When Jason Belmonte declared "I'm back!" after his Professional Bowlers Association Players Championship victory in January, he meant it.

The top eight Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour professionals, as determined by competition points earned over the past two seasons, will visit Strikerz Bowling in the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in Arlington, Washington, for the 2022 PBA Tour Finals, which will feature nine hours of live bowling on CBS Sports Network (United States) and FloBowling (international) on June 4 and 5.

A Purple Hammer nicknamed “Old Faithful” has been reliable for Jakob Butturff over the years. But after the PBA instituted a new rule earlier this month that banned all urethane made prior to 2020, that ball has been removed from the lefty’s arsenal for all national tour events.

Osku Palermaa and Jakob Butturff paced the field during the opening event of the 2022 World Series of Bowling: the PBA Mark Roth/Marshall Holman Doubles. This marked the first Roth/Holman Doubles tournament since Roth’s passing in November 2021.

Major champions Graham Fach (East), Sean Rash (Midwest), Dom Barrett (Southwest), Tommy Jones (South) and Jakob Butturff (West) will lead their respective regions into the PBA Players Championship Regional Finals. After 28 games of qualifying, the top five players from each region earned a spot in the telecasts that begin airing on Fox Sports’ FS1 Saturday, January 22.

Unorthodox but effective. That might just be the best way to describe Jakob Butturff’s unconventional bowling style.

A week after qualifying rounds across the country, the first regional stepladder of the 2021 PBA Players Championship will take place Sunday.

Career Titles: 7 (1 major)Age: 262020 Earnings: $56,220 (rank: 16)2020 Points: 8,855 (rank: 17)2020 Peak Ranking: 32020 Low Ranking: Unranked

Match: No. 1 Jason Belmonte vs. No. 17 Jakob ButturffRound: Round of 16Broadcast Info: Saturday, Oct. 17, 6 p.m. Eastern on FOX (U.S.) and FloBowling (international)Other Matches On This Show: No. 8 Sean Rash vs. No. 9 Francois Lavoie; No. 4 Anthony Simonsen vs. No. 20 Dick Allen; No. 5 Kris Prather vs. No. 12 Marshall Kent

Match: No. 16 Tommy Jones vs. No. 17 Jakob ButturffRound: Round of 24Broadcast Info: Saturday, Oct. 10, 8 p.m. Eastern on FOX (U.S.) and FloBowling (international)Other Matches On This Show: No. 9 Francois Lavoie vs. No. 24 Norm Duke; No. 13 Dom Barrett vs. No. 20 Dick Allen; No. 12 Marshall Kent vs. No. 21 Chris Via

In the most recent FloBowling Podcast, seven-time PBA Tour champion Jakob Butturff said the ball confiscated at the U.S. Open has not been returned yet.

Career Titles: 7 (1 major)Age: 252019 Earnings: $235,780 (rank: 2)2019 Points: 30,245 (rank: 2)2019 Peak Ranking: 12019 Low Ranking: 9

LAKE WALES, Fla. – Jakob Butturff isn’t afraid to throw his Hammer Purple Pearl Urethane as close to the gutter as possible because with high risk comes high reward. 

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – After lapping the field each of the past two years in qualifying and match play, the spotlight was on Jakob Butturff to see if he could continue that success at this year’s U.S. Open.

The list of past champions at the U.S. Open reads as a who’s who of bowling greats – Pete Weber, Marshall Holman, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Mark Roth, just to name a few.