This Weekend on FS1: PBA Players Championship Regional Finals
The top seed for each of the five PBA Players Championship Regional Finals presented by Snickers is held by a PBA Tour major champion. Graham Fach (East), Tommy Jones (South) Sean Rash (Midwest), Dom Barrett (Southwest) and Jakob Butturff (West) will all need to win one match to advance to the PBA Players Championship Finals. The PBA Players Championship Regional Finals air live on Fox Sports’ FS1 this weekend, beginning with the East Region Finals Saturday, January 22 at 4 p.m. ET.
Among the 25 players qualifying for the regional finals, 15 are PBA Tour champions and 11 of those are major champions, totaling 164 titles (36 majors) between them. Ten players will be attempting to win for the first time on the PBA Tour.
Three former Players Championship winners highlight the East Region, with 2016 winner Fach in the top spot, 2020 winner Bill O’Neill in third and defending champion Kyle Troup holding the fourth seed. No. 2 seed Brandon Runk, the 2021 PBA East Region Rookie of the Year, and No. 5 seed Patrick Dombrowski are looking to win their first titles.
Two PBA Hall of Famers qualified for the regional finals and both are in the South Region: No. 1 seed Tommy Jones and No. 2 seed Norm Duke, who would become the third player in PBA history to complete the Super Slam with a Players Championship victory. Third seed David Stouffer and fourth seed Toby Sambueno are seeking their first wins while No. 5 seed DJ Archer, a two-time PBA Tour champion, is looking for his first major.
The Midwest Region is helmed by 17-time PBA Tour champion Sean Rash looking to win his third major championship. No. 3 seed EJ Tackett is also trying for his third major in what would be his 15th overall title. Fourth seed Matthew Russo won his first PBA Tour title last season on the way to the PBA Rookie of the Year Award. The two players attempting to win for the first time are second seed AJ Johnson, who has finished second on multiple occasions in his PBA Tour career, and No. 5 seed Bailey Mavrick, competing in his first ever PBA Tour national event.
Dom Barrett leads the Southwest Region into the stepladder and is looking for his ninth title and third major. Arturo Quintero is seeded second and attempting to win his first PBA Tour title. François Lavoie, who owns three majors including last season’s PBA Tournament of Champions, qualified third. No. 4 seed Brad Miller is vying for his first title and will face his doubles partner, Kyle Sherman, in the opening match on the stepladder.
The West Region features top seed Jakob Butturff, who won the 2019 USBC Masters as his lone major among seven titles and finished fourth in the West Region last season. Jake Peters, a one-time champion and 2021 PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner, earned the second seed as he returns to full-time PBA Tour competition in 2022. Wesley Low Jr., who qualified second in the West Region last season, qualified third this year as one of just five players to qualify for the regional finals two straight years.
The No. 4 seed is Jason Belmonte, the all-time leader in major titles with 13 who could become the first player ever to win four different majors on three separate occasions. A six-time PBA Player of the Year, Belmonte is making his return to PBA Tour competition after 10 months away and will begin his attempt to climb the stepladder against Cortez Schenck. With a 250 in the final game of qualifying, Schenck, bowling in his first PBA Tour event as a member, earned the No. 5 seed.
The winners from each of the five regions will advance to the PBA Players Championship Finals live on FS1 Saturday, January 29, at 8:30 p.m. ET.
PBA Players Championship Television Schedule
Bowlero Euless – Euless, Texas
All telecasts on FS1
January 22 at 4 p.m. ET – East Region
January 22 at 6 p.m. ET – South Region
January 23 at 4 p.m. ET – Midwest Region
January 23 at 6 p.m. ET – Southwest Region
January 24 at 7 p.m. ET – West Region
January 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET – PBA Players Championship Finals
East Region Stepladder Finalists
- Graham Fach
- Brandon Runk
- Bill O’Neill
- Kyle Troup
- Patrick Dombrowski
South Region Stepladder Finalists
- Tommy Jones
- Norm Duke
- David Stouffer
- Toby Sambueno
- DJ Archer
Midwest Region Stepladder Finalists
- Sean Rash
- AJ Johnson
- EJ Tackett
- Matthew Russo
- Bailey Mavrick
Southwest Region Stepladder Finalists
- Dom Barrett
- Arturo Quintero
- François Lavoie
- Brad Miller
- Kyle Sherman
West Region Stepladder Finalists
- Jakob Butturff
- Jake Peters
- Wesley Low Jr.
- Jason Belmonte
- Cortez Schenck
Players Championship Regional Finalists by the Numbers
PBA Tour champions: 15 (164 total titles)
PBA Tour major champions: 11 (36 total majors)
PBA Tour Hall of Famers: 2 (Duke and Jones)
PBA Rookies of the Year: 5 (Russo, Lavoie, Tackett, Belmonte, O’Neill)
PBA Players of the Year: 6 (Troup, Belmonte (six times), Tackett, Rash, Jones, Duke (twice))
Former Players Championship winners: 4 (Belmonte (twice), Fach, O’Neill, Troup)
Players who qualified for the regional finals two straight years: 5 (O’Neill, Troup, Lavoie, Butturff, Low)
Tickets Still Available
Some tickets are still available for the PBA Players Championship Regional Finals to be broadcast on FS1.
Get your tickets now for the East and South Region Finals
Get your tickets now for the Midwest and Southwest Region Finals
Get your tickets now for the West Region Finals
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.