2016 is the 57th season of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. There were 26 singles title events, two doubles title events, and two team events on the 2016 schedule.

PBA Bowling Tour: 2016 Season
LeagueProfessional Bowlers Association
SportTen-pin bowling
DurationJanuary 12 – December 16
PBA Tour
Season MVPE. J. Tackett
PBA Tour seasons

Tournament schedule and recaps

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For the eighth year in a row, the PBA held multiple fall North American events in one location, at the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII (WSOB VIII). Taking place in Reno, Nevada for the second straight season, the event included four "animal" oil pattern events (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark). While each provide individual PBA titles, the four pattern tournaments in WSOB VIII also served as initial qualifying for the PBA World Championship. The top 25% of players in total pinfall over the 32 games of qualifying (8 games per pattern tournament) moved on to the PBA World Championship cashers round, and bowled an additional six games of qualifying on the PBA World Championship oil pattern to determine the top 24. Three additional match play rounds of eight games each determined the field for the televised finals. The WSOB field announced on November 16 included participants from a record 22 countries.[1]

Several international tour stops, which are part of the World Bowling Tour (WBT), were again part of the PBA schedule. As in 2015, a PBA title was awarded for any qualifying WBT tournaments won by a PBA member.[2] For the second straight season, some tournaments formerly consigned as PBA Regional Tour stops now qualified the winner to earn a PBA title in addition to a minimum $10,000 top prize for each event. These nine tour stops were designated as "Xtra Frame" tournaments, because they are broadcast exclusively (start-to-finish) on the PBA's Xtra Frame webcast service. For 2016, the Xtra Frame series had a rolling points list, with a $10,000 bonus given to the player with the most points after all eight Xtra Frame singles events were completed. (Note: The Xtra Frame series was shortened to seven singles events when the PBA Xtra Frame Tamarac Classic in Florida was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew.) Tommy Jones was the bonus winner with 89 points, surpassing E. J. Tackett (84 points) in the final Xtra Frame event of the season.[3]

After three seasons, the PBA dropped the "Summer Swing" series that had taken place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2013) and Shawnee, Oklahoma (2014–15), in favor of a Fall Swing series that took place September 5–11 in Allen Park, Michigan. Oil patterns and event structure, however, were the same as the previous Summer Swing series. The Swing features the shortest and longest oil patterns used in any PBA tournament (32-foot "Wolf" and 52-foot "Badger"), plus a 40-foot U.S. Open-style pattern ("Bear").

Season highlights

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Young players dominated the major tournaments in 2016:

Additional highlights:

  • The GoBowling.com Dallas Strikers, a five-player team headed by player-manager Norm Duke, rolled a nationally televised Baker format 300 game in the semifinal round of the PBA League Elias Cup event (broadcast May 1 on ESPN). This is the first Baker format perfect game recorded in PBA history. Although the standard $10,000 bonus that is given for a televised 300 game by an individual did not apply, the PBA retroactively awarded the bonus to Duke and his teammates (Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill, Shawn Maldonado and B.J. Moore) on June 30, 2016.[9]

Awards for the 2016 season were as follows:[10]

Tournament summary

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Below is a schedule of events for the 2016 PBA Tour season. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parentheses (#).

