March 30, 2026 Nolan Hughes

The 2026 PBA Tour powered by Go Bowling rolls on in the Buckeye State for the Pilgrim's PBA Ohio Classic.

A return to Columbus Square Bowling Palace has been 36 years in the making.

Each of the six PBA Tour titles awarded at the Ohio bowling center from 1984 to 1990 were won by a first-time champion or a PBA Hall of Famer.

A future Hall of Famer, hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps, will be among the hungriest in the field this week.

Guppy Troup will be in attendance, watching his son Kyle Troup pursue a title in the very building where Guppy won the 1984 Budweiser Classic.

It’s been more than two years since Kyle’s last PBA Tour title, and he would love nothing more than to end the drought in Columbus.

Kyle, Guppy and Tyler Troup share a laugh during Guppy's Hall of Fame induction ceremony earlier this year.

Chris Via grew up and lives in Springfield, which is located about an hour west of Columbus. Via also co-owns two pro shops in Columbus.

The other co-owner is a familiar name to PBA fans and will be in the field this week: Mikey Tang, the younger brother of Darren Tang, returns to the lanes after a few seasons away from the tour.

Graham Fach attended Urbana University, also located about an hour west of Columbus, in the early-mid 2010s.

Fach led Urbana to a runner-up finish in the 2014 Intercollegiate Team Championship, falling to a Lindenwood squad led by Kyle Sherman and Cristian Azcona.

While Fach remains a resident of central Ohio, he, of course, hails from Canada.

The Ontario native will join Jason Belmonte, Dom Barrett and Jesper Svensson in Saturday’s PBA USA vs. the World match, airing on CBS and livestreaming on Paramount+ at 2 p.m. ET.

The four international stars will take on an American team led by captain EJ Tackett, Andrew Anderson, Ethan Fiore and Anthony Simonsen.

Entering the seventh title event of the season, there has yet to be a repeat champion.

Notably missing from that list are EJ Tackett and Jason Belmonte, who have combined to win nine of the last 11 PBA Player of the Year awards. The other two recent POTY winners — Anderson and Troup — have also yet to win.

While Belmonte has yet to appear on TV this season, he has been in the hunt each week. The Australian tallied 10 finishes in Missouri and Indianapolis and only failed to cash in the season opener.

So far this season, Tackett has done everything right in pursuit of an unprecedented fourth POTY consecutive honor… except hoist the trophy.

Tackett has made four of six championship rounds and finished runner-up in two of the season’s three major championships, including a one-pin loss to Krol in last Sunday’s Masters finals.

With a low finish of 12th in the U.S. Open, Tackett holds a substantial lead in the season points list despite his lack of a title.

Tackett will eventually need to win a title to be eligible for the POTY ballot, per PBA rules, and his pursuit begins again with his preferred tournament format on Tuesday.

Format

Players will bowl six games at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; competing on the 47-foot Dragon oil pattern.

All players will compete on Tuesday and Wednesday with the top third of the field advancing to Thursday’s competition.

The top 16 players will move on after the first advancer round on Thursday with the top five players after the second advancer round earning a berth in Sunday’s championship round.

The stepladder finals will air live Sunday, April 5 at 4 p.m. ET on The CW.

All qualifying rounds will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

Tournament Schedule

All times Eastern

Tuesday, March 31 — BowlTV
11 a.m. — Qualifying Round 1 (six games)
6 p.m. — Qualifying Round 2 (six games)

Wednesday, April 1  — BowlTV
11 a.m. — Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
6 p.m. — Qualifying Round 4 (six games)

Thursday, April 2 — BowlTV
11 a.m. — Advancer Round 1 (six games)
6 p.m. — Advancer Round 2 (six games)

Saturday, April 4 — CBS and Paramount+
2 p.m. — PBA USA vs. The World

Sunday, April 5 — The CW
4 p.m. — Pilgrim’s PBA Ohio Classic finals

More information on the Pilgrim’s PBA Ohio Classic is available here.