(25-21)
Twenty-five seasons have passed since the phenomenon of Y2K. In that time, more than 500 champions have been crowned on the PBA Tour and almost every notable record has changed hands (pun intended). Two players who had not yet been born have already bowled each other for a major title.
While the goal of bowling remains to knock down 10 pins as efficiently as possible, the method of doing so has changed dramatically. In 2000, there were no one-handers or two-handers — just bowlers.
The two-handed uprising ascended to international prominence when Finland’s Osku Palermaa made the 2004 U.S. Open finals and escalated into a full-blown revolution with Australian Jason Belmonte’s emergence in 2008. The style’s viability could no longer be denied after the 2011-12 World Series of Bowling III, in which Belmonte won two titles and Palermaa claimed the World Championship crown.
Since the turn of the century, a generation of PBA stars have come and gone. The players who predominated the tour in 2000 are not the same ones who compete for titles today. This passing of the torch didn’t happen overnight, of course, except that it basically did.
In 2015, Chris Barnes, Parker Bohn III, Norm Duke and Wes Malott each claimed a title within the season’s first month. Then six days after the airing of Duke and Malott’s doubles title, Jesper Svensson won his first career title. Kyle Troup, EJ Tackett and Anthony Simonsen each hoisted the first trophy of their careers later the same year.
In the subsequent 11 seasons, the four Hall of Famers have combined to win four titles — as many as Tackett won the following season alone — while Svensson, Troup, Tackett and Simonsen have combined for 69 wins and five Player of the Year honors. (Not to mention the exploits of the aforementioned Australian.)
Bowlers, who have never claimed to be leaders in the societal fashion movement, wore khakis and a casual collared shirt almost exclusively in the early aughts. Today, with the famed exception of Troup, black pants and a dye-sublimated jersey make up the conventional uniform. In between, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones wore neon pants for some reason.
To celebrate the conclusion of the PBA Tour’s 25th season since 2000, the PBA ranked the top 25 players of the era.
These rankings were calculated solely by on-lane performance during the 2000-2025 seasons. Players whose careers began prior to 2000 are eligible, but achievements earned in previous seasons were not considered. Players were awarded points for various accolades, outlined here:
- 1 point per top-five finish in a standard title event
- 2 points per top-five finish in a major title event
- 5 points per standard title
- 7.5 points per major title
- 15 points per Player of the Year award
The rankings will be revealed in descending order over the next several weeks.
No. 25: Kris Prather — 76 points
4 standard titles, 2 major titles, 29 standard top-five finishes, 6 major top-five finishes
Prather burst into stardom in 2019, winning his first two titles. The following season, he beat four players who (spoiler alert!) rank above him on this list to win the Tournament of Champions. He led back-to-back majors in 2022 and captured the World Championship title in a roll-off.
Prather narrowly eclipsed his doubles teammate, Andrew Anderson, for the final berth in the top 25, a hilarious coincidence that will either spur a 2026 Roth/Holman Doubles Championship title or expedite the pairing’s demise.
No. 24: Rhino Page — 76.5 points
5 standard titles, 1 major title, 26 standard top-five finishes, 9 major top-five finishes
Page won a title in each of his first three seasons after joining the tour in 2007. He made five championship rounds while competing out of pre-tournament qualifiers in his stellar freshman campaign and his rookie earnings record stood until Ryan Barnes broke it this season.
Winning the U.S. Open title in 2017 solidified Page’s status in these rankings.
No. 23: Ryan Shafer — 80 points
5 standard titles, 29 standard top-five finishes, 13 major top-five finishes
Shafer bowled on tour for 13 years before winning his first career title in, conveniently for the purposes of this exercise, January 2000.
A top-25 ranking without a major title and just five standard titles is a testament to Shafer’s consistency in major championships. Only nine players earned more than Shafer’s 13 top-five finishes in majors.
No. 22: Marshall Kent — 81.5 points
6 standard titles, 1 major title, 32 standard top-five finishes, 6 major top-five finishes
If you factor in Kent’s amateur achievements — which include a standard title, two standard top-five finishes and a major top-five finish (hence his presumed stardom) — Kent would rise to 19th in these rankings. The Washington native has lived up to the massive expectations he faced beginning his tour career in 2014.
No. 21: Ryan Ciminelli — 83.5 points
7 standard titles, 1 major title, 25 standard top-five finishes, 8 major top-five finishes
Among the more impressive individual accomplishments of this era was Ciminelli’s 2015 U.S. Open title, when the next-best southpaw after Ciminelli finished in a distant tie for 59th place.
Ciminelli’s three-title 2015 campaign was the best of his career. The Ryan Express made three major finals and finished a narrow runner-up to Belmonte in Player of the Year voting.
The remainder of the rankings will be revealed at a later date.
