By NOLAN HUGHES
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- Through 15 of 18 title events, the 2024 PBA Tour has crowned 11 unique champions, five multi-time champions and three first-time champions.
Unlike the past two seasons, in which Jason Belmonte and EJ Tackett, respectively, each won five titles, no player has run away with the title-count belt… yet.
With three title events remaining, it’s time to take a step back and assess the top contenders for the PBA’s two end-of-season awards.
CHRIS SCHENKEL PBA PLAYER OF THE YEAR
| Player | Titles (Majors) | Points | Earnings | Top 5s | Top 10s | Top 25s | Average |
| Marshall Kent | 2 (1) | 22,048 | $199,950 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 224.70 |
| David Krol | 2 | 11,955 | $128,100 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 220.11 |
| Bill O’Neill | 1 (1) | 20,790 | $193,540 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 224.39 |
| Anthony Simonsen | 2 | 22,030 | $212,350 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 225.61 |
| EJ Tackett | 2 (1) | 29,920 | $250,000 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 229.89 |
| Kyle Troup | 2 (1) | 18,353 | $180,450 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 222.57 |
Five players have won multiple titles so far this season, cementing their status on the ballot: Marshall Kent, David “Boog” Krol, Anthony Simonsen, EJ Tackett and Kyle Troup.
Another handful of players, most notably Bill O’Neill, sit within striking distance of making the ballot, which requires a PBA member to have won at least one PBA Tour title and finish among the top 10 in PBA Tour earnings, according to PBA rules.
The award winner will ultimately be determined by a vote open to all PBA members.
Marshall Kent
Stats: 22,048 points (2nd on tour), $199,950 in earnings (3rd), 2 titles (T-1st), 224.70 average in 263 games (6th)
Advanced stats: 5 top-five finishes; 7 top-10 finishes; 9 top-25 finishes; 27.1 average finish; 18.0 median finish
Titles: PBA Illinois Classic, PBA Tournament of Champions
Biggest Strength: Strong Finish. In a microcosm of his professional career, Kent started the season very well, trailed off, then returned to peak form. Kent won the final major of the season, then finished runner-up in the final televised title event.
Weakness: Lack of separation. For every exemplary achievement on Kent’s résumé, Tackett has an equivalent or better one.
What he needs to do: Create uniqueness. This is true for every POY candidate, but it’s worth emphasizing in Kent’s case. The only way to surpass a player with equal titles but superior stats is to win more titles.
David Krol
Stats: 11,955 points (9th), $128,100 in earnings (8th), 2 titles (T-1st), 220.11 average in 383 games
Advanced stats: 2 top-five finishes; 3 top-10 finishes; 7 top-25 finishes; 41.9 average finish; 24.0 median finish
Titles: PBA Delaware Classic, PBA Playoffs
Biggest Strength: Level of difficulty. Krol won two titles, including the Playoffs, and earned a spot on the POY ballot despite starting the season competing in pre-tournament qualifiers. That’s like beating an SEC team on Heisman difficulty in EA Sports College Football 25.
Weakness: Overall stats. It’s hard to make a POY case for a player who did not win a major and sits outside the top five in most key stats.
What he needs to do: Just win, baby. Without the secondary stats, Krol must lead the tour in titles to be in POY consideration. “T-1st” won’t cut it.
Bill O’Neill
Stats: 20,790 points (6th), $193,540 in earnings (5th), 1 title, 224.39 average in 286 games (7th)
Advanced stats: 7 top-five finishes; 8 top-10 finishes; 9 top-25 finishes; 25.3 average finish; 10.0 median finish
Titles: PBA Players Championship presented by Snickers
Biggest Strength: Consistent title contention. With seven top-five finishes and a major title, O’Neill is close to the top of the POY hierarchy despite having won just one title so far. His best moments are on par with almost any player’s; in fact, during the stretch in which Tackett made five straight shows, O’Neill made four of six shows and added a 10th place finish.
Weakness: The WSOB and Boog. During his only prolonged stretch of non-brilliance, O’Neill failed to notch a top-35 singles finish in the World Series of Bowling XV, an event in which other POY contenders thrived. And if not for Krol, who twice defeated O’Neill in TV matches, O’Neill would have bowled in two additional title matches.
What he needs to do: Finish how he started. While O’Neill hasn’t won a title since January, a title or two down the stretch would make everyone forget real quick. (However, O’Neill is not on the tournament roster for each of this month’s upcoming title events.)
Anthony Simonsen
Stats: 22,030 points (3rd), $212,350 in earnings (2nd), 2 titles (T-1st), 225.61 average in 392 games (3rd)
Advanced stats: 6 top-five finishes; 8 top-10 finishes; 10 top-25 finishes; 17.1 average finish; 7.0 median finish
Titles: PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic, PBA Tour Finals
Biggest Strength: Leading two majors. For the first time in three seasons, no player won multiple majors — but Simonsen led two of them. Beating every single opponent after 42 and 56 games, regardless of the title match result, is a gold star on Simonsen’s stat sheet. His six top-three finishes also ranked as the best on tour.
Weakness: No major title. This would be superficial and reductive analysis if not for the previous paragraph, but when comparing Simonsen’s résumé to that of Tackett, Troup and Kent, the lack of a major title does hurt Simonsen’s case.
What he needs to do: Be legendary. History will remember Tackett’s five straight shows and back-to-back WSOB titles, Kent’s ridiculous TOC climb, Troup’s U.S. Open triumph and Krol’s PTQ-to-Playoffs ascension. Simonsen needs his own signature performance, although doing so becomes more challenging without a televised title event left on the schedule.
