PBA World Series of Bowling XII Starts Sunday
Tampa, Fla.—The PBA World Series of Bowling XII begins this week in Tampa. Five PBA Tour titles—the PBA Cheetah Championship, PBA Chameleon Championship, PBA Scorpion Championship, PBA Roth/Holman Doubles and Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship—will be on the line at AMF University Lanes. The qualifying and match play rounds will be streamed live on FloBowling, Mar. 7-17, and the stepladder finals will air Mar. 13-17, live on FOX Broadcast Channel (World Championship) and Fox Sports’ FS1 (all other events).
Here are some of the top storylines heading into the PBA World Series of Bowling XII:
Belmonte’s Recent World Championship Dominance
Jason Belmonte has won each of the past three PBA World Championship titles. The PBA record holder in major titles with 13, Belmonte won his first World Championship in 2017 over Jesper Svensson. The event wasn’t held in 2018, but Belmonte successfully defended his title in 2019, earning his record-breaking 11th career major title. Belmonte won again in 2020. If he can win this year, he’ll be the first player ever to win the World Championship four times in a row. He’s currently one of two players ever to win three in a row, although the other—Earl Anthony—won the event in three consecutive seasons on two separate occasions (1973-1975, 1981-1983).
Major Performances from Lavoie and Simonsen
François Lavoie and Anthony Simonsen have qualified for the televised finals of both majors so far this season. Lavoie finished third in the PBA Players Championship, then won the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions. Simonsen was fifth in the Players Championship and second to Lavoie in the Tournament of Champions. Going back to the final major of 2020—the PBA World Championship—and both players were in the top five there as well, with Lavoie finishing fourth and Simonsen second.
Animal Patterns in Play
Ten games of qualifying on each of three animal patterns—Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion—will determine the 16 finalists for each animal-pattern event as well as the 30 players who will advance to PBA World Championship cashers round and the 16 teams that qualify for Roth/Holman Doubles match play.
Sean Rash (Cheetah), Belmonte (Chameleon) and Carsten Hansen (Scorpion) enter as the defending champions on each animal pattern. Belmonte has won the Chameleon Championship three times, including each of the past two seasons.
Roth/Holman Doubles Returns to World Series
The PBA Roth/Holman Doubles returns to the World Series of Bowling for the first time since WSOB III during the 2011-2012 season, when Norm Duke and Wes Malott took their first of two victories in this event. Duke and Malott repeated as champions in 2015, the next time the event was held.
Defending champions Kyle Troup and Jesper Svensson have also won the event twice, winning in Portland, Maine in 2017 and Indianapolis last season.
The qualifying and match play rounds of the PBA World Series of Bowling XII will be streamed live on FloBowling beginning Sunday, Mar. 7 at noon ET from AMF University Lanes in Tampa, Fla. To subscribe, visit FloBowling.com.
View the full PBA Guaranteed Rate World Series of Bowling XII schedule
PBA World Series of Bowling Streaming and TV Schedule
Qualifying and match play – Mar. 6-12, 15-17, noon ET on FloBowling
Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship – Mar. 13, 2 p.m. ET on FOX
PBA Roth/Holman Doubles – Mar. 14, 3 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Cheetah Championship – Mar. 15, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Chameleon Championship – Mar. 16, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA Scorpion Championship – Mar. 17, 8 p.m. ET on FS1
PBA World Championship Winners Since WSOB I
2009-10 – Tom Smallwood
2010-11 – Chris Barnes
2011-12 – Osku Palermaa
2012-13 (WSOB IV)* – Parker Bohn III
2012-13 (WSOB V)* – Dom Barrett
2014 – Mike Fagan
2015 – Gary Faulkner Jr.
2016 – EJ Tackett
2017 – Jason Belmonte
2018 – event not held**
2019 – Jason Belmonte
2020 – Jason Belmonte
PBA Cheetah Champions Since WSOB I
2009-10 – Norm Duke
2010-11 – Eugene McCune
2011-12 – Eugene McCune (not a WSOB event)***
2012-13 (WSOB IV)* – Bill O’Neill
2012-13 (WSOB V)* – Wes Malott
2014 – Anthony Pepe
2015 – Parker Bohn III
2016 – Mike Wolfe
2017 – Jesper Svensson
2018 – event not held**
2019 – Dick Allen
2020 – Sean Rash
PBA Chameleon Champions Since WSOB I
2009-10 – Bill O’Neill
2010-11 – Scott Norton
2011-12 – Jason Belmonte
2012-13 (WSOB IV)* – Scott Norton
2012-13 (WSOB V)* – Ryan Ciminelli
2014 – DJ Archer
2015 – Jesper Svensson
2016 – Mitch Beasley
2017 – Liz Johnson
2018 – event not held**
2019 – Jason Belmonte
2020 – Jason Belmonte
PBA Scorpion Champions Since WSOB I
2009-10 – Mike DeVaney
2010-11 – Yong-Jin Gu
2011-12 – Dom Barrett
2012-13 (WSOB IV)* – Tom Daugherty
2012-13 (WSOB V)* – Tom Smallwood
2014 – Michael Haugen Jr.
2015 – Jon Van Hees
2016 – Tommy Jones
2017 – EJ Tackett
2018 – event not held**
2019 – Kris Prather
2020 – Carsten Hansen
*As the PBA transitioned into a calendar-year season, two World Series of Bowling events were held in 2012-2013.
**World Series of Bowling X was moved to spring of 2019 as the PBA began its partnership with FOX.
***The 2011-2012 Cheetah Open took place at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, Calif. and was streamed live on PBA Xtra Frame.
PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Champions Since 2011
2011-12 – Norm Duke and Wes Malott
2012-13 – not held
2014 – not held
2015 – Norm Duke and Wes Malott
2016 – Connor Pickford and Anthony Simonsen
2017 – Jesper Svensson and Kyle Troup
2018 – Jason Belmonte and Bill O’Neill
2019 – Matt Ogle and Sean Rash
2020 – Jesper Svensson and Kyle Troup
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 PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.