February 8, 2023 Nolan Hughes

The Super Bowl is rapidly approaching, but the biggest sporting contest of the weekend will take place three hours southeast of Kansas City, as the PBA Springfield Classic goes down at Enterprise Park Lanes in Springfield, Mo.

Here’s what you need to know as the tournament gets rolling on Thursday morning:

Hometown Heroes

Springfield’s own Keven Williams and Spencer Robarge, the Wichita State star who advanced via the pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ), will draw considerable local support. Williams captured his first career title at the PBA Shark Championship last year, but he said he’ll be more nervous bowling in his home center than defending his title in Wauwatosa.

“In my mind, there’s no way I should miss that telecast,” Williams said before the season. “I should be on the stepladder and bowling for a title, just because I’ve bowled so well in that center.”

But the 29-year-old is known for his authenticity.

“To have a national tour stop at Enterprise, there’s no way I make the cut!” he said laughing. “I’m gonna overthink it way too much.”

Players to Watch

U.S. Open champ EJ Tackett goes for back-to-back titles to kickstart the season, while runner-up Kyle Troup seeks his 10th career title to achieve Hall of Fame eligibility.

Tomas Käyhkö, Justin Knowles and Frank Snodgrass all parlayed their TV debuts at the U.S. Open into top-five performances at the PTQ and advanced to the main field.

Conversely, Jason Belmonte, Dom Barrett, Chris Via and AJ Johnson will look to bounce back after missing the cut in the season opener. Missouri native Brad Miller continues to chase his first career title as well.

Format

Players will be competing on the 34-foot Wolf oil pattern, the shortest pattern of the 2023 season.

Eighteen games of qualifying between Thursday and Friday, all livestreamed on BowlTV, will whittle the field down to the top 22 players. A final six-game qualifying round on Friday evening will determine the 12 players advancing to Saturday’s round-robin match play.

After 12 games of match play, the top four players will advance to the stepladder finals, livestreaming at 7 p.m. ET. The champion will receive $25,000.

The PBA Springfield Classic represents the second stop of the 2023 Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour and the first of the five-tournament Classic Series. The top eight point earners across the five Classic Series events will earn the chance to compete in July’s PBA Skill Ball Challenge.

More information on the PBA Springfield Classic is available here.

Tournament Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 9
12 p.m. ET — Qualifying Round 1 (six games)
6 p.m. ET — Qualifying Round 2 (six games)

Friday, Feb. 10
12 p.m. ET — Qualifying Round 3 (six games) — cut to top-22 players
6 p.m. ET — Top-22 Qualifying Round (six games) — cut to top-12 players

Saturday, Feb. 11
11 a.m. ET — Round-robin Match Play Round 1 (six games)
3 p.m. ET — Round-robin Match Play Round 2 (six games) —cut to top 4 players
7 p.m. ET — Stepladder finals