Defending Champ Norm Duke Out as PBA Stars Return to Jonesboro

Injury forces PBA Hall of Famer to withdraw from third event of 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour season

JONESBORO, Ark. (Jan. 25, 2020) – An all-star field of 60 Professional Bowlers Association players from around the world will head back to Hijinx Jan. 27-Feb. 1 for the third event on the 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour schedule. Unfortunately, defending champion Norm Duke won’t be among them.

The finals of the 2020 event will be televised live on FOX Sports’ FS1 channel on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 3:30 p.m. CST (4:30 p.m. EST).

In 2019, Duke, a PBA Hall of Famer from Clermont, Florida, became the third bowler in PBA history to win 40 titles when he defeated then 22-year-old Anthony Simonsen of Little Elm, Texas, 212-171, to win the Jonesboro Open. But Duke sustained an upper left injury during last week’s PBA Hall of Fame Classic, forcing him to withdraw despite being in contention for a berth in the stepladder finals. He is still rehabbing that injury in hopes of being able to compete in the string of three PBA major championships that will take place following Jonesboro.

With or without Duke, competition in Jonesboro will be an intense test for the field of 60. The 2019 tournament was contested on what the PBA calls a “dual pattern” lane conditioning challenge where the PBA’s 36-foot Viper and the 48-foot Shark lane oiling patterns were applied to the left and right right lanes, respectively, requiring players to deal with lane conditions on each lane that were dramatically different. The 2020 field will face the same type of scoring challenge.

The Jonesboro tournament is another important leg on the road to the second annual PBA Playoffs. The third tournament of the 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour season will award points as a Tier 2 tournament in the PBA competition points system that will help determine the 24 players who will compete for a $100,000 first prize in the Playoffs in April and May.

The Jonesboro Open gets underway on Monday, Jan. 27, when a group of more than 30 players will bowl two five-game rounds in a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) to try to qualify for eight berths in the tournament proper. Tuesday is reserved for an official practice session. The full field will then bowl two seven-game qualifying rounds on Wednesday. The top 16 after 14 games will advance to match play where they will bowl 16 head-to-head matches on the “mixed” Viper/Shark conditions on Thursday.

PBA players will participate in a pair of pro-am squads with Jonesboro area grassroots men, women, senior and youth bowlers on Friday before the top five qualifiers based on 30-game pinfall totals will bowl for the title in the live nationally televised on FS1 at 3:30 p.m. CST on Saturday.

All 30 games of qualifying and match play will be live streamed by PBA’s online streaming partner, FloBowling. For FloBowling subscription information, visit FloBowling.com. FloBowling also will livestream Saturday’s finals live to its international subscribers.

The tournament promises another classic battle between established stars and young players who are trying for their first title or to build Rookie of the Year resumes. Among the players entered are PBA Hall of Famers Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones and Walter Ray Williams Jr.; reigning PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte and 2019 Rookie of the Year Mykel Holliman, and international players from Australia, England, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Ireland and England.

PBA JONESBORO OPEN

(A 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour Tier 2 event)

Hijinx, Jonesboro, Ark., Jan. 27-Feb. 1 (all times CST)

Monday, Jan. 27

8 a.m. – Pre-Tournament Qualifier (PTQ), five games

2 p.m. – Pre-Tournament Qualifier (PTQ), five games

  Top 8 after 10 games will advance to tournament proper

Tuesday, Jan. 28

Noon – Official practice session

Wednesday, Jan. 29

10 a.m. – Qualifying, 7 games

4:30 p.m. – Qualifying, 7 games

  Top 16 after 14 games advance to match play

Thursday, Jan. 30

11 a.m. – Round robin match play, 8 games

5 p.m. – Round robin match play, 8 games

  Top 5 after 30 games advance to stepladder finals

Friday, Jan. 31

5:30 and 8:30 p.m. – Pro-Am squads

Saturday, Feb. 1

3:30 p.m.  – Top five stepladder finals, live on FS1 (Shark 48 on left lane, Viper 36 on right lane)