The boys are back in town: PBA returning to Kokomo

Feb. 21—Professional bowling is returning to Kokomo.

The Professional Bowling Association National Tour is stopping at Heritage Lanes, 1301 W. Lincoln Ave., from March 21-24 for David Small's Kokomo Classic.

Several of the top professional bowlers in the country will compete, including Jason Belmonte, Kyle Troup, Anthony Simonsen, Sean Rash, Chris Via and more. It will be the second year in a row Heritage Lanes has hosted a PBA Tour tournament. Last year, first-ranked player Jason Belmonte beat Nicholas Pate 249-243 in a tense and exciting final.

Zach Spencer, Heritage Lanes general manager, said the bowling alley is expecting a bigger attendance this year than last.

"I've been getting emails, emails and emails from people asking for tickets," he said.

Single-day tickets are $10 per person, or one can buy a full tournament pass that gets you in for all four days for $25 per person. Tickets can be purchased at Heritage Lanes.

The bowling alley will also be putting on a pro-am tournament March 21.

The cost to participate in the pro-am is $70 per person and includes bowling and dinner with the professionals, a commemorative ticket, full tournament pass and a collectable bracelet. The pro-am is limited to 128 participants.

Last year's pro-am was a sell out, and the bowling alley expects the same this year. If someone doesn't want to bowl in the pro-am but wants to watch and eat dinner, it will cost $35, and that includes a full tournament pass.

Last year's tournament was a special event for Heritage Lanes and the community. Hundreds of people were in attendance.

"These are the professionals of our sport, and the fact they get to show us why they're the professionals again is pretty cool," Spencer said. "The fact our place is nice enough, the PBA allows it to happen, it's not something that happens everywhere."

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.