| 2020 PBA Tour season | |
| League: | Professional Bowlers Association |
| Sport: | Ten-pin bowling |
| Duration: | January 14 – October 12 |
| Season: | PBA Tour |
| Mvp: | Jason Belmonte |
| Seasonslist: | Professional Bowlers Association Seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | PBA Tour |
| Prevseason Link: | 2019 PBA Tour season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2019 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2021 PBA Tour season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2021 |
The 2020 PBA Tour season was the 61st season of play for the Professional Bowlers Association ten-pin bowling tour. It began on January 14th with the Hall of Fame Classic in Arlington, Texas and concluded on October 12 with the PBA Tour Playoffs in Centreville, Virginia.
It was the first full PBA season under the new ownership of the Bowlero Corporation.[1]
All events were suspended mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited return to competition started on June 6. Due to cancellations, only fourteen title events (thirteen singles and one doubles) were held in 2020 (versus twenty-nine in 2019).
All announced 2020 PBA Tour events (through June) are broadcast on Fox Sports channels, with a commitment for 24 first-run broadcasts on FS1 and five broadcasts on Fox network affiliates.[2] Prize funds for the events on the Fox Sports calendar have increased $400,000 over 2019, with two major championships (PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA World Championship) offering a $100,000 top prize in the new season.[3] The PBA World Championship winner's share was later increased to $150,000.[4]
CBS Sports Network covered the PBA Tour Finals in July, as it has since the tournament's inception in 2017.[5]
In 2020, all five majors were scheduled to be contested within the first three months of the Fox schedule. While the PBA Tournament of Champions and PBA Players Championship majors continued to be held in February, they were now followed in late February by the U.S. Open, which moved to the winter schedule for the first time since 2012. These three majors plus the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open on Feb. 29 and PBA World Championship on March 15 all offered a $1 million bonus for any player who rolls a 300 game in the championship match.[6]
The PBA's World Series of Bowling XI (which includes three standard PBA title events and the PBA World Championship — the season's fourth major) was scheduled to take place March 6–18 in Las Vegas, while the season's fifth and final major, the USBC Masters, was scheduled to take place March 23–29 in Reno, Nevada. The PBA World Championship concluded March 15, but the match play and final rounds of the animal pattern tournaments were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the USBC Masters, PBA Tour Playoffs, and PBA League were also postponed.[7] On July 15, the USBC announced that the 2020 USBC Masters would be cancelled.[8]
On May 20, the PBA announced that it would resume competition beginning in June with several non-title, made-for-TV special events, including the PBA Strike Derby (June 6), PBA Summer Clash (June 13), and PBA King of the Lanes (July 20–22). These events were held at Bowlero Jupiter in Jupiter, Florida with no fans in attendance. Regularly scheduled PBA Tour events, such as the remainder of the World Series of Bowling, the PBA League and PBA Tour Playoffs, were rescheduled for the fall.[9]
The PBA announced on June 11 that the PBA Tour Finals, which features the top eight Tour points leaders over the last two seasons in an elimination-style tournament, would be held July 18–19 in Jupiter, Florida, despite the fact that top points earner Jason Belmonte of Australia could not attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. The #9 player in points, Norm Duke, took Belmonte's place. This was the first title event to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic halt. CBS Sports Network aired all rounds of the tournament (nine hours) in live broadcasts over the two days.[10]
The PBA League held its draft on May 17, and announced that the League has expanded to ten teams (up from eight in previous seasons).[11] On June 23, following the cancellation of the 2020 PWBA Tour season, the PBA further announced that two all-women's teams will be added to the PBA League, bringing the team total to 12. The draft for the two women's teams (10 players total) was held July 7 from a pool of the top 35 PWBA players in 2019 season points.[12] The day after the women's draft, the PBA announced that the PBA League would take place September 26–28 in Portland, Maine.[13] On August 20, it was announced that the PBA League was changing its location for 2020 to Centreville, Virginia and will be held without fans in attendance. The PBA further announced that television coverage on FS1 would be expanded to 12 hours over four days. Following the seeding rounds on September 26, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals were all broadcast live September 27–30 on FS1.[14]
On September 25, the PBA announced that the PBA League will be immediately followed by the match play rounds and TV finals for the World Series of Bowling animal pattern tournaments (postponed from March and relocated to Centreville, VA), with the final rounds airing October 4 and 5.[15] Finally, the PBA Tour Playoffs were rescheduled for an October 10 start, with air dates spread out between October 10 and November 8. Further, the PBA announced Guaranteed Rate mortgage as the official sponsor of all Fall 2020 events.[16]
Note: The Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year Award was not given this season because of the abbreviated schedule.
The 2020 PBA tournament schedule is shown below. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parentheses (#).[27] [2] Winner's share prize money is shown in US dollars.[3]
Tour points are awarded for most events. Besides the season-ending Harry Smith PBA Points Winner award, points are one consideration for Player of the Year voting, and also affect eligibility for the PBA Playoffs, PBA Tour Finals (combined with 2019 points), and the 2021 DHC PBA Japan Invitational. Points for tournaments are awarded differently based on a "tier" system. The tier of each qualifying tournament is shown in the Notes column on the tournament schedule, and is explained below.
