Kristopher Prather


Kristopher "Kris" Prather of Plainfield, Illinois is an American professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the PBA Tour. He is known for winning the inaugural PBA Playoffs in 2019, and for his two major titles: the 2020 PBA Tournament of Champions and the 2022 PBA World Championship. He has won six PBA Tour titles overall. Prather is also a multi-year and current member of Team USA.
Prather has been nicknamed "Shark" and "Shark Kent". He is a member of the Roto Grip and Vise Grips pro staffs.

Amateur career

Prather bowled collegiately at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. As an amateur, he won the 2012 Paragon Open in Grand Rapids, Michigan and finished second at the 2012 New Mexico Open.
As of January 2020, Prather is a member of Team USA. Prather was part of the rotating four-person team that won the trios gold medal for Team USA at the 2021 International Bowling Federation Super World Championships in Dubai.
On August 23, 2022, Prather and partner A. J. Johnson won Doubles gold for USA at the PanAm Bowling Champion of Champions event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He and Johnson were part of a USA sweep in Doubles, as Shannon O'Keefe and Bryanna Coté won Doubles gold in the women's event. Prather then won gold in Singles on August 25, which also earned him All-Events gold.

Professional career

After qualifying for the championship finals four times in 2018 and twice more in early 2019 without winning, Prather broke through with his first PBA title in the PBA Scorpion Championship, held at the 2019 World Series of Bowling in Allen Park, Michigan. Based on points earned during the first 13 events of the 2019 season, he qualified as the #9 seed for the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs. He was the only player to make the final four who did not earn a first-round bye. He defeated #4 seed Anthony Simonsen in the semifinal round on June 1, then topped #7 seed Bill O'Neill on June 2 to take the championship and $100,000 first place prize. Originally, the PBA Tour Playoffs was considered a non-title event. However, on December 6, 2019, the PBA announced that Prather would retroactively be awarded a PBA title for his win, giving him his second career Tour title.
Prather was a member of the Portland Lumberjacks team, winners of the 2019 PBA League competition. He was again a member of the Lumberjacks when they successfully defended their PBA League title in 2020.
On February 9, 2020, Prather won the PBA Tournament of Champions held in Fairlawn, Ohio. As the #4 seed for the stepladder finals, he won all four matches, defeating four major titlists to capture his third PBA Tour title, first major, and second career $100,000 prize check.
On June 6, 2020, Prather won the PBA Strike Derby, a non-title made-for-TV event where competitors attempt to bowl as many strikes as possible in two minutes. Seeded #4 after rolling 10 strikes in the first round, Prather went on to defeat Anthony Simonsen in the championship round, 7–6, to claim the win and the $25,000 top prize. On July 22, Prather was crowned the PBA's "King of the Lanes" in a three-day, non-title event. He won the fifth challenge match in the event over PWBA player Gazmine Mason, and dethroned reigning King Sean Rash in the next match. He then defended his crown against the sixth and final challenger, PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber. Despite the 2020 season being shortened by COVID-19, Prather posted a new career high in earnings with $223,285.
On March 14, 2021, Prather won his fourth PBA Tour title at the Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship.
Prather qualified as the No. 1 seed at the 2022 PBA Tournament of Champions, but fell short of winning for the second time in this event when he was defeated by No. 2 seed Dominic Barrett in the final match. Two weeks later, Prather won the 2022 PBA World Championship as the No. 1 seed, defeating Jason Sterner in an exciting final match that required a one-ball, sudden death roll-off after the two tied the regulation game, 237–237. Prather won the roll-off 10–6 to win his second major and third career $100,000 prize check.
Based on points earned over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Prather qualified as the #6 seed for the 2023 PBA Tour Finals, held June 24–25 in Arlington, Washington. Prather climbed the stepladder in Group 2, eventually defeating top seed Jason Belmonte by way of a roll-off in the race-to-two points final match. He then went on to face Group 1 winner Kyle Troup for the title, but lost in a two-game sweep.
In April 2024, Prather and partner Andrew Anderson won their second Roth-Holman doubles championship, giving Prather his sixth PBA Tour title.
Prather surpassed $1 million in career PBA Tour earnings during the 2025 season.
In addition to his six national PBA Tour titles, Prather has earned two PBA Regional Tour titles. He has rolled 28 certified perfect 300 games, including five in PBA Tour competition, and has 11 certified 800 series.
Desite not starting his PBA career until 2015, Prather still ranked #25 on the PBA's 2025 "Best 25 PBA Players of the Last 25 Seasons" list. The ranking was based on a points system that took into account standard titles, major titles, top-five finishes and Player of the Year awards.

PBA Tour titles

Major championships are in bold type.
  1. 2019 PBA Scorpion Championship
  2. 2019 PBA Tour Playoffs
  3. 2020 PBA Tournament of Champions
  4. 2021 Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship w/Andrew Anderson
  5. 2022 PBA World Championship
  6. 2024 Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship w/Andrew Anderson

    Non-title PBA wins

  7. 2019 PBA League
  8. 2020 PBA League
  9. 2020 PBA Strike Derby
  10. 2020 PBA King of the Lanes
  11. 2022 PBA League

Career statistics

Statistics are through the last full PBA Tour season.
SeasonEventsCashesMatch PlayCRA+PBA Tour Titles AverageEarnings
2015155200214.5512,040
20161911610216.6326,490
20171810700219.3427,935
20182013950220.3360,885
201926171252216.50179,348
20201311821 --223,285
202118141121217.2391,505
202214111121 220.92222,750
2023189410215.2266,650
20241510221221.3864,125
2025178610220.6657,000
Totals19311978216 --1,032,013

+CRA = Championship Round Appearances