With the PBA Summer Tour about to begin, the PBA Player of the Year competition is about to heat up in the homestretch. There are five more titles on the line, and it’s time to see who will earn the PBA’s top award.

Kyle Troup is the clear frontrunner in the race having set the single-season earnings record this year on the PBA Tour with $486,200. And he has a chance to become the first player to ever earn $500,000 in one season.

The five-event PBA Summer Tour gets underway this weekend with the 2021 PBA Lubbock Sports Open taking place Saturday and Sunday live exclusively on FloBowling. The stepladder finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

“To hold a record, I think that is more special and important than the amount of money that has been won,” he said. “I want to try to get to $500,000, if we are going to talk about the money, so I want to stretch this record out a little bit.”

This talented two-hander has followed up the best year of his career in 2020 with more achievements in 2021. He accomplished his first goal of winning a major at the 2021 PBA Players Championship, picked up another title at the Kia PBA Playoffs, and next on his list is earning the title of 2021 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year.

Earlier this season Troup admits he got caught up in the hype of the Player of the Year discussion which led him to put a lot of pressure on himself while competing at the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions and the U.S. Open. He changed his mindset after that to take every tournament one week at a time.

He is focused on adding his first summer event title to his resume and passing his dad, Guppy, in career PBA Tour titles. He needs just one more to do that. If he can earn the prestigious Player of the Year title, he sees it as an additional notch in his PBA career belt.

“Belmonte won Player of the Year and then won it five more times,” Troup said. “If I am able to win, I am just going to use that as confidence and keep working hard. You can’t hit the cruise button bowling against the best bowlers in the world who are always working on their game.”

A few of those great bowlers also in the Player of the Year discussion include Tom Daugherty, Francois Lavoie and Chris Via.

In the comforts of a bowling center (AMF University Lanes in Tampa, Florida) near his home, Daugherty had a memorable March during the World Series of Bowling XII. The 46-year-old won the Scorpion Championship and just a few days later he won his first major at the PBA World Championship over Troup.

Daugherty’s route to the major included wins over Pete Weber and Walter Ray Williams Jr. who both announced their retirements from the regular tour during that event. Daugherty and Troup both have two titles this season. Daugherty also won an ESPY after being named 2021 Best Bowler.

Lavoie is just behind Troup in earnings so far. He has had a successful season winning the 2021 Kia PBA Tournament of Champions and the inaugural 2021 Guaranteed Rate PBA Super Slam, a non-title event, over Troup.

Major Frankie’s performance at the TOC was impressive. He climbed the ladder as the No. 5 seed defeating four major champions in the process, Sean Rash, Jesper Svensson, Jason Belmonte and Anthony Simonsen, to earn his third major title of his young career. He quietly works his way into the top five at major events and continues to be a constant threat.

Via, who over the weekend won the USBC Open Championships Regular All-Events title, is having the best year of his professional career. He has been in the top five in several majors since 2020, and he was able to see that success finally payoff with his first career title, a major victory at the 2021 U.S. Open.

He also rolled the 30^th televised perfect game in a PBA title event at the PBA Players Championships and another 300 at the 2021 PBA Tour Finals. He is one of just three bowlers to roll two televised perfect games in title events and the first to bowl two televised 300 games in the same season.

Keep your eyes on these four players who are all seeking the chance to be named Player of the Year for the first time in their careers. Five more titles are available before this year comes to a close.