 first prize. The third annual PBA Tour Playoffs ran from April 24 through May 16. Previous events featured the top 24 players in points through the first 13 events of the season, but due to only nine events being scheduled before the 2021 Playoffs, this season's tournament started with the top 16 players only. On April 29, the PBA announced the return of the King of the Lanes event, to be held this season on June 19 & 20 in

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. The "last man standing" format will have reigning king Kris Prather returning, with a mix of veteran and current players looking to gain the throne over the five rounds. The challengers include: Chris Barnes, AJ Johnson, Jesper Svensson, Parker Bohn III, Chris Via, Anthony Neuer, Tim Mack, Jason Sterner,

Tom Daugherty Tom Daugherty (born February 22, 1975) is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Riverview, Florida. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), having joined in 2001. He is one of the few PBA bowlers ...

and François Lavoie. The PBA member event will be preceded by an all-women's event, the PBA King of the Lanes: Empress Edition, on June 15 & 16. (In the 2020 PBA King of the Lanes, two females –

Clara Guerrero Clara Juliana Guerrero Londoño (born April 22, 1982, in Armenia, Colombia) is a right-handed Colombian ten-pin bowler who has won Colombian championships and multiple international championships. She has been a member of Team Colombia for twent ...

and Gazmine Mason – participated against an otherwise all-male field.) This marked the first PBA event to have a live audience since February 2020. The PBA Tour Finals, featuring the top eight points earners since the start of the 2020 season, was held June 26–27 in

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, with all rounds airing live on

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. In May, the PBA finalized scheduling for five Summer Tour events, beginning with the Lubbock Sports Open on July 23–25 and concluding with the Chesapeake Open on August 20–22. All events awarded a PBA title, Tier 3 Tour points and a minimum $10,000 winner's share, with a $40,000 bonus pool up for grabs based on combined points over the five stops. The top points earner (Darren Tang) won a $20,000 bonus, with smaller amounts awarded to the second through tenth place finishers.

Season awards

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and bar ...

PBA Player of the Year:

* Harry Smith PBA Points Leader: Kyle Troup * Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year: Matt Russo * PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award: Jake Peters * PBA Tony Reyes Community Service Award: Warren Eales

Tournament summary

The events for the 2021 PBA tournament schedule are shown below. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parenthesis (#). Winner's share prize money is shown in US dollars ($), except where indicated. Tour points are awarded for most events. Besides the season-ending Harry Smith PBA Points Winner award, points are one consideration for Player of the Year voting, and also affect eligibility for the PBA Tour Playoffs and PBA Tour Finals (combined with 2020 points). Points for tournaments are awarded differently based on a "tier" system. The tier of each qualifying tournament is shown in the Notes column on the tournament schedule, and is explained below. * Tier 3: PBA short format or limited field tournaments (2500 points for first, and descending thereafter) * Tier 2: PBA standard tournaments with a fully open field (double the points of Tier 3 events) * Tier 1: PBA major tournaments (triple the points of Tier 3 events)

References

External links

PBA 2021 Season Schedule
{{Professional Bowlers Association seasons Professional Bowlers Association seasons 2021 in bowling