APRIL 23, 2024 By NOLAN HUGHES
That is the message that will greet each of the 72 players who enter AMF Riviera Lanes for the 2024 PBA Tournament of Champions. And it’s a reminder of the stakes in the season’s final major championship.
Though five additional 2024 title events remain, the ultimate major championship is the final event that awards 2024 competition points, which means this week’s TOC will:
- solidify the fields for the PBA Playoffs and Tour Finals
- finalize 43 exempt berths for the 2025 season
- potentially swing the Player of the Year race
Five dozen PBA Tour champions and a dozen regional champions, who advanced through the pre-tournament qualifier, will bowl three six-game qualifying rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The top 24 players will advance to round-robin match play, beginning Wednesday evening. After Thursday’s final round of match play, the five-player stepladder finals field will be set.
All rounds will be contested on the 40-foot Don Johnson pattern.
All rounds of qualifying and match play will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
More on the ramifications of the season’s ultimate major championship:
Playoffs and Tour Finals
The field for these two postseason title events will be set after this week’s point totals are solidified.
The Tour Finals features the top eight players in points over the past two seasons. EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Jason Belmonte, Bill O’Neill and defending champion Kyle Troup have essentially clinched berths in the event.
Marshall Kent, Packy Hanrahan and Jakob Butturff currently occupy the sixth through eighth berths, but a host of players could usurp them with a strong TOC performance.
Jesper Svensson, Chris Via, Matt Russo and Matt Ogle each sit within 3,000 points of the top eight; a win, worth 7,500 points, would almost certainly get them into the field.
The Playoffs will feature the top 16 players in 2024 points. Zach Wilkins, ineligible for the TOC, said he will be score-watching all week as he hopes to hang onto a playoff berth.
Ohio native Chris Via and TOC champions Dom Barrett and Kris Prather occupy the first three positions outside the playoffs.
2025 Exemptions
For those outside the Playoff and Tour Finals race, the number that looms large is 43: the number of players who will secure exemptions for the 2025 PBA Tour following the TOC.
Around that pivotal No. 43, it’s more congested than the left side of the lane at a WSOB XV show.
AJ Chapman and Zac Tackett, who sit 36th and 37th in points, did not qualify for the main field via the pre-tournament qualifier. Those two will have to sit and wait on the host of PBA Tour champions on the outside looking to crash the party.
Among them: Matt Sanders (44th), DJ Archer (46th), Chis Barnes (47th), Kyle Sherman (49th), Kevin McCune (53rd), François Lavoie (54th), Darren Tang (55th), Shawn Maldonado (57th) and Dick Allen (60th).
For those who ultimately finish outside the top 43, PBA Tour Trials in August will award 12 more exempt berths.
Player of the Year Race
The current leaders in the Player of the Year race, EJ Tackett, Bill O’Neill and Kyle Troup, each rank top three in points and earnings and won a 2024 major title. Tackett and Troup also have a standard title to their credit as well.
Should any of the three win the TOC, they would surge out to a potentially insurmountable lead. Particularly Tackett, who leads both in points by 7,000 (just shy of the point total for a major championship victory) and is on pace to break the PBA Tour scoring average record.
A plethora of players could throw their hat into the ring with a TOC victory this week.
Anthony Simonsen, Marshall Kent, Matt Russo and David Krol all rank top 10 in points with a title under their belts. Jason Belmonte, Zach Wilkins and Jesper Svensson lurk inside the top 10 without a 2024 title.
Additionally, a second major title for DeeRonn Booker, who won the USBC Masters but has not cashed in any other event, would make him impossible to ignore.
Five more titles will be awarded throughout the spring and summer, but the TOC represents the fulcrum from which those titles will matter.
TOC SCHEDULE
AMF Riviera Lanes | Fairlawn, OH
All times listed in Eastern
Tuesday, April 23
10am — Qualifying Round 1 (six games)
6pm — Qualifying Round 2 (six games)
Wednesday, April 24
10am — Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
Top 24 players advances to round-robin match play
6pm — Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
Thursday, April 25
10am — Match Play Round 2 (eight games)
6pm — Match Play Round 3 (eight games)
Top five players advance to championship round — Sunday at 1pm ET on FOX
Friday, April 26
6pm — Hall of Fame induction ceremonies (free to watch on BowlTV)
Saturday, April 17
9am — Pro-Am
11am — Pro-Am
4pm — PBA Elite League Round 14 matches (L.A. X vs. Portland; Akron vs. Las Vegas)
Tickets
Sunday, April 28
1pm on FOX — TOC stepladder finals
Tickets
More information on the PBA Tournament of Champions is available here.