Past winners Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., and Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, were among five Professional Bowlers Association members to advance to the eight-player match play finals in the Round1 Japan Cup Friday at Round1 Minami Suna Bowling Center.

Three additional PBA members, including Player of the Year contender Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill.; Rookie of the Year contender E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., and two-handed star Osku Palermaa of Finland also advanced to the championship round along with three Japan PBA members – Kazuaki Watanabe, Shinichi Horie and Yuya Katoh – who will try to end Japan’s 24-year title drought in the event.

The Round1 Japan Cup is a special PBA Tour event that includes 16 PBA players who qualified based upon a season-long competition points race. Four other PBA members were invited by the organizing committee and eight other PBA members – including Tackett – advanced into the 64-man tournament field in the Pre-Tournament Qualifier. The finals will air on ESPN on Sunday, Jan. 12, at 1 p.m. ET.

Jones, who won the tournament in 2004, ‘05 and ‘10, will try to join PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III as the second four-time winner of the Japan Cup. Barnes won the event in 2003. Rash, Tackett, Palermaa and the three JPBA players are trying for their first Japan Cup title.

“It’s been a great year and I’m going to try to keep the momentum going,” said Rash, the reigning PBA Player of the Year who is trying for his third title of the 2012-13 season and the eighth of his career. “In the players’ mind, this is our fifth major and it would be great to win it one time.”

Tackett, who also is trying for his first PBA Tour title in his second television appearance, led the Japan Cup after the 10-game qualifying round on Thursday. In this PBA television debut, he finished fourth in the Milwaukee Open earlier in the year.

“I had no idea what to expect,” the 21-year-old rookie said. “After making it out of the PTQ and then leading qualifying, it gave me a lot of confidence coming into today. I bowled well and was throwing it good so I came into today telling myself to do what I did the day before and I was able to do that.

“It’s awesome to have the opportunity to bowl here during my rookie year, and it’s pretty cool that it’s my first time here and I made the show.”

In the opening round of the match play finals, Jones will meet Tackett, Barnes will bowl against Watanabe, Palermaa is matched up against Katoh, and Rash will bowl Horie in one-game matches. Winners will advance to semifinal round with those winners meeting in the championship match.

The PBA Tour’s 2013-14 season on ESPN begins Sunday at 1 p.m. ET with the finals of the PBA Cheetah Championship.

ROUND1 JAPAN CUP

Round1 Minami Suna, Tokyo, Japan, Friday

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS (one-game matches; winners advance to semifinal and championship rounds on ESPN, Sunday, Jan. 12, 1 p.m. ET)

Match One – Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., vs. E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind.

Match Two – Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, vs. Kazuaki Watanabe, Japan.

Match Three – Osku Palermaa, Finland, vs. Yuya Katoh, Japan.

Match Four – Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., vs. Shinichi Horie, Japan.