Many of the world’s best bowlers have returned to Bowlero Wauwatosa for the second consecutive year as part of the Guaranteed Rate PBA World Series of Bowling XIV, a highly anticipated, multi-tournament event that runs through Sunday and has featured the return of the USA vs. The World competition and culminates with the World Championship.
The event features a total prize fund of $820,000, including $100,000 paid to the World Championship winner.
Capacity crowds have jammed the bowling center day after day for the event, which began with pre-tournament qualifying rounds on April 7 and also included the Cheetah, Scorpion and Shark championships, which use animal patterns to create lane oil playing conditions that are considered the most difficult on which to bowl.
The World Series of Bowling is the brainchild of Pro Bowlers Association Commissioner and Muskego resident Tom Clark.
“My favorite thing about Milwaukee is the fans. The fans are very knowledgeable,” Clark said Monday night after watching red-hot bowler EJ Tackett capture the Cheetah Championship. “They know everything that’s going on. They know all the bowlers. They can keep score. It’s rare to have everybody be that knowledgeable and that’s the feeling I get here. They’re also really excited to see the best players.
Clark launched the World Series of Bowling in 2009, which ushered in a new era for the PBA. Bowlero Wauwatosa hosted the event in March 2022 as fans returned after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic that took hold in March 2020.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
The bowling center fit the event’s requirements and drew capacity crowds, prompting the PBA to bring the event back to Wauwatosa again this year.
“The location has a large bay of 48 lanes where you can have qualifying and a short bay where you can set up for television,” Clark said. “It’s a unique center that meets all of our needs. A lot of lanes for qualifying and an intimate setting for the television arena. That’s really a plus.”
The benefits of the bowling center aside, Clark said the dedication and support shown by the Milwaukee area’s bowling fans cemented the decision.
“The No. 1 reason is the fans,” he said. “We don’t usually do six television shows in one city. This is the most shows we are doing in one city. If you are going to have that many, you are going to have to be confident that you are going to fill it with fans every day, and it’s been sold out here every day.”
The USA vs. The World event and the PBA World Championship, the fourth major of the bowling season, headline this year’s World Series of Bowling, which will feature 12 hours of television coverage during its run, most of it on Fox Sports 1 with the World Championship being broadcast on Fox’s regular broadcast network.
The PBA’s broadcast team features play-by-play announcer Rob Stone, color analyst Randy Petersen and popular sideline reporter Kimberly Pressler, a Miss USA pageant winner.
Milwaukeean Mike Jakubowski, public address announcer for Marquette men’s and women’s basketball and director of video production for the UWM Panther arena, has served as host at Bowlero Wauwatosa throughout the run of the World Series of Bowling.
Clark, who has served as PBA commissioner since 2011, pointed out that members of his bowling team at Alpine Lanes in Muskego were among those in the stands on Monday night. He looked around the center with a smile as he spoke while many of the fans continued to mill around long after competition had concluded for the night. “The fans aren’t going to leave until they get their autographs,” Clark said.
The accessibility of players is something unique and endearing to the crowds that packed the center daily, he added.
“The players see eye-to-eye with the fans. They’ve all lived the same experiences,” Clark said. “It ends up feeling a little bit like a family. You go to each city and you have the same sort of shared experiences. It’s easy for our players to mingle with the fans because they kind of feel like they know them. Bowling is a niche sport on the grand scale of things and building relationships in every city you go is very important, not only to the players but to the PBA. We don’t have to tell the players to be accessible. They enjoy it and they know the value of it.”
Crowd favorite Jakob Butturff became emotional after he captured the Scorpion Championship for his first title since 2019.
JAKOB BUTTURFF DOES IT!@JButturff claims his first PBA title since 2019, taking home the PBA Scorpion Championship! pic.twitter.com/NXVElvkdcc
— PBA Tour (@PBATour) April 19, 2023
As he held the trophy, Butturff broke down as he spoke about his mother, who died in November 2020, and how grateful he is for the reception he has received from Milwaukee area bowling fans, who roared with approval with every strike he rolled.
“It’s always amazing. There are times when you can’t hear yourself think,” said Butturff, a resident of Tempe, Arizona. “It’s always been a good crowd when we’ve come here to Milwaukee.”
E.J. Tackett, the PBA’s hottest bowler this season, also had high praise for the local fans who have been routinely packing Bowlero Wauwatosa.
“The crowds here in Milwaukee are awesome,” the Indiana native said after capturing the Cheetah Championship on Monday night for his 20th career title and fourth this season. “I made my first TV show on this same pair of lanes ten years ago and the crowd was awesome then. The bowling center has been pretty much full every single day. I love going to cities where the people actually turn up and care that we’re in town.”
Career Title #20
— PBA Tour (@PBATour) April 18, 2023
2023 PBA Season title #4
EJ Tackett continues his dominance, as he wins the PBA Cheetah Championship at the #WSOBXIV pic.twitter.com/4MPHiswr5C
Tackett was also a member of the USA squad – along with Anthony Simonsen, Kyle Troup and U.S. captain and Hall of Famer Tommy Jones – that lost to the World team of Jason Belmonte, Jesper Svensson, Sam Cooley and Dom Barrett in a match held over two days.
The World team defeats the USA, 12-2, in the USA vs. The World competition at WSOB XIV!
— PBA Tour (@PBATour) April 16, 2023
Jason Belmonte, Jesper Svensson, Dom Barrett, & Sam Cooley claim the first Hall of Fame Cup! pic.twitter.com/YAC458ZqkI
The World Series of Bowling also featured the USA vs. The World captains’ match at the iconic Holler House on Milwaukee’s South Side on April 8. Belmonte, the Australian star representing the World Team, defeated Jones in the captains’ round in what is touted as the country’s oldest sanctioned bowling alley, a two-lane gem in the tavern’s basement that employs manual pinsetters.
The PBA has yet to decide whether the World Series of Bowling will return to Bowlero Wauwatosa for a third consecutive year in 2024.
“We are not even looking at next year yet,” Clark said. “The first step in that process is knowing our television schedule and then we have to piece it together.”
Butturff, for one, is in favor of a return trip to Milwaukee. “If we make a return, it would be amazing,” he said.
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