December 16, 2020 ddziomba

 

Voters narrow Player of the Year contenders to top three

 

New York, NY –The selection of the 2020 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year is down to three finalists – Australia’s Jason Belmonte; Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa.; and Kris Prather of Plainfield, Ill. The winner will be announced by PBA CEO Colie Edison and PBA Commissioner Tom Clark in a special FloBowling presentation on Friday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. EST.

The announcement will be streamed simultaneously on FloBowling.com, and on FloBowling and PBA’s social media channels.

Voting among PBA members and veteran bowling writers across America is complete with Belmonte, O’Neill, and Prather emerging as the three-leading vote-getters, in alphabetical order. Of the three, Belmonte is the only previous Player of the Year winner, capturing the honor five times, most recently last year. O’Neill and Prather are looking for their first win.

  • Belmonte, 37, won three titles in 2020, capturing the PBA Chameleon Championship and two majors at the U.S. Open and PBA World Championship. He was the tour leader in earnings, competition points, and scoring average.
  • O’Neill, 39, won the 2020 PBA Players Championship for his second career major and the PBA Playoffs. He also finished second in the PBA Tournament of Champions. He ranked among the tour leaders in earnings (second), competition points (second), and average (fifth).
  • Prather, 28, won the 2020 Tournament of Champions for his first career major. He is a member of the PBA League Elias Cup champion team – Portland Lumberjacks, and also had top 10 finishes in all three statistical categories: earnings (fourth), competition points (fifth), and average (eighth).

Friday’s announcement will also include the three finalists who will discuss their season highlights.

The winners of the Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award and the Tony Reyes Community Service Award for 2020 will be announced in advance of the special awards show tomorrow on PBA.com.

Other finalists for Player of the Year were Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill.; Mo.; Anthony Simonsen of Little Elm, Texas, Sweden’s Jesper Svensson, EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Ind., and Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C. The players qualified for the award by finishing in the top eight in PBA earnings or competition points.

About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the Go Bowling! PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2019, the PBA was acquired by Bowlero Corporation, the world’s largest owner and operator of bowling entertainment centers with more than 300 locations throughout North America. For more information, please visit PBA.com.