| Event | Airdate | City | Preliminary rounds | Final round | Oil pattern | Winner | width=20% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBA Hall of Fame Classic (304,000 viewers)[28] | Jan 19 FS1 | Arlington, TX | Jan 14–18 | Live | Left lane: Dick Weber 45 Right lane: Mike Aulby 38 | Tommy Jones, USA (20) | Open event (Tier 3–limited field). $30,000 top prize.+ | |
| PBA Oklahoma Open | Jan 26 FS1 | Shawnee, OK | Jan 21–25 | Live | Left lane: Dragon 45 Right lane: Wolf 32 | Sean Rash, USA (15) | Open event (Tier 2). $30,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Greater Jonesboro Open (296,000 viewers)[29] | Feb 1 FS1 | Jonesboro, AR | Jan 27–31 | Live | Left lane: Shark 48 Right lane: Viper 36 | Kyle Troup, USA (4) | Open event (Tier 3–limited field). $30,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Tournament of Champions (1,464,000 viewers)[30] | Feb 9 Fox | Fairlawn, OH | Feb 4–8 | Live | Don Johnson 40 | Kris Prather, USA (3) | Invitational event (Tier 1). PBA major. $100,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Players Championship (541,000 viewers)[31] | Feb 15 FS1 | Columbus, OH | Feb 11–14 | Live | Wayne Webb 38 | Bill O'Neill, USA (12) | Open members-only event (Tier 1). PBA major. $75,000 top prize. | |
| 76th U.S. Open (1,146,000 viewers)[32] | Feb 23 Fox | Lincoln, NE | Feb 16–22 | Live | U.S. Open (4 custom patterns) | Jason Belmonte, Australia (23) | Open event (Tier 1). PBA major. $30,000 top prize. | |
| Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open | Feb 29 FS1 | Indianapolis, IN | Feb 25–26 | Live | Left lane: Mark Roth 42 Right lane: Marshall Holman 37 | Jesper Svensson, Sweden (9) | Open event (Tier 2). $30,000 top prize. | |
| Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship (273,000 viewers)[33] | Mar 8 FS1 | Indianapolis, IN | Feb 27–28 | Feb 29 | Left lane: Mark Roth 42 Right lane: Marshall Holman 37 | Jesper Svensson, Sweden (10) & Kyle Troup, USA (5) | Open event (Tier 3–limited field). $30,000 top prize (team). | |
| PBA World Championship (397,000 viewers)[34] | Mar 15 FS1 | Las Vegas, NV | Mar 8–12 | Live | Qualifying: Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion Cashers round thru finals: Earl Anthony 43 | Jason Belmonte, Australia (24) | Open event for WSOB XI entrants (Tier 1). PBA major. $150,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Strike Derby (718,000 viewers)[35] | Jun 6 Fox | Jupiter, FL | Jun 6 | Live | Jupiter 42 | Kris Prather, USA | Non-title event. $25,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Summer Clash (890,000 viewers)[36] | Jun 13 Fox | Jupiter, FL | Jun 7 | Jun 7 | Jupiter 42 | Sean Rash, USA | Non-title event. $20,000 top prize. | |
| PBA Tour Finals | Jul 19 CBS Sports | Jupiter, FL | Jul 18–19 | Live | Johnny Petraglia 46 & Marshall Holman 37 | Kyle Troup, USA (6) | Invitational event. Top 8 in points from start of 2019 season through 2020 PBA World Championship. $30,000 top prize. | |
| PBA King of the Lanes | Jul 22 FS1 | Jupiter, FL | Jul 20–21 | Live | Jupiter 42 | Kris Prather, USA | Non-title event. Each round pays $10,000 to the King match winner, $5,000 for second, $3,000 for third. | |
| PBA League | Centreville, VA | Sep 26–29 | Live | Mark Roth 42 | Portland Lumberjacks: Wes Malott (MVP), Martin Larsen, Packy Hanrahan, Kyle Troup, Kris Prather, Mgr-Tim Mack | Non-title PBA team event. $60,000 top prize. | ||
| PBA WSOB XI Go Bowling! Cheetah Championship | Oct 4 FS1 | Las Vegas, NV & Centreville, VA | Mar 8, Oct 1 | Live | Cheetah 33 | Sean Rash, USA (16) | Open event (Tier 3–short format). $25,000 top prize. | |
| PBA WSOB XI Chameleon Championship | Oct 4 FS1 | Las Vegas, NV & Centreville, VA | Mar 9, Oct 1 | Live | Chameleon 39 | Jason Belmonte, Australia (25) | Open event (Tier 3–short format). $25,000 top prize. | |
| PBA WSOB XI Scorpion Championship | Oct 5 FS1 | Las Vegas, NV & Centreville, VA | Mar 10, Oct 2 | Live | Scorpion 42 | Carsten Hansen, Denmark (2) | Open event (Tier 3–short format). $25,000 top prize. | |
| 2020 PBA Tour Playoffs | Round of 24-Group 1: Oct 10 Fox (737,000 viewers)[37] Round of 16-Group 1: Oct 17 Fox (591,000 viewers)[38] Round of 24-Group 2: Oct 25 FS1 Round of 16-Group 2: Nov 1 FS1 Round of 8: Nov 8 FS1 Semifinals & Finals: Nov 8 FS1 | Centreville, VA | Oct 10–11 | Oct 12 | Don Carter 39 | Bill O'Neill, USA (13) | Invitational event. Top 24 in points through YTD 2020 events, with the top 8 earning byes into the Round of 16. $100,000 top prize. | |
| PBA League All-Star Clash (1,353,000 viewers)[39] | Nov 29 Fox | Centreville, VA | N/A | Sep 30 | Mark Roth 42 | Wes Malott (Portland Lumberjacks) | Non-title invitational event. One representative from each PBA League team, based on most PBA or PWBA titles. $25,000 prize to winning player, plus $50,000 prize for winning player's team. |