After three weeks off, the PBA50 Tour heads to Brentwood, California, starting Sunday for a West Coast swing.

The action out west kicks off with the PBA50 Northern California Classic presented by MOTIV, which begins live on FloBowling on Sunday. That will be followed by a pair of majors, the USBC Senior Masters and Senior U.S. Open, in Las Vegas next month.

Here are a few key points to get you ready for the PBA50 Northern California Classic:

Mohr has won twice in Brentwood

PBA Hall of Famer Ron Mohr may be in the midst of a developing love affair with Harvest Park Bowl, especially if he wins again this week. 

The 63-year-old won his second PBA50 Northern California Classic last season at the bowling center. In addition to his 2018 win, he also won the event in 2011. 

Last year, Mohr battled fellow PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. in the championship match and came away with a 237-218 victory, though it wasn’t easy.

Mohr, the top seed, missed a 10 pin in the first frame before rattling off six consecutive strikes and overcoming a 26-pin deficit to take down one of the game’s greats.

Also making the show last year was eventual PBA50 Player of the Year Michael Haugen Jr., Chris Warren and Amleto Monacelli.

Williams leads points by more than 10,000 

With three wins and an eighth-place finish so far this season, Williams has been dominating the PBA50 Tour in 2019, and the updated PBA50 points list reflects that.

Williams leads the tour by more than 10,000 points with a four-event total of 18,930. Haugen is second with 8,660, Joel Carlson is third with 7,200, Brian LeClair is fourth with 6,770 and Mohr rounds out the top five with 6,025.

It’s important to note, however, that the PBA50 Player of the Year race is determined based on point totals and not a vote like the PBA Tour.

So, while Williams has a commanding lead and will likely not come anywhere close to being caught, he still has some work to do the rest of the season. Last year, Haugen won the PBA50 Player of the Year race with 30,123 points, however, there is one less major this season.

The format and lane condition

The tournament begins with two rounds of qualifying on Sunday and Monday. Each round is eight games and there are two squads each day.

After 16 games of qualifying, all cashers will advance, though not all into the same round.

The top eight qualifiers after 16 games will be seeded directly into the second round of match play, while qualifiers ranked No. 9 through No. 16 will be seeded into the first round of match play. 

The remaining cashers after qualifying, those ranked 17^th or lower, will bowl a five-game cashers qualifying round with the top eight players from that round advancing into the first round of match play.

All pins are dropped before each round of match play. The first round of match play is five games with the eight cashers round advancers joining qualifiers ranked ninth through 16^th. The top eight bowlers from this round will advance.

The second round of match play is six games with the top eight from the first round of match play joining the top eight qualifiers.

When all that is said and done, the final five will bowl in the stepladder finals on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Pacific (9:30 p.m. Eastern). 

It should be noted that the event currently has 89 entries. If that total increases to 96 or more, then qualifiers nine through 24 will be seeded into the first round of match play, while those cashers who qualify 25^th or lower go to the cashers round.

As for the lane condition, the tournament will use the PBA Mark Roth pattern. It’s a 42-foot pattern with 27.49 mL of oil and a ratio of 4.00:1.

How to watch

The only place to watch the PBA50 Northern California Classic is live on FloBowling. Every round of the event from qualifying through the stepladder finals will be broadcast live with archives available immediately after each round ends.

What the schedule looks like

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

Sunday, May 26
8 a.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad A (eight games)
1:30 p.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad B (eight games)

Monday, May 27
8 a.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad B (eight games)
1:30 p.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad A (eight games)

Tuesday, May 28
8 a.m. – Cashers Round (five games)
11:30 a.m. – Match Play Round 1 (five games)
2:45 p.m. – Match Play Round 2 (six games)
6:30 p.m. – Stepladder Finals