Event Airdate City Preliminary rounds Final round Oil pattern Winner Notes
Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship* Jan 17 E Las Vegas, NV & Reno, NV Oct 20–21, 2015 (Las Vegas) Dec 18, 2015 (Reno) Anthony Simonsen, USA (1) and Connor Pickford, USA (1) Open event.
DHC PBA Japan Invitational 2016 Jan 31 E2 Tokyo Jan 12–16 Jan 17 Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela (20) Invitational event. $40,000 (U.S.) first prize.
51st PBA Fire Lake Tournament of Champions Feb 7 E Shawnee, OK Feb 1–6 Live TOC Custom Jesper Svensson, Sweden (3) Invitational event. PBA major. $50,000 first prize.
USBC Masters Feb 14 E Indianapolis, IN Feb 8–13 Live USBC Custom Anthony Simonsen, USA (2) Open event. PBA major. $50,000 first prize.
Barbasol PBA Players Championship Feb 21 E Columbus, OH Feb 15–20 Live Graham Fach, Canada (1) Open event. PBA major. $40,000 first prize.
H.H. Emir Cup N/A Doha, Qatar Feb 24 – Mar 1 Mar 2 Danielle McEwan, USA (NQ) WBT and PBA title event. $20,000 first prize.
Kingdom of Bahrain International Bowling Championship N/A Sitra, Bahrain Mar 3–8 Mar 9 Ahmed Al Awadhi, Bahrain (a) WBT and PBA title event. $25,000 first prize.
Brunswick Euro Challenge N/A Munich, Germany Mar 13–19 Mar 20 Jesper Svensson, Sweden (4) WBT and PBA title event. 11,300 first prize ($12,770 U.S.).
PBA League Elias Cup Quarters: Apr 17, 24 E
Semis: May 1 E
Finals: May 8 E
Portland, ME Mar 31 – Apr 2 Apr 3 Multiple gobowling.com Dallas Strikers (Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill, Shawn Maldonado, BJ Moore and player-manager Norm Duke) Non-title team event. $60,000 top prize.+
bowlingball.com PBA Xtra Frame Maine Shootout Apr 6 X Portland, ME Apr 4–5 Live Ryan Ciminelli, USA (6) Open event. $10,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Storm Open April 24 X Carpentersville, IL Apr 22–23 Live E. J. Tackett, USA (2) Open event. $10,000 first prize.
Downums Waste Services PBA Xtra Frame Jonesboro Open Jun 5 X Jonesboro, AR Jun 3–4 Live Tommy Jones, USA (17) Open event. $15,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Southwest Open Jun 26 X Lubbock, TX Jun 24–25 Live Jakob Butturff, USA (1) Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles Jul 31 X Houston, TX Jul 29–30 Live Bill O'Neill, USA (8) and Shannon O'Keefe, USA Open event. $16,000 top prize.
World Bowling Tour Thailand N/A Bangkok, Thailand Aug 6–11 Aug 12 Jesper Svensson, Sweden (5) WBT and PBA title event.
฿1,000,000 first prize ($32,260 U.S.)
PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter's Pro Shop Classic Aug 21 X Middletown, DE Aug 19–20 Live Michael Haugen Jr., USA (5) Open event. $15,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Wolf Open Sep 21 C Allen Park, MI Sep 5 Sep 10 Wolf Tom Daugherty, USA (2) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Bear Open Sep 28 C Allen Park, MI Sep 6 Sep 10 Bear E. J. Tackett, USA (3) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Badger Open Oct 5 C Allen Park, MI Sep 7 Sep 10 Badger Sean Rash, USA (10) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Detroit Open Oct 12 C Allen Park, MI Sep 5–8 Sep 11 Wolf, Bear and Badger (6 qualifying games on each); top seed (Jason Belmonte) chose Bear for TV finals Sean Rash, USA (11) Starting field includes top 18 in combined points from Wolf, Bear and Badger opens. $18,000 top prize.
PBA Fall King of the Swing Oct 19 C Allen Park, MI Sep 5–8, 10–11 Sep 11 Badger (left lane) and Wolf (right lane) E. J. Tackett, USA Non-title event. Winners of Fall Swing events plus top qualifier(s) among non-winners compete for $10,000.
PBA Xtra Frame Parkside Lanes Open Oct 2 X Aurora, IL Sep 30 – Oct 1 Live Ryan Ciminelli, USA (7) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Las Vegas Open Oct 30 X Las Vegas, NV Oct 28-29 Live Jakob Butturff, USA (2) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Team Challenge Nov 1 X Las Vegas, NV Oct 31 Live 'Merica Rooster Illusion: Marshall Kent (2), Chris Loschetter (2), Rhino Page (4), Ronnie Russell (4), E.J. Tackett (4) Team and PBA title event. $30,000 top prize.
U.S. Open Nov 9 C Las Vegas, NV Nov 4–8 Live U.S. Open Custom François Lavoie, Canada (1) Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize.#
PBA Cheetah Championship Dec 18 E Reno, NV Nov 29, Dec 6, 8 Dec 10 Cheetah Mike Wolfe, USA (5) Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Chameleon Championship Dec 24 E Reno, NV Nov 30, Dec 6, 8 Dec 10 Chameleon Mitch Beasley, USA (1) Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Scorpion Championship Dec 25 E Reno, NV Dec 1, 7, 8 Dec 10 Scorpion Tommy Jones, USA (18) Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Shark Championship Dec 25 E Reno, NV Dec 2, 7, 8 Dec 10 Shark François Lavoie, Canada (2) Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA World Championship Dec 11 E Reno, NV Nov 29 – Dec 5 Live World Championship Custom E. J. Tackett, USA (5) Open event for WSOB entrants. PBA major. $60,000 top prize.
PBA-WBT Qatar Open N/A Doha, Qatar Dec 10–15 Dec 16 Diana Zavjalova, Latvia (NQ) WBT and PBA title event. $40,000 top prize.
  • C: broadcast on CBS Sports Network
  • E: broadcast on ESPN
  • E2: broadcast on ESPN2
  • X: broadcast on the PBA's Xtra Frame webcast service
  • *Tournament finals were held in December 2015, but this counts as a 2016 season title. There was an earlier Mark Roth-Marshall Holman doubles tournament in February 2015 that counted as a 2015 title.
  • (NQ) Accepted 8 pins handicap per game offered to female competitors by the tournament committee, and thus was not eligible to earn a PBA or WBT title.
  • (a) Denotes amateur bowler; did not qualify for a PBA title.
  • + The Dallas Strikers earned an additional $10,000 for rolling a perfect game in the semifinal round.
  • # François Lavoie earned an additional $10,000 for rolling a perfect game in the semifinal match.

