Marshall Kent (born September 21, 1992) is an American ten-pin bowler from Yakima, Washington now residing in Clarkston, Michigan. He currently competes on the PBA Tour and World Bowling Tour. He has been a member of Junior Team USA, and is a six-time member of Team USA. He has won seven PBA Tour titles (including one major) and five PBA Regional titles.[2]
After 8 years as a member of the Storm Bowling pro staff, Kent accepted a sponsorship agreement with BIG Bowling in 2021.[3] After the PBA removed BIG Bowling as a registered product, Kent signed a sponsorship agreement with Hammer Bowling in 2023.[1] He is also sponsored by Turbo Grips, Dexter shoes and Apparel EFX.
Amateur career
Kent was a three-time member of Junior Team USA, and has been a Team USA member multiple times since 2012. He was a two-time Collegiate Player of the Year (2011–12 and 2012–13) bowling for Robert Morris University in Chicago, Illinois,[1] where he also earned a degree in Business Administration.[2]
Kent won a gold medal in trios at the 2011 PABCON Youth Championships, and was the 2012 Russian Open Champion.[1] He won two gold medals (singles and team) in the 2012 World Youth Championships, and a team gold medal in the 2012 PABCON Championships.[1]
Kent bowled as an amateur in the 2013 PBA Scorpion Championship and finished runner-up to Tom Smallwood. He won the 2014 Brunswick Euro Challenge as an amateur, and thus his win did not qualify for a PBA title.[1]
Professional bowling career
Shortly after his Brunswick Euro Challenge win in March 2014, Kent joined the Professional Bowlers Association. He was named the 2014 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year, having won the Kingdom International Open for his first PBA Tour title.[1] He picked up his second win at the PBA Team Challenge in 2016.[4]
2017 was Kent's first year with multiple PBA Tour wins, as he won his first two singles titles on US soil. His second win of the season in the PBA Oklahoma Open was his first on US television. He finished the season fourth in PBA earnings, with a career-best $115,530.[1][5] To date (through 2023 season end), he has over $600,000 in career PBA earnings. Through 2021, he had 17 career 300 games in PBA competition.[1]
Despite a career-high five championship round appearances, Kent failed to win a title in the 2018 PBA Tour season. He did win the non-title season-ending PBA Clash event on December 23, a made-for-TV event that marked the debut of the PBA on Fox network.[6]
Kent won his fifth PBA Tour title on March 6, 2022 in the Roth-Holman Doubles Championship, as he and partner E. J. Tackett climbed the ladder from the #4 seed.[7] Despite the title, Kent's 2022 season saw him post career lows in cashes (4), average (206.84) and earnings ($22,450).
On February 10, 2024, Kent won his sixth PBA Tour title, his first singles title since 2017, at the PBA Illinois Classic. After qualifying as the top seed, he defeated A.J. Johnson in his lone TV finals match to take the championship.[8]
On April 28, 2024, Kent won the PBA Tournament of Champions. As the #4 seed, he defeated Jason Sterner, Matthew Ogle, E.J. Tackett, and Anthony Simonsen en route to his first major and seventh PBA Tour title. He took home the top prize of $100,000 for the largest payday in his career. The win moved Kent up to second place on the PBA points list through the end of the spring season, behind only Tackett.[9] Kent qualified for the PBA Tour Finals, a "postseason" event featuring the top eight players in Tour points over the last two seasons. Kent emerged as the Group 1 winner, defeating Bill O'Neill in the group stepladder final. He went on to face Group 2 winner Anthony Simonsen, whom he had defeated in the title match of the Tournament of Champions earlier this season. After splitting two games in the "race to two points" final (210–246, 248–200), Kent was defeated in the 9th/10th frame roll-off, 38–40.[10]
In addition to his seven standard PBA Tour wins, Kent has five PBA Regional Tour titles and a runner-up finish at the 2016 U.S. Open.[1][11]
From 2013 to early 2018, Marshall dated PWBA bowler Danielle McEwan. The two initially met when both were members of Junior Team USA, but did not officially become a couple until representing Team USA at an event in Bangkok, Thailand.[13] After almost five years of dating, McEwan and Kent went their separate ways for unspecified personal reasons. His current girlfriend, Cassandra, was in the audience for Kent's 2024 PBA Tournament of Champions win, sitting next to his mother.[9]
Originally from Yakima, Washington, Kent relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2019.[14] Late in 2023, Kent relocated again to suburban Detroit in Michigan.[8] In his Fox TV appearance on February 25, 2024, his profile showed his residence as Clarkston, Michigan.