EJ Tackett
Stats: 29,920 points (1st), $250,000 in earnings (1st), 2 titles (1st), 229.89 average in 464 games (1st)
Advanced stats: 9 top-five finishes; 12 top-10 finishes; 14 top-25 finishes; 8.5 average finish; 5.0 median finish
Titles: PBA Shark Championship, PBA World Championship
Biggest Strength: Stats. Tackett led the tour in points by the equivalent of a major championship victory. He not only leads the tour in average, but is on pace to break Jason Belmonte’s record of 229.39. Simply put, the reigning POY is an all-time great at the peak of his powers — and he knows it.
Weakness: Missed opportunities. To say making five consecutive championship round appearances — as Tackett did from the U.S. Open through the Delaware Classic before finishing a sixth in the USBC Masters — is a flaw on a résumé would be an absurd claim. However, not winning any of those events cost Tackett an opportunity to distance himself from the field.
What he needs to do: Maintain. Barring another top contender winning two or more titles, it’s hard to see Tackett not winning the vote, especially if he breaks the average record and/or wins again himself.
Kyle Troup
Stats: 18,353 points (6th), $180,450 in earnings (5th), 2 titles (T-1st), 222.57 average in 334 games
Advanced stats: 5 top-five finishes; 5 top-10 finishes; 7 top-25 finishes; 25.9 average finish; 26.0 median finish
Titles: U.S. Open presented by GoBowling, Just Bare PBA Indiana Classic
Biggest Strength: TV dominance. Troup evoked an aura of inevitability during his U.S. Open and Indiana Classic titles, defeating Tackett twice, Simonsen, Belmonte, Kent and Zach Wilkins. Five of those six victories were by greater than 10 pins.
Weakness: Consistency. At his peak, Troup could not be beat. The gaps between his peaks, however, were precipitous. He finished outside the top 30 six times and did not cash five times.
What he needs to do: Go out with a bang. If Troup can put together three top-10 finishes with a title, he will have a chance at a second career POY award.
Honorable Mentions
Jason Belmonte: 18,815 points (5th), $136,300 in earnings (7th), 0 titles, 226.78 average in 428 games
Jesper Svensson: 11,425 points (10th), $136,985 in earnings (6th), 0 titles, 225.41 average in 326 games
Belmonte and Svensson have stats on par, or even superior, to those with locked-in positions on the ballot. But the lack of a title will keep them off the ballot, unless they can win one of the season’s final three events… which becomes almost impossible when the Australian and Swedish fathers have elected to spend July at home. Later this summer, Svensson will be seeking redemption in the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters, where he finished second a year ago.
Matt Russo: 15,405 points (7th), $126,400 in earnings (9th), 1 title (PBA Scorpion Championship), 224.22 average in 379 games
DeeRonn Booker: 8,115.50 points (26th), $100,000 in earnings (10th), 1 title (USBC Masters), 214.00 average in 166 games
Both Russo and Booker would make the ballot if the season ended today. Russo has a little more cushion ahead of 11th-ranked-earner Tom Smallwood ($87,000), but another strong performance would propel each player closer to their first career POY nomination.
HARRY GOLDEN PBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Barring a rookie rising from anonymity to win a title, this award is likely a two-horse race between Alec Keplinger and Nate Purches.
Coincidentally, these two freshmen went head-to-head in the WSOB with a berth in the championship round on the line. Keplinger got the best of Purches in that match, but Purches has been the superior player throughout the season.
Alec Keplinger
Stats: 2,665 points (73rd among all players), $15,045 in earnings, 216.72 average in 210 games
Top Finishes: 4th PBA Cheetah Championship; 28th PBA World Championship
Keplinger owns the best finish of any rookie thus far. In the PBA Cheetah Championship, Keplinger defeated Purches in the Round of 8 to make his first career championship round appearance. He defeated BJ Moore in the opening match, but fell to eventual champion Deo Benard in the second.
The son of PWBA Hall of Famer Sandra Jo Shiery is the latest product of Wichita State University. In his four collegiate seasons, Keplinger was named an NCBCA All-American three times, including First Team and MVP honors in 2021-22, and led the Shockers to two Intercollegiate Team Championships titles.
Nate Purches
Stats: 4,075 points (58th among all players), $20,700 in earnings, 223.93 average in 176 games
Top Finishes: 7th PBA Cheetah Championship; 11th PBA Shark Championship; 12th PBA World Championship; 26th USBC Masters
Purches, last season’s PBA Midwest Region Rookie and Player of the Year, turned a slow start to his national tour rookie campaign around in a hurry. After a solid performance in the Masters, the two-handed New England native tallied three top-12 finishes during the WSOB, highlighted by his 0-2 comeback against Belmonte.
The stellar debut of Nicola Pongolini in the WSOB deserves mention. The Italian notched three top-20 finishes in the WSOB, including firing 810 the final three games of qualifying to make the Shark and World Championship cuts.
An interesting caveat: Because the WSOB counts as one event, Pongolini will retain rookie eligibility into 2025 if he does not compete on the tour again this season. He is scheduled to compete in August’s Tour Trials in hopes of securing a full-time role on the tour next season.
With three events to go, Purches leads all rookies in points, earnings and average. He will bowl the Storm Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles with Li Jane Sin, who leads the PWBA Tour with three titles this season. Keplinger will partner with another stellar Wichita State graduate in Juliana Botero.
REMAINING 2024 PBA TOUR SCHEDULE
Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles
July 25-28 | Copperfield Bowl | Houston, TX
PBA/PBA50/PWBA Jonesboro Trios
July 31-Aug. 3 | Hijinx Entertainment | Jonesboro, AR
Storm Lucky Larsen Masters
Aug. 23 – Sept. 1 | Olympia Bowling | Helsingborg, Sweden
PBA Elite League Presented by Snickers Playoffs
Sept. 14-17 | Bayside Bowl | Portland, ME