References

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  1. ^ Vint, Bill (November 16, 2016). "PBA Spare Shots: GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII to Include Players from Record 22 Countries". pba.com. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  2. ^ "World Bowling Tour announces Preliminary Schedule for 2016". bowlingdigital.com. January 5, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  3. ^ Vint, Bill (November 4, 2016). "PBA Spare Shots: Tommy Jones Saves Best for Last in Winning PBA Xtra Frame Series Points Bonus". pba.com. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  4. ^ "Jesper Svensson Becomes Youngest Tournament of Champions Winner". bowling.about.com. February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  5. ^ Cannizzaro, Matt (February 14, 2016). "19-Year-Old Simonsen Wins USBC Masters to Become Youngest to Win a Major Title". pba.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  6. ^ Vint, Bill (February 21, 2016). "Graham Fach Wins Barbasol PBA Players Championship to Become First Canadian PBA Tour Title Winner". pba.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  7. ^ Schneider, Jerry (November 9, 2016). "Canada's Francois Lavoie Rolls Historic 300 on Way to 2016 U.S. Open Win". pba.com. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  8. ^ Vint, Bill (December 11, 2015). "Indiana's E.J. Tackett Wins PBA World Championship for First Major, Fourth 2016 Title". Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  9. ^ Vint, Bill (June 30, 2016). "Graham PBA Spare Shots: PBA Surprises Duke with $10,000 "300 Bonus" for His Dallas Strikers PBA League Team". pba.com. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  10. ^ Vint, Bill (February 5, 2016). "Tackett Wins GEICO Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award; Canada's Lavoie Named Rookie of the Year". Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  11. ^ Vint, Bill (January 26, 2017). "PBA Spare Shots: Sweden's Jesper Svensson Wins 2016 George Young PBA High Average Honors". PBA.com. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
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