January 3, 2024 Nolan Hughes

The final PBA Regional Tour event of the 2023 season is underway at South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas.

The top regional players in the country are competing for an opportunity to compete with the world’s best as the champion of each division will receive an automatic entry into their respective 2024 Tournament of Champions field.

Cory Hersha of Larwill, Ind. leads the 70-player PBA division field with 2,907 (+507) for his 12 games, posting a 242.25 average. During the second round of qualifying, Hersha shot games of 223, 259, 281, 279, 257 and 258 (a 259.50 average) to surge from 16th place to the lead.

“This block was incredible, probably the best that I’ve bowled,” Hersha said. “I felt like I gave up a few sticks in the first block, but I wasn’t mad. Normally I bury myself in a hole and I guess try to motivate myself to get out of it. This block, I just wanted to do the things I knew I should have done (the first block).”

Eric Jones, Frank Snodgrass and Jake Rollins each sit about 100 pins behind Hersha. Defending champion Patrick Dombrowski rounding out the top five.

The top 16 players following Thursday’s final six-game qualifying round will advance to match play. The top four players will earn a two-round bye with the fifth- through eighth-place qualifiers earning a one-round bye.

The PBA division’s first three rounds of match play will be the best of three games, while the semifinals and finals will feature a single-game match.

In the PBA50 division, Dan Knowlton paced the 48-player field with 2,945 (+545), an average of 245.42.

“I started out with urethane. I haven’t been bowling much so I just tried to make it simple,” Knowlton said after his first round of qualifying. “When we flipped to the low end, I made a little bit of a hand adjustment and that seemed to work. I shot 297 and 259 to finish.”

During the second round, Knowlton said he progressed quicker with his ball selections, allowing him to build a 110-pin lead over second place and 162-pin lead over fifth place. That margin puts him in prime position to earn a one-round bye as a top-four qualifier.

The PBA50 division will take the top 12 players to match play following Thursday's final qualifying round. The Rounds of 12 and 8 will be the best of three games with the semifinals and finals being single-game matches.

The final round of qualifying will begin at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. Match play will begin at 6 p.m. ET and for the PBA division and 7:15 p.m. ET for the PBA50 division.

All qualifying and match play rounds will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

In addition to the TOC entry, champions will take home $15,000 in the PBA division and $10,000 in the PBA50 division. If the RPI champion has previously qualified for the TOC, the automatic TOC entry will not carry over to the runner-up.

PBA Division Leaders

  1. Cory Hersha, 2,907, (+507)
  2. Eric Jones, 2,814, (+414)
  3. Frank Snodgrass, 2,793, (+393)
  4. Jake Rollins, 2,793, (+393)
  5. Patrick Dombrowski, 2,790, (+390)
  6. Clay Rees, 2,789, (+389)
  7. Michael Davidson, 2,780, (+380)
  8. Wesley Low Jr., 2,756, (+356)
  9. Tim Foy Jr., 2,755, (+355)
  10. Brady Stearns, 2,728, (+328)
  11. Samuel DeWitt III, 2,722, (+322)
  12. Christopher Tuholski, 2,715, (+315)
  13. Dallas Leong, 2,703, (+303)
  14. Deo Benard, 2,702, (+302)
  15. Zack Stone, 2,691, (+291)
  16. Pete Vergos, 2,688, (+288)

Full standings are available here.

PBA50 Division Leaders

  1. Dan Knowlton, 2,945, (+545)
  2. Mike Bailey, 2,835, (+435)
  3. Tony Franklin, 2,822, (+422)
  4. Eugene McCune, 2,795, (+395)
  5. Steven Smith, 2,783, (+383)
  6. Larry Verble, 2,770, (+370)
  7. Rich Corwin, 2,770, (+370)
  8. Jeff Johnson, 2,762, (+362)
  9. Shawn Horenberger, 2,754, (+354)
  10. Eddie Graham, 2,748, (+348)
  11. Bo Goergen, 2,747, (+347)
  12. Chris Warren, 2,745, (+345)

Full standings are available here.

RPI Schedule

Thursday, Jan. 4
1 p.m. ET — Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
Cut to top 16 players in PBA division; top 12 players advance in PBA50 division
6 p.m. ET — Round of 16 (best of three; PBA division only)
7:15 p.m. ET — Round of 12 (best of three)
8:30 p.m. ET — Round of 8 (best of three)
10 mins after previous round — Round of 4 (single game)
10 mins after previous round — Championship match (single game)

More information on the PBA RPI and PBA50 RPI is available here.