2020 PBA Players Championship

Another Week, Another Major On The PBA Tour

Another Week, Another Major On The PBA Tour

One major is in the books but the pace doesn’t slow down as the PBA Tour heads to Columbus, Ohio, for the PBA Players Championship starting Tuesday.

Feb 10, 2020 by Lucas Wiseman
Another Week, Another Major On The PBA Tour

One major is in the books but the pace doesn’t slow down as the PBA Tour heads to Columbus, Ohio, for the PBA Players Championship starting Tuesday.

Just hours removed from Kris Prather’s big win at the PBA Tournament of Champions, the players will begin competing for the season’s second major at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.

The Players Championship begins Tuesday with the first round of qualifying live on FloBowling at 11 a.m. Eastern.

Here are a few key points to get you ready for the PBA Players Championship:

Troup withdraws after mother’s passing

We got some sad news last night when Kyle Troup revealed on Facebook that his mother Sherri Herndon Troup passed away after a long battle with cancer.

“Heaven gained an amazing angel tonight,” Troup wrote. “I’m blessed to have been home to spend these last moments with my family and mom.”

Understandably, Troup has decided not to bowl this week at the PBA Players Championship. Our thoughts and prayers are with Troup and his family.

Simonsen is the defending champion

Last season, the PBA Players Championship delivered one of the best championship matches of the entire season when Anthony Simonsen defeated Jason Belmonte, 232-212, to become the youngest two-time major winner in PBA history.

Belmonte, who had just won the PBA Tournament of Champions the week before, needed a double and eight in the final frame to secure the title and at the time the all-time major record outright. Instead, he left a breathtaking pocket 7-10 split and lost.

The way things are going so far this season no one should be surprised if we see more drama on the show again this week.

So far this season, the winning score in the championship match is an astonishing 289.75 average. Keep in mind, this is another week where if a player shoots 300 in the title match, they win $1 million.

The format and lane condition

The format this week is absolutely identical to the PBA Tournament of Champions with three rounds of qualifying and three rounds of match play. The only real difference this week is the field size, which has increased from 62 to 92.

Qualifying gets underway Tuesday with the first and second rounds. The final round of qualifying will take place Wednesday with the top 24 players advancing into round robin match play.

The first round of match play will be contested Wednesday night and will wrap up throughout the day on Thursday. That’s when we will find out the five finalists for this week’s show, which will take place on Saturday.

As for the lane pattern being used this week, it's another week of a single pattern as the 38-foot Wayne Webb pattern will be the condition of choice.

How to watch

The only way to watch qualifying and match play at the PBA Players Championship is live on FloBowling. The stepladder finals will take place Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern and will be shown live on FS1 (United States) and FloBowling (international).

What the schedule looks like

Here’s the schedule for this event. All times listed are Eastern.

Tuesday, Feb. 11
11 a.m. – Qualifying Round 1 (six games)
6 p.m. – Qualifying Round 2 (six games)

Wednesday, Feb. 12
11 a.m. – Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
6 p.m. – Match Play Round 1 (eight games)

Thursday, Feb. 13
11 a.m. – Match Play Round 2 (eight games)
6 p.m. – Match Play Round 3 (eight games)

Saturday, Feb. 15
5:30 p.m. – Stepladder Finals* (Top five)


* - FloBowling live broadcast only for audiences outside the United States. The archive of the finals will be available for all audiences seven days after it airs live.