INDIANAPOLIS – Woodland Bowl, the host for some of the most memorable championships in Professional Bowlers Association history, will continue that tradition as host of the 50th anniversary Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions, the second major of the 2015 season, Feb. 11-15.
The 50th Tournament of Champions will culminate with the live ESPN stepladder finals at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 15, as part of an ESPN “tripleheader” to conclude the historic week.
Throughout its history, Woodland Bowl has hosted 30 PBA Tour events including four U.S. Opens, two PBA World Championships, two PBA Touring Players Championships and, most recently, the 2013 PBA Tournament of Champions which was won in historic fashion by PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber. Weber also won the 1991 U.S. Open and 1992 PBA Touring Players Championships at Woodland.
Weber tied Earl Anthony for most PBA majors when he defeated Australia’s Jason Belmonte, 224-179, to win the 2013 Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions, becoming the oldest player ever to win at the TOC at age 50 and becoming the only player in PBA history to complete the PBA Triple Crown (TOC, U.S. Open and PBA World Championship) twice. Belmonte, who recently earned his second consecutive Player of the Year honor, will return to Indianapolis as defending TOC champion after winning the 2014 title in Allen Park, Mich.
Also among the champions competing in the season’s second major will be two-time PBA Tour winner and Indianapolis native Ronnie Russell who now makes his home in Marion, Ind., and 2013 PBA Rookie of the Year E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind. Russell had a productive 2014 season winning the Bear Open, and most recently, a fourth-place finish in the PBA World Championship. He also made PBA history by becoming the 24th player to bowl a televised 300 game in the Viper Championship where he finished second. Tackett, an emerging star in professional bowling, is a four-time PBA Regional champion, but is still trying for his first win on the national tour.
Also in the field will be 81-year-old Carmen Salvino of Chicago, who bowled in the original TOC (he finished third), and 66-year-old Johnny Petraglia of Jackson, N.J., the 1971 TOC winner and the only player in PBA history to win national titles in six different decades.
The return of the TOC to Indianapolis is significant because the tournament originated at Play Bowl in 1962 in Indianapolis and Indianapolis was the home to title sponsor Barbasol when it was invented as the first commercial shaving cream in 1919.
Tournament of Champions week will begin with PBA Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at the Indianapolis Marriott North. It will conclude over the Feb. 14-15 weekend with not only the live TOC finals on Sunday at 1 p.m., but with the finals of the PBA Players Championship on Saturday at 7 p.m. and the finals of the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Both of those finals will air on a delayed basis on ESPN.
The PBA Players Championship finalists, determined during preliminary qualifying rounds in Milwaukee last week, will be top qualifier Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J.; No. 2 Ronnie Russell of Marion, Ind.; Jason Belmonte, Australia; Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., and Tom Daugherty, Tampa, Fla.
The Roth/Holman Doubles finalists will be No. 1 Duke and Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas; Dino Castillo of Carrollton, Texas, and Daugherty; Belmonte and Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa.; DJ Archer of Friendswood, Texas, and Shawn Maldonado, Houston, and England’sDom Barrett with Osku Palermaa of Finland. Roth and Holman, both PBA legends, are expected to be in attendance.
A field of more than 100 PBA champions will begin competition on Wednesday, Feb. 11, with eight-game qualifying rounds at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Every PBA member who has ever won a PBA title – PBA Tour, PBA50 Tour, PBA International Tour, PBA Regional or PBA Women’s Series – will be eligible to participate.
After a third qualifying round Thursday morning, the top 24 players will advance to eight-game round-robin match play rounds Thursday and Friday to determine the five stepladder finalists.
Ticket and pro-am entry information is available by visiting pba.com or by calling Woodland Bowl at (317) 844-4099.
BARBASOL PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS SCHEDULE
Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis
(All times Eastern)
Tuesday, Feb. 10
1 p.m. – Official practice session
6 p.m. – PBA Hall of Fame ceremonies and dinner (Indianapolis Marriott North)
Wednesday, Feb. 11
10 a.m. – 8 games qualifying, all players
5 p.m. – 8 games qualifying, all players
Thursday, Feb. 12
10 a.m. – 8 games qualifying, all players
Top 24 after 24 games advance to round-robin match play
5 p.m. – Top 24, 8 games round-robin match play
Friday, Feb. 13
10 a.m. – Top 24, 8 games round-robin match play
5 p.m. – Top 24, 8 games round-robin match play
Top five after 48 games advance to stepladder finals
Saturday, Feb. 14
9:30 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. – Pro-Am squads
7 p.m. – PBA Players Championship stepladder finals (top five qualifiers, for delayed telecast on ESPN)
Sunday, Feb. 15
1 p.m. – Tournament of Champions ESPN stepladder finals (top five qualifiers live)
4:30 p.m. – Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship stepladder finals (top five teams, Baker format, for delayed telecast on ESPN)
