Five things to watch as the PBA Tournament of Champions returns
The sign above the entrance to AMF Riviera Lanes says it all: “Through these doors pass the world’s greatest bowlers.”
The world’s greatest return to Greater Akron this week as Riviera hosts the PBA Tournament of Champions through Sunday.
Here are some things to know about the bowling in Fairlawn:
Riviera Lanes hosts a week-long feast of professional bowling
While the tournament’s biggest attraction will be the televised finals on Sunday, Riviera will be rolling all week. Individual qualifying starts Tuesday, followed by match play on Wednesday and Thursday leading into the finals.
For ticket information, contact Riviera Lanes at 330-836-7985. Tickets for Sunday’s finals begin at $5.
Team bowling at PBA events? It’s true
For those more familiar with high school bowling and team competitions, the PBA has joined the team-based party.
The PBA Elite League brings together professionals in Baker game-style competition. The league will play its final 2024 regular-season rounds Monday and Saturday, with the latter round televised live on FS1 at 4 p.m.
Saturday’s round will feature the Akron Atom Splitters, led by Ohio native Chris Via and 2021 Tournament of Champions winner François Lavoie.
The PBA’s home major returns to the place it all started
The Tournament of Champions is one of five PBA major tournaments and the only PBA event that is invitationonly. The field will include 72 top pro bowlers.
The Tournament of Champions was founded in 1965 and took place at Riviera Lanes through 1994, being the closest to the PBA’s headquarters in Akron at the time. The event returned to Fairlawn in 2018 and has bowled there since.
Returning PBA champions seek more hardware
Who’s the favorite? One can’t look past defending champion Jason Belmonte.
The Australian won his lone PBA tour event at last year’s Tournament of Champions, besting PBA bowler of the year E.J. Tackett 246-179 in the title match. Belmonte seeks his fifth Tournament of Champions title and 16th major title, both of which would be PBA records.
Belmonte is part of a growing international contingent on the PBA. In fact, the last three champions in Fairlawn have been foreign-born with England’s Dom Barrett winning in 2022 and Canada’s Lavoie winning in 2021.
The bright lights come out for the Sunday finals
The four-match ladder finals will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday and will be televised on Fox with the top five qualifiers bowling.
Seed No. 5 will take on No. 4 to start, with the winner taking on the higher seed until the champion is crowned. Last year, Belmonte won all four ladder matches to take the crown.