PBA Bowling Tour: 2017 season

2017 is the 58th season of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. The 2017 schedule includes 24 singles title events, two doubles title events, and one non-title team event (PBA League).

PBA Bowling Tour: 2017 Season
LeagueProfessional Bowlers Association
SportTen-pin bowling
DurationJanuary 10 – November 19
PBA Tour

Tournament schedule and recaps

For the second year in a row, the PBA held three consecutive major tournaments in "Big February": The Barbasol PBA Players Championship, Fire Lake PBA Tournament of Champions, and the USBC Masters. The U.S. Open took place October 25 through November 1.

The season's final major, the PBA World Championship, was again part of the World Series of Bowling (WSOB), which took place November 7–19 at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada. WSOB IX consisted of four "animal oil pattern" tournaments (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark), each of which are standalone PBA title events while collectively serving as initial qualifying for the PBA World Championship. Total pinfall from the 40 games of animal pattern qualifying (10 games per tournament) determined the 49 bowlers for the Cashers Round of the World Championship. Cashers then bowled 20 more games (5 on each oil pattern) to determine the top five for the November 19 stepladder finals.[1]

In April, the PBA announced the first-ever Main Event PBA Finals, held May 18–20 in Orlando, Florida and broadcast for five consecutive Tuesdays on CBS Sports Network, starting May 30. This is an invitational event that serves as a type of bowling "playoffs", similar to The Chase for the Cup in NASCAR or the FedEx Cup in PGA golf. The event featured the top eight players in PBA Tour earnings, from the start of the 2015 season through this year's USBC Masters. Players were seeded 1–8 based on earnings, and split into Group 1 (1, 4, 5 and 8 seeds) and Group 2 (2, 3, 6 and 7 seeds). The groups bowled a mixed roundrobin match play session of four matches each, which made up the first two broadcasts. Players were then re-seeded within their groups, based on total pinfall plus a 50 pin bonus for every match win. Group 1 and Group 2 stepladder matches were held next, and were broadcast in the third and fourth weeks. The Group 1 and Group 2 winners then faced off in the fifth and final broadcast in a three-game, total pinfall head-to-head match to determine the PBA Finals champion.[2]

For a second straight year, the PBA kept a rolling points list for all of the season's Xtra Frame tournaments (so designated because they are broadcast start-to-finish on the PBA's Xtra Frame subscription webcast service). Last season, a $10,000 winner-take-all bonus was awarded to the top points earner in the series. For 2017, the Xtra Frame series was renamed the XF PBA Tour Storm Cup, with Storm Bowling sponsoring an expanded award platform. The top points earner in 2017 won a $20,000 bonus, with additional payouts for second through fifth-place finishers ($10,000, $8,000, $7,000 and $5,000).[3] Seven tour stops made up the Storm Cup series. Two additional tournaments (DHC PBA Japan Invitational and PBA-PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles) were also covered exclusively by Xtra Frame, but did not qualify for Xtra Frame series points.[3]

Highlights
  • Jason Belmonte became the only player in PBA history to win three majors in a single season (PBA Players Championship, USBC Masters, PBA World Championship), as well as the only player to win the USBC Masters four times.[4]
  • With her win at the PBA Chameleon Championship in November, Liz Johnson became the second female bowler (after Kelly Kulick) to win an event on the national PBA Tour.[5]

Season awards

Tournament summary

Below is a current schedule of events for the 2017 PBA Tour season. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parenthesis.

EventAirdateCityPreliminary roundsFinal roundOil patternWinnerNotes
DHC PBA Japan Invitational Jan 14 X Osaka, Japan Jan 10–13 Live E. J. Tackett, USA (6) Invitational event. ¥5 million (US$43,800) first prize.
Barbasol PBA Players Championship Feb 12 E Columbus, OH Feb 6–11 Live Jason Belmonte, Australia (13) Open event. PBA major. $40,000 top prize.
52nd Fire Lake PBA Tournament of Champions Feb 19 E Shawnee, OK Feb 14–18 Live TOC Custom E. J. Tackett, USA (7) Invitational event. PBA major. $50,000 top prize.
USBC Masters Feb 26 E Las Vegas, NV Feb 20–25 Live USBC Custom Jason Belmonte, Australia (14) Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize.
World Bowling Tour Men’s and Women’s Finals Feb 26 E Las Vegas, NV 2015–16 WBT events Live Women: Danielle McEwan, USA

