Key points
- Walter Ray Williams Jr.: record 47 titles on the PBA Tour.
- Jason Belmonte (Australia): record 15 PBA major titles, with a two-handed style.
- Earl Anthony: 43 PBA titles including 10 majors, the first bowler to pass 1 million dollars in career earnings.
- Kelly Kulick is the first woman to win a PBA Tour event open to men (Tournament of Champions 2010).
How do you measure a bowler’s greatness?
The most widely used benchmark is a player’s record on the PBA Tour, the American professional circuit founded in 1958, which has brought together the world’s best bowlers for decades. It counts titles, major titles (the five most prestigious tournaments of the season) and Player of the Year awards. Other criteria matter too: World Championship medals, longevity and influence on the way the game is played.
| Bowler | Country | PBA titles | of which majors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Ray Williams Jr. | United States | 47 | 3 |
| Earl Anthony | United States | 43 | 10 |
| Norm Duke | United States | 40 | 7 |
| Pete Weber | United States | 37 | 10 |
| Parker Bohn III | United States | 35 | 0 |
| Mark Roth | United States | 34 | 0 |
| Jason Belmonte | Australia | 32 | 15 |
PBA Tour figures based on public data available in late 2026; as Jason Belmonte is still active, his total may change.
Walter Ray Williams Jr., the all-time titles leader
Walter Ray Williams Jr. is the most decorated bowler in PBA Tour history, with 47 titles. Nicknamed “Deadeye” for his accuracy, the American won across several decades and was voted PBA Player of the Year many times. A rare distinction: he was also a world horseshoe pitching champion, another precision discipline.
His record includes relatively few major titles (3), which illustrates his real strength: exceptional consistency, tournament after tournament, on every type of oil pattern.
Earl Anthony, the legend of the 1970s
Earl Anthony dominated professional bowling in the 1970s and early 1980s. A left-hander with a very understated style, he won 43 PBA titles, including 10 majors, and in 1982 became the first bowler to pass one million dollars in career earnings. He was voted PBA Player of the Year six times. He died in 2001 and remains, for many, the benchmark for consistency and control.
Pete Weber and Norm Duke, two extraordinary careers
Pete Weber, son of champion Dick Weber, has 37 PBA titles including 10 majors. Most notably, he won the U.S. Open five times between 1988 and 2012, and his flamboyant personality made him one of the best-known figures in televised bowling.
Norm Duke has 40 PBA titles including 7 majors. An early starter, he won his first PBA title at 18, in 1983, and went on to win for nearly thirty years, thanks to a feel for the ball and a lane-reading ability regarded as among the best on tour.
Dick Weber also deserves a mention: one of the founding members of the PBA in 1958 and the face of bowling in the 1960s. The Weber Cup, which pits the United States against Europe, is named after him.
Jason Belmonte and the two-handed revolution
Australian Jason Belmonte transformed bowling technique by popularising the two-handed delivery. By not putting his thumb in the ball and supporting it with both hands during the approach, he generates far more revs than most one-handed bowlers. Long viewed with scepticism, this style has now been adopted by many young bowlers around the world.
Belmonte holds the record of 15 major titles on the PBA Tour, won up to 2023: Players Championship, USBC Masters, Tournament of Champions, PBA World Championship and U.S. Open. His average of 229.39 over the 2017 season remained the PBA record until 2026, when E. J. Tackett raised it to 229.78. To understand why revs matter, see our guide on how to hook a bowling ball.
Mark Roth, Parker Bohn III and the new generation
Two bowlers rank among the most successful without ever winning a major, which shows just how hard those five tournaments are to win. Mark Roth (34 titles) left his mark on the 1970s with a very powerful delivery and lots of revs, at a time when most bowlers favoured a straighter line: he is often described as one of the first modern “crankers”. Parker Bohn III (35 titles), a left-hander, succeeded instead through accuracy and consistency for more than two decades.
Among active bowlers, American E. J. Tackett has been the dominant figure of recent seasons. In 2026, he won the PBA World Championship, his 28th title on tour, and broke the single-season average record. His place at the top of the rankings, alongside Belmonte and a generation of young bowlers often trained in the two-handed delivery, shows that elite bowling keeps evolving: more reactive balls, more demanding oil patterns and more thorough physical preparation.
The great women bowlers: Kelly Kulick and Liz Johnson
Women have their own professional tour, the PWBA, but two American women made history by beating men on the PBA Tour.
- Kelly Kulick became, in 2010, the first woman to win a PBA Tour event open to men, by taking the Tournament of Champions, one of the five majors.
- Liz Johnson became, in 2005 at the Banquet Open, the first woman to beat a man in a televised round of the PBA Tour. In 2017, she became the second woman to win a PBA Tour national title. A member of the USBC Hall of Fame since 2015, she has also won the U.S. Women’s Open six times.
What can these champions teach you about improving?
These bowlers have very different styles, but they share the same fundamentals: a repeatable approach, a controlled release and a great ability to pick up their spares. Walter Ray Williams Jr. built his career on accuracy more than power; Belmonte shows that an unconventional technique can succeed when it is perfectly mastered.
To improve in Morocco, the best school is still regular league play alongside experienced bowlers. The ASBM (Association Sportive du Bowling Marocain, the Moroccan Bowling Sports Association), the pioneer of bowling in Morocco, runs a weekly league at the Megamall in Rabat, a section in Tangier and the Intercity Strike Cup, the tournament that lets Moroccan bowlers measure themselves against the best. The major international tournaments are covered in our guide to bowling competitions.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the greatest bowler of all time?
There is no single answer, but the names mentioned most often are Walter Ray Williams Jr., who holds the record for PBA titles (47), Earl Anthony (43 titles including 10 majors) and Jason Belmonte, who holds the record for major titles (15).
Who has won the most major titles in bowling?
Australian Jason Belmonte, with 15 major titles on the PBA Tour, the most recent in 2023.
Which woman has beaten men in professional bowling?
Kelly Kulick is the first woman to have won a PBA Tour event open to men, the 2010 Tournament of Champions. Liz Johnson was the first to beat a man in a televised round of the PBA Tour, in 2005.
Why do some bowlers throw with two hands?
The two-handed delivery, popularised by Jason Belmonte, lets you put more revs on the ball and so get a stronger hook. It does, however, require a lot of flexibility and technical work.
Who was bowling’s first millionaire?
Earl Anthony, in 1982: he was the first bowler to pass one million dollars in career earnings on the PBA Tour.
