The PBA Players Championship is one of five major tournaments on the

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 ...

(PBA) Tour. It is one of three

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 ...

major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and

USBC Masters 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 200 ...

allow qualifying amateurs to enter.)

Tournament history

The tournament began as the PBA Touring Players Championship in 1983 and ran every

season through 2000. There were no Players Championship events under any name from 2001 to 2010. After the tournament returned to major status in the 2016 season, the PBA voted to retroactively award major titles to the winners of the three previous Players Championship events that decade (2011, 2013, 2015), stating the tournament "is a members-only event, and includes all of the elements of a major." Through 2020, the tournament included a maximum starting field of 92 PBA players. The top PBA members in earnings from the previous season had entry priority over the general membership, and could fill up to 82 spots. The remaining 10 spots in the starting field were filled from a ten-game pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ). The tournament format has changed over the years. The format through 2020 included 42 games of qualifying: three rounds of six games each to determine the top 24 for match play, followed by three match play rounds of eight games each. All pins from the initial 18 games carry over into the match play round, with the match play rounds adding 30 bonus pins per victory to the total pinfall in the round. The field was then cut to the top five for the televised stepladder finals. There is no set oil pattern. The 2018 Players Championship used the 44-foot

Carmen Salvino Carmen Salvino (born November 23, 1933 in Chicago) is an active professional ten-pin bowler, inventor, author, ambassador, and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Known as "PBA's Original Showman", Salvino won 17 P ...

oil pattern, while the 2019 event used the 45-foot Dragon pattern. The 2020 event featured the 38-foot

Wayne Webb } Wayne Webb (born August 4, 1957) is an American professional bowler from Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He was known for his success from the late 1970s to the end of the 1980s. Webb is one of only 17 players in history to win at least 20 PBA Tour tit ...

oil pattern, named after the PBA Hall of Famer whose bowling center in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

hosted this tournament from 2016 through 2020.

Revamp in 2021

The PBA announced a revamped Players Championship for the 2021 season that opens up the event to the broader PBA membership. Five Regional events are hosted first. After 28 qualifying games (7 games on each of four oil patterns), each Region holds its own stepladder finals broadcast. The five Regional winners then compete in the televised tournament finals. The five finals participants bowl a three-game set the day before the broadcast to determine seeding for the stepladder. The Regional concept was introduced, in part, due to travel restrictions that resulted from the

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 identif ...

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

PBA Players Championship winners

2022 Event

The 2022 PBA Players Championship began with Regional qualifying on January 14–16 in five locations, followed by five Regional finals held January 21–23 in

Euless, Texas Euless ( ) is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. Euless is part of the Mid-Cities region between Dallas and Fort Worth. In 2020 Census, the population of Euless was 61,032. The population of t ...

. The televised championship finals were held on January 29, also in Euless, following a three-game seeding round earlier that day. The tournament had 326 total entries and a $565,300 prize fund, with a $100,000 top prize. A five-player stepladder format was used for the live televised finals on January 29.

Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) 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 hand ...

won from the #2 seed position, defeating #1 seed

Sean Rash Sean Rash (born August 22, 1982) 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 ...

in the final match. This marked Belmonte's record-increasing 14th major tournament win and 26th PBA title overall. Final Standings:
1. Jason Belmonte (

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, 3 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) – $100,000
2. Sean Rash (

Montgomery, Illinois Montgomery is a village in Kane and Kendall counties, Illinois. While roughly 45 miles from Chicago, it is not considered a Chicago suburb. The population was 20,262 at the 2020 census. Between 2000 and 2010 the village population grew 237 per ...

) – $60,000
3. Arturo Quintero (

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) – $45,000
4. Graham Fach (

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Welli ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) – $35,000
5. Tommy Jones (

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) – $30,000

Past Champions

Listing of all champions dating back to the inaugural 1983 Touring Players Championship. *2022:

, Australia *2021:

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 ...

, USA *2020: Bill O'Neill, USA *2019:

Anthony Simonsen Anthony Simonsen (born January 6, 1997) is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Little Elm, Texas, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014. Simonsen became k ...

, USA *2018:

Tom Smallwood Thomas Smallwood (born November 4, 1977) is a professional ten-pin bowler competing on the PBA Tour. In 2009, the right-hander won his first PBA Tour title and first major in the PBA World Championship, defeating 2008–09 PBA Player of the Year ...

, USA *2017:

, Australia *2016: Graham Fach, Canada *2015:

Parker Bohn III Parker Morse Bohn III (born July 13, 1963) is a left-handed American professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 1984, and is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. Bohn is one of only eigh ...

, USA *2014: ''Not held'' *2013:

Scott Norton Scott Norton (born June 15, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, in which he was a member of the New World Order (professional wrest ...

, USA *2012: ''Not held'' *2011:

, Australia * ''Not held 2001–2010'' *2000: Dennis Horan Jr., USA *1999: Steve Hoskins, USA *1998: Dennis Horan Jr., USA *1997: Steve Hoskins, USA *1996:

Mike Aulby Mike Aulby (born March 25, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is one of only five PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie and Player of the Year award. ( Tommy Jones ...

, USA *1995: Ernie Schlegel, USA *1994: Walter Ray Williams Jr., USA *1993:

Jason Couch Jason Couch (born November 8, 1969) is a ten-pin bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour, and a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. A left-handed cranker, Couch graduated from Clermont High School in Clermont, Florida ...

, USA *1992: Pete Weber, USA *1991: Dave Ferraro, USA *1990: Duane Fisher, USA *1989:

Amleto Monacelli Amleto Monacelli (born 27 August 1961) is a Venezuelan professional bowler and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He has amassed 20 titles on the PBA Tour, making him one of only 16 players in history to accumulate at least ...

, Venezuela *1988: Dave Ferraro, USA *1987: Tom Crites, USA *1986: Mark Williams, USA *1985:

Dave Husted David Husted (born April 12, 1960), of Milwaukie, Oregon, is a retired professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1996, and became a member of the USBC Hall of ...

, USA *1984:

Mark Roth Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

, USA *1983: Steve Cook, USA

References

External links

All Time Touring Players Championship Winners
{{PBA tour events Ten-pin bowling competitions in the United States