April 5, 2022 Jef Goodger

 

The Round of 16 begins Sunday with players vying for the $100,000 top prize

 

The 2022 Kia PBA Playoffs get underway this weekend with back-to-back live Round of 16 telecasts on FOX Sports’ FS1 beginning Sunday at noon ET. All three previous Kia PBA Playoffs champions—Kris Prather, Bill O’Neill and Kyle Troup—will appear during Sunday’s action. In the first telecast, Jason Belmonte faces O’Neill and Sean Rash takes on Troup. Immediately following, at 2 p.m. ET, Dom Barrett battles Packy Hanrahan and Prather faces Brad Miller.

All Round of 16 matches will be contested in the Race to 2 Points format, with one point going to the winner of each game. If the players are tied at one point apiece, the deciding point will be awarded to the winner of a 9th/10th-frame roll-off.

Round of 16 action will resume the following weekend, April 16 and 17, also on FS1, with subsequent rounds airing every Sunday through May 15, when the 2022 Kia PBA Playoffs champion will be decided on FOX Broadcast Channel.

No. 1 Jason Belmonte vs. No. 16 Bill O’Neill
Long-time doubles partners (and 2018 Roth/Holman Doubles champions) Belmonte and O’Neill will battle in the opening round of the 2022 Kia PBA Playoffs. Belmonte clinched the top seed before the season’s final event that counted toward playoffs points, the USBC Masters, even began. With four titles including the PBA Players Championship to extend his record to 14 majors, Belmonte will be trying to win five titles in a single season for the first time in his career (he’s won four titles three times). O’Neill, the 2020 PBA Playoffs champion and 2019 runner-up, is looking for his first title since his Playoffs win in 2020. He has two top-10 finishes in 2022 that helped him snag the final berth in the Playoffs.

No. 8 Sean Rash vs. No. 9 Kyle Troup
Two former PBA Players of the Year drew each other in the opening round. Rash, the 2011-2012 Player of the Year, has two top-four finishes in majors this season, including a second-place performance in the PBA Players Championship. He has three top-fours on the season and has only finished outside the top 20 twice. Troup, the defending Player of the Year and defending Kia PBA Playoffs champion, is looking to get his first win since the 2021 season in which he broke the all-time PBA Tour earnings record last season with $496,900. He’s been close, finishing one position off the stepladder finals three times this season, but hasn’t been able to make it to a telecast aside from the Players Championship East Region Finals.

No. 4 Dom Barrett vs. No. 13 Packy Hanrahan
Barrett became the eighth Triple Crown winner in PBA history when he won the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions in February. He also won THE STORM CUP: PBA Colorado Springs Open for his 10th career title and finds himself seeded fourth for the Kia PBA Playoffs. Hanrahan will be making his Playoffs debut on the strength of four top-10 finishes in 2022.

No. 5 Kris Prather vs. No. 12 Brad Miller
Prather, the inaugural PBA Playoffs champion, has won three more titles—two of which were majors—since his 2019 victory in the Playoffs. This season, Prather won the PBA World Championship and finished second as the top seed in the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions. Miller earned his way into the playoffs by finishing third in the USBC Masters to jump from 20th in points to 12th. He’s finished in the top 10 four times this season.

The winner of the Kia PBA Playoffs, which conclude May 15 on FOX Broadcast Channel, will earn $100,000, a Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour title and a custom WWE championship title belt.

Kia PBA Playoffs Television Schedule

Sunday, Apr. 10 at noon ET on FS1– Round of 16
No. 1 Jason Belmonte vs. No. 16 Bill O’Neill
No. 8 Sean Rash vs. No. 9 Kyle Troup

Sunday, Apr. 10 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1– Round of 16
No. 4 Dom Barrett vs. No. 13 Packy Hanrahan
No. 5 Kris Prather vs. No. 12 Brad Miller

Saturday, Apr. 16 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1– Round of 16
No. 2 Anthony Simonsen vs. No. 15 Shawn Maldonado
No. 7 Jakob Butturff vs. No. 10 AJ Johnson

Sunday, Apr. 17 at 6 p.m. ET on FS1– Round of 16
No. 3 EJ Tackett vs. No. 14 Jesper Svensson
No. 6 Tommy Jones vs. No. 11 Kyle Sherman

Sunday, Apr. 24 at noon ET on FS1– Quarterfinals
Winner of Belmonte/O’Neill vs. winner of Rash/Troup
Winner of Barrett/Hanrahan vs. winner of Prather/Miller

Sunday, May 1 at noon ET on FS1– Quarterfinals
Winner of Simonsen/Maldonado vs. winner of Butturff/Johnson
Winner of Tackett/Svensson vs. winner of Jones/Sherman

Sunday, May 8 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX – Semifinals
Remaining four bowlers

Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX – Championship
Remaining two bowlers

Kia PBA Playoffs Champions Since 2019

2019 – Kris Prather
2020 – Bill O’Neill
2021 – 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.