The 2019 PBA50 Tour schedule heads into the home stretch starting this week as just a handful of events remain on this year’s schedule.

After a break of more than three weeks, the senior tour travels to the central part of the country to close out its season. The PBA50 River City Extreme Open begins Wednesday in Monticello, Minnesota, and will be broadcast live on FloBowling.

Just five PBA50 events remain in 2019 and once those events are concluded, there will be two PBA60 events in August to close out the senior season for PBA bowlers.

Here are a few key points to get you ready for the River City Extreme Open:

Walter Ray looks to own record outright

Without question, Walter Ray Williams Jr. has had the most successful PBA50 campaign after he started the season with three consecutive wins.

Those wins helped the PBA Hall of Famer tie the all-time record for PBA50 titles with 14, a record he shares with John Handegard. That means Williams is just one win away from owning the record outright with 15. He already holds the record for most PBA Tour titles with 47.

Also on the line for Williams is securing PBA50 Player of the Year honors. Unlike the PBA Tour, PBA50 awards are determined based on the points list, and Williams has a commanding lead in points this season.

Williams leads with 24,800 points, while Amleto Monacelli is second with 15,405 points. Norm Duke is third with 13,950, and Parker Bohn III is fourth with 11,350.

Although it will be tough to catch Williams it’s not impossible. That said, in addition to his three victories, Williams has finished among the top 10 in every event this season. His lowest finish was ninth at the USBC Senior Masters.

On the PBA60 side, Ron Mohr will try to clinch his fourth consecutive PBA60 Player of the Year honors in the coming weeks. He leads with 9,935 points, while Mike Dias is next with 3,345 points.

Haugen is the defending champion

Last year, Michael Haugen Jr.’s victory at the River City Extreme Open helped him earn 2018 PBA50 Player of the Year honors. His victory in Minnesota was his second of the season and helped him tighten his grip on the award, the PBA reported.

Haugen defeated Bob Learn Jr., 247-246, in the championship match. He struck on his first shot in the final frame and then converted the 6-10 spare to shut Learn out.

The other players who made the stepladder finals last year included Brian Kretzer, Lennie Boresch Jr. and Norm Duke.

The format and lane condition

This week’s format is one that rewards a consistent performance over the course of a lot of games.

All players will bowl 16 games of qualifying, eight on Wednesday and eight on Thursday, with the top 24 advancing to match play on Friday. All pins carry over in each round.

The advancing players will bowl two six-game rounds of match play with the top five based on total pinfall (plus bonus pins) moving on to the stepladder finals on Friday at 5 p.m. Central.

The 45-foot Dick Weber pattern will be used this week. According to PBA.com, the pattern has 25.74 mL of oil with a ratio of 4.41:1. However, these numbers may be adjusted on site.

How to watch

The only place to watch the PBA50 River City Extreme Open is live on FloBowling. Every round of the event from qualifying through the stepladder finals will be broadcast live with archives available shortly after each round ends.

What the schedule looks like

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

Wednesday, July 10
10 a.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad A (eight games)
3:30 p.m. – Qualifying Round 1, Squad B (eight games)

Thursday, July 11
10 a.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad B (eight games)
3:30 p.m. – Qualifying Round 2, Squad A (eight games)

Friday, July 12
9 a.m. – Match Play Round 1 (six games)
1 p.m. – Match Play Round 2 (six games)
5 p.m. – Stepladder Finals (top five)