Eight Players Qualify for 2024 PBA Player of the Year Ballot
Eight players have qualified for the 2024 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award, which recognizes the best player during the 2024 PBA Tour season. The award honors the legacy of Schenkel, whose Hall of Fame sports broadcasting career included more than three decades as the voice of the PBA.
Listed in alphabetical order, the nominees for the 2024 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award are: Marshall Kent, David “Boog” Krol, Bill O’Neill, Matt Russo, Anthony Simonsen, Jesper Svensson, EJ Tackett, Kyle Troup.
To qualify for the ballot, which can be viewed here, a player must have won at least one PBA Tour title and ranked among the top 10 earners during the calendar year. Any player who won multiple titles during the year is automatically added to the ballot.
All PBA members are invited to vote for the 2024 PBA Player of the Year and Rookie of Year awards here.
A breakdown of the nominees for the 2024 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year can be found here.
Winners for all 2024 player awards, including the Tony Reyes Community Service and Steve Nagy Sportsmanship awards, will be announced during the week of Dec. 9.
Marshall Kent
Titles (2): PBA Illinois Classic, PBA Tournament of Champions
Other notes: 2nd place in PBA Cheetah Championship (to Deo Benard); 2nd place in PBA Tour Finals (to Anthony Simonsen)
A career-best season secured Marshall Kent his fourth career Player of the Year nomination and first since 2018.
Kent finished second on tour with 22,048 points and third with $210,158 in earnings. He averaged 223.90 across 329 games, tallying five top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes and 11 cashes in his 16 title events.
Kent’s finest moment came in the PBA Tournament of Champions triumph, where he climbed the stepladder finals to earn his first career major title.
David “Boog” Krol
Titles (2): PBA Delaware Classic, PBA Playoffs
Other notes: Started season without priority-entry status
Two titles propelled Krol to what can only be described as a life-changing season. The 28-year-old began the season without priority-entry status, needing to earn a spot in the main field each week through the pre-tournament qualifier.
Despite this hurdle, Krol put himself in contention to make the PBA Playoffs after back-to-back top-15 finishes in the season-opening majors. After winning the PBA Delaware Classic, Krol escaped the PTQs once and for all.
By season’s end, Krol ranked ninth in points (11,955), earned $128,200 and averaged 218.09 for his 313 games.
Bill O’Neill
Title (1): PBA Players Championship pres. by Snickers
Other notes: 2nd place in PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic (to Anthony Simonsen); 2nd place in PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship (with Jason Belmonte; lost to Andrew Anderson and Kris Prather)
Perhaps no player started 2024 on a stronger note than O’Neill. He not only won the season-opening major, then finished fifth, 10th, second, 33rd and third over the next five events. He couldn’t quite snag a second title, finishing runner-up twice, but compiled seven top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes.
O’Neill averaged 224.50 in 341 games en route to finishing fourth in points (20,790) and fifth in earnings ($198,540).
Matt Russo
Title (1): PBA Scorpion Championship
Other notes: 2nd place in PBA World Championship (to EJ Tackett)
Russo, the 2021 PBA Rookie of the Year, earned his first career Player of the Year nomination after finishing seventh in points (15,405) and earnings ($145,882).
In the World Series of Bowling (WSOB) XV with scores higher than mountaintops, no one ascended higher than Russo. He led the 61-game PBA World Championship by more than 250 pins, later finishing runner-up to Tackett, and notched a second career title in the PBA Scorpion Championship.
Anthony Simonsen
Titles (3): PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic, PBA Tour Finals, Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles
Other notes: 2nd place in U.S. Open (to Kyle Troup); 2nd place in PBA Tournament of Champions (to Marshall Kent)
The 27-year-old compiled another banner season in 2024, leading the tour with three titles and seven top-three finishes. Simonsen also led two of the five major championships, though he fell in both title matches.
Simonsen ranked third on tour in points (22,030), second in earnings ($235,850) and third in average (225.33 for 375 games).
Jesper Svensson
Title (1): Storm Lucky Larsen Masters
Other notes: 2nd place in PBA Playoffs (to Boog Krol); 1st place in Go Bowling PBA Elite League Strike Derby (non-title event)
For a while, it looked like Svensson’s elite execution would result in little more than a handful of top-10 finishes and a whole lot of 7-pin conversions on Lanetalk. But the two-handed lefty started to knock on the door in the WSOB, earning three top-five finishes in Allen Park.
Svensson broke the door down in the season finale. A momentous, redemptive victory in the Swede’s home country secured his fourth career Player of the Year nomination.
EJ Tackett
Titles (2): PBA Shark Championship, PBA World Championship
Other notes: 229.37 average ranks 2nd all-time; 2nd place in Just Bare PBA Indiana Classic (to Kyle Troup); Made five consecutive championship rounds from the U.S. Open to PBA Delaware Classic
The reigning Player of the Year put himself in contention for back-to-back honors after a spectacular 2024 campaign. Tackett led the tour with 29,920 points, $265,792 in earnings and a near-record 229.37 average in 440 games.
Tackett also approached PBA history when he advanced to five (and almost six) consecutive championship rounds from the U.S. Open through the PBA Delaware Classic. During the WSOB, Tackett won all six televised matches, including climbing an all-lefty stepladder, to win the PBA Shark and World Championships.
Kyle Troup
Titles (2): U.S. Open pres. by Go Bowling, Just Bare PBA Indiana Classic
Other notes: 1st place in PBA All-Star Skills Showdown with Team Storm (non-title event); 1st place in PBA Legacy Cup with Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Cortez Schenck (non-title event)
The first player to secure his status on the ballot, Troup won two of the season’s first five events. The 2021 PBA Player of the Year prevailed in a historically loaded U.S. Open finals, defeating Tackett, Belmonte and Simonsen to win his first career green jacket.
Troup ranked sixth in points (18,353) and fourth in earnings ($199,615). He averaged 221.79 for his 310 games, cashing in 13 of 18 title events.
Voting is now open to PBA members here. The 2024 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award winner will be announced during the week of Dec. 9.
Past Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Winners
EJ Tackett, 2023
Jason Belmonte, 2022
Kyle Troup, 2021
Jason Belmonte, 2020
Jason Belmonte, 2019
Andrew Anderson, 2018
Jason Belmonte, 2017
EJ Tackett, 2016
Jason Belmonte, 2015
Jason Belmonte, 2014