For the first time since the USBC Masters several weeks ago, a PBA Tour title will be on the line this weekend when the PBA’s biggest stars head to Tokyo, Japan.

A total of 15 of the PBA’s big names will make the long journey to Tokyo to compete in the event, which begins at 9:40 p.m. Eastern on Friday live on FloBowling.

The PBA stars will join a to-be-determined field of Japanese bowlers in competing for one of the biggest first-place prizes of the year.

The winner this weekend will take home five million Japanese Yen, which is the equivalent of nearly $45,000 USD. Plus, if the winner is a PBA member, they will receive credit for a PBA Tour title.

Here are a few key points to get you ready for the DHC PBA Japan Invitational:

Barrett is the defending champ

Last year, Dom Barrett earned the top seed for the finals and took home the title with a 267-204 win over Kyle Troup. Also making the show was Anthony Simonsen, Marshall Kent and Japanese player Shota Kawazoe, who also competes on the PBA Tour.

“You have to qualify to be here and there is a lot of history with this event,” Barrett told the PBA after his win last year. “I led it two years ago (in 2016) and (PBA Hall of Famer) Amleto (Monacelli) beat me, so it was great to have another go at it.”

On the way to the title, Barrett went 12-4 in match play and averaged just over 220 per game on the PBA Dragon pattern. The same pattern will be used again this weekend on the older wood surface at Tokyo Port Bowl.

How the PBA players qualified

In order to compete in the DHC PBA Japan Invitational, PBA players had to earn their spots through the PBA Tour points list. The top 10 players on the list got an automatic invitation along with Barrett as defending champion.

Andrew Anderson, Anthony Simonsen, EJ Tackett, Kris Prather, Stu Williams, Jason Belmonte, Marshall Kent, Bill O’Neill, Jakob Butturff and Tom Smallwood all earned spots through the points list. Because Barrett was 10^th on the list and was already guaranteed a spot in the field, the 10^th spot went to Smallwood, who was 11^th in points.

The event’s organizing committee also selected three players from the PBA Tour to compete. Those selections went to Kyle Troup, Sean Rash and Chris Barnes, who has been named captain of the U.S. delegation.

The format 

The format of the DHC PBA Japan Invitational is very simple.

All players bowl two six-game rounds of qualifying with the top 16 players advancing to 16 games of round robin match play.

After match play, the top five bowlers make the stepladder finals, which is scheduled to begin at approximately 4:30 a.m. Eastern on Sunday.

How to watch

Bowling fans will be able to watch the event live exclusively on FloBowling. Although there’s a big time difference between the United States and Japan, some of the broadcasts fall within the prime-time evening window.

If you aren’t able to stay awake to watch the action, archives will be available as soon as you wake up each morning.

What the schedule looks like

Here’s the schedule for this event, all times listed are Eastern:

Friday, April 26
9:40 p.m. - Qualifying Round 1 (six games)

Saturday, April 27
2:30 a.m. - Qualifying Round 2 (six games)
7:30 p.m. - Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
11:50 p.m. - Match Play Round 2 (eight games)

Sunday, April 28
4:30 a.m. - Stepladder Finals (top five)

For the complete schedule in local Japanese time, click here.