PBA Players Championship presented with Snickers Preview

The PBA Players Championship presented by Snickers marks the PBA’s grand return to Bowlero North Brunswick, formerly known as Carolier Lanes. This will be final major of 2023 Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour.

The iconic venue will host the event for the first nine years. It’s where a crestfallen Mika Koivuniemi crumbled to the lanes after losing the U.S. Open, Jason Belmonte won back-to-back USBC Masters titles and Pete Weber uttered the most famous eight words in bowling history.

In the next two weeks 128 players will create their own stories to compete for the $100,000 prize. Here’s what you need to know:

Players to Watch

It’s time to decide who will be the fifth and last berth at the PBA Super Slam Cup. EJ Tackett and Jason Belmonte secured their places in 2023 with major titles, while Jakob Butturff was the top non-champion of the PBA World Championships presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon.

As the season’s ultimate major championship, this also represents players’ best opportunity to bolster their Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award case.

Tackett winning his third major, and sixth overall, title in the season will ostensibly close the race. Tackett himself noted that a Simonsen victory or a Belmonte win could turn the tide in the last few races of the season.

Cortez Schmenck leads the rookies in the Harry Golden PBA race for the Rookie Of The Year. There are a few rookies within 1,000 points of Cortez Schenck, the 24-year-old. This means that one player can separate themselves by putting on a strong performance at the Players Championship.

Storylines

Since the PBA Tour’s last visit to the Garden State, in February 2014 there have been many changes.

Jimmy Fallon began hosting The Tonight Show The series finale will be held in the month of September. How I Met Your Mother One month later, the show was broadcast. Apple released its iPhone 6 that fall, and announced plans to release the Apple Watch.

Bowling-wise, dozens of the game’s most accomplished and popular players had yet to reach the Tour.

AJ Johnson, Chris Via, Marshall Kent, Kyle Sherman, Darren Tang, François Lavoie, Andrew Anderson and Graham Fach excelled at the college ranks, each finishing with a top-11 average in the nation in 2013-14. Jakob Butturff was also competing for the Helmer Cup with Nick Pate, Matt Sanders and Michael Tang.

But despite this, a lot has remained unchanged over the last nine.

The title match of the 2014 USBC Masters, the last title awarded at Bowlero North Brunswick, featured the same two players as last week’s PBA World Championship. Belmonte was 30 at the time and climbed a stepladder in order to defeat Tackett, 21.

This week, Bill O’Neill competes close to his eastern Pennsylvania home, as will New Jersey legend Parker Bohn III. His protégé, Matt Russo, was in high school in 2014; this marks Russo’s first PBA Tour competition in his native state.

You can also download the format of your choice

The 128 player field will bowl 24 qualifying games (4 rounds of 6 games each) before the top third is cut. Players will compete with two patterns: 39′ Carter for the qualifying rounds, and 45′ Weber for finals.

The remaining tournament will use a dual-pattern. After the first cut the field will be reduced to 12 TV finalist across four more six-game advancer round.

Top 12 players are advanced to the televised section. The top four players in all 48 games qualify for the televised section. The No. 5-12 seeds compete on Saturday, May 7.

The Round of Eight will feature single-game games, and the Round of Four Race-to-Two. The championship will be played in a best of five match. It will air live on FOX Sunday, 14 May.

Tournament Schedule

All times listed are Eastern time. Here is the complete schedule.

Tuesday, May 2. BowlTV BowlTV | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Qualifying Round 1 (six games)
5 p.m. — Qualifying Round 2 (six games)

Wednesday, May 3 | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
5 p.m. — Qualifying Round 4 (six games)

Thursday, May 4, BowlTV | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Advancers Round 1 (six games)
5 p.m. — Advancers Round 2 (six games)

Friday, 5 May BowlTV | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Top-24 Round (six games)
5:30 p.m. — Top-18 Round (six games)

Saturday, 6 May | FS1
10 p.m. — Round of 12 (single-game matches)
Tickets for the recording at 4 pm are on sale Here is a link to the article.

Sunday, May 7 | FS1
Noon — Round of Eight (Race-to-Two matches)
4 p.m. — Round of Eight (Race-to-Two matches)
Tickets for the show are available Here is a link to the article.

Saturday, May 13, | FS1
12:30 p.m. — Round of Four (Race-to-Two matches)
Sold Out

Sunday, May 14.FOX | FOX
1 p.m. — Championship Round (Best-of-Five match)
Sold Out

You can find more information here about the tournament.