Men: Anthony Simonsen, USA

 Top 3 men and Top 3 women in 2015–16 WBT tournament points. Non-title event. $20,000 top prize each player.
PBA Xtra Frame Reality Check Classic Mar 19 X Tamarac, FL Mar 17–18 Live Josh Blanchard, USA (3) Open event. $10,000 top prize. (Make-up of cancelled 2016 event.)
PBA International WBT Brunswick Euro Challenge N/A Munich, Germany Mar 20–25 Mar 26 Dominic Barrett, England (5) WBT and PBA title event. €12,500 (US$13,452) first prize.
MaineQuarterly.com Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship Apr 16 E Portland, ME Apr 9–12 Live Mark Roth Jesper Svensson, Sweden (6) and Kyle Troup, USA (2) Open event. $24,000 top prize.
L.L.Bean PBA League Elias Cup Quarters: Apr 23, 30 E
Semis: May 7 E
Finals: May 14 E		 Portland, ME Apr 13–15 Apr 16 Multiple Shipyard Dallas Strikers: Norm Duke (player-manager), Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill, Rhino Page, B.J. Moore Team event. $60,000 top prize.
Main Event PBA Tour Finals Roundrobin (matches 1-8): May 30 C
Roundrobin (matches 9-16): Jun 6 C
Group 1 Stepladder: Jun 13 C
Group 2 Stepladder: Jun 20 C
Finals: Jun 27 C		 Orlando, FL May 18–19 May 20 Main Event (custom) E. J. Tackett, USA (8) Invitational event, $30,000 top prize. Top 8 in PBA Tour earnings, Jan 2015 through Feb 2017: (1) Jason Belmonte, (2) E.J. Tackett, (3) Dominic Barrett, (4) Jesper Svensson, (5) Anthony Simonsen, (6) Ryan Ciminelli, (7) Tommy Jones, (8) Sean Rash.
PBA Xtra Frame Wilmington Open May 29 X Wilmington, NC May 26–28 Live Anthony Simonsen, USA (3) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Jonesboro Open Jun 4 X Jonesboro, AR Jun 2–3 Live François Lavoie, Canada (3) Open event. $12,500 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Open Jun 11 X Lubbock, TX Jun 9–10 Live Marshall Kent, USA (3) Open event. $12,500 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Billy Hardwick Memorial Open Jun 25 X Memphis, TN Jun 23–24 Live Low-volume oil Matt Sanders, USA (1) Open event, $10,000 top prize. Players limited to using two plastic (polyester) bowling balls.[7]
Grand Casino Hotel & Resort PBA Oklahoma Open Play-in Stepladder: Jul 1 E
Finals: Jul 2 E		 Shawnee, OK Jun 26 – Jul 1 Live Wolf, Bear, Badger, Oklahoma.
Top seed chooses finals pattern.		 Marshall Kent, USA (4) Open event. $30,000 top prize.
Storm PBA-PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles Jul 30 X Houston, TX Jul 27–29 Live Jason Sterner, USA (2) and Birgit Poppler, Germany Joint open event with PWBA. $16,000 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Chesapeake Open Aug 13 X Chesapeake, VA Aug 11–12 Live Dick Allen, USA (4) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA International-WBT Storm Lucky Larsen Masters N/A Malmö, Sweden Aug 15–26 Aug 27 Jason Belmonte, Australia (15) WBT and PBA title event. 160,000 SEK (US$19,832) top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter's Pro Shop Classic Aug 20 X Middletown, DE Aug 18–19 Live Sean Rash, USA (12) Open event. $15,000 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic Aug 27 X Coldwater, OH Aug 25–26 Live Rhino Page, USA (5) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA International WBT Thailand N/A Bangkok, Thailand Sep 30 – Oct 5 Oct 6 Jojoe Yannaphon, Thailand (1) WBT and PBA title event.
฿1,000,000 (US$32,255) top prize.
73rd U.S. Open Nov 1 C Liverpool, NY Oct 25–31 Live U.S. Open (custom) Rhino Page, USA (6) Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize.
PBA WSOB IX Chameleon Championship Dec 17 E Reno, NV Nov. 8, 15 Nov. 18 Chameleon 39 Liz Johnson, USA (1) Open event. $20,000 top prize.
PBA WSOB IX Shark Championship Dec 17 E Reno, NV Nov. 9, 15 Nov. 18 Shark 45 Richie Teece, England (1) Open event. $20,000 top prize.
PBA WSOB IX Cheetah Championship Dec 24 E Reno, NV Nov. 11, 16 Nov. 19 Cheetah 33 Jesper Svensson, Sweden (7) Open event. $20,000 top prize.
PBA WSOB IX Scorpion Championship Dec 24 E Reno, NV Nov. 12, 16 Nov. 19 Scorpion 42 E. J. Tackett, USA (9) Open event. $20,000 top prize.
PBA World Championship Dec 31 E Reno, NV Nov 8–9, 11–14 Nov 19 World Championship Jason Belmonte, Australia (16) Open event for WSOB IX entrants. PBA major. $60,000 top prize.
WBT World Championships Jan 7 E Reno, NV Season long Nov 19 Women: Diana Zavjalova, Latvia

Men: Jason Belmonte, Australia

 WBT event held at WSOB.

References
  1. Vint, Bill (May 12, 2017). "PBA's GEICO World Series of Bowling IX Returns to Reno's National Bowling Stadium November 7-19". pba.com. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  2. Vint, Bill (May 28, 2017). "Tuesday on CBS Sports Network: PBA Unveils Open Round of New Main Event PBA Tour Finals". pba.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  3. Vint, Bill (February 10, 2017). "2017 XF PBA Tour Storm Cup to Provide Added Incentives for PBA Players". pba.com. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  4. Vint, Bill (December 31, 2017). "Australia's Jason Belmonte Wins Historic PBA World Championship for Ninth Major Title, Third in 2017". Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  5. Vint, Bill (December 17, 2017). "Liz Johnson Wins Historic Title in PBA Chameleon Championship; Richie Teece Captures Shark Title". PBA.com. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  6. Vint, Bill (January 17, 2018). "Tuesday Jason Belmonte Wins Fourth Player of the Year Award; Sanders, Loschetter, Ballard Also Win 2017 Honors". pba.com. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  7. Vint, Bill (June 18, 2017). "PBA Returns to Memphis for "Throwback" Tournament Honoring the Late PBA Hall of Famer Billy Hardwick". pba.com. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
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