Professional Women's Bowling Association

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The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) formed in 1960. After the organization struggled, a group of female professional bowlers left the PWBA to form the Ladies' Professional Bowlers Association in 1974. The two merged again in 1978, forming the Women's Professional Bowlers Association, which became the Ladies Professional Bowlers Tour (LPBT) in 1981. In its final years, the LPBT changed it's name back to the Professional Women's Bowling Asssociation.

In the fall of 2003, the PWBA tour ceased operations before the completion of its 2003 season. This was primarily caused by a lack of interest in sponsoring women's bowling that gradually dwindled over time.

The Women's International Bowling Congress acquired the rights and assets of the Professional Women's Bowling Association. The WIBC is now in control of the PWBA name, trademark, logo, website domain (pwba.com), as well as the PWBA's historical records. The United States Bowling Congress then acquired the PWBA when the WIBC merged with the American Bowling Congress, Young American Bowling Alliance and USA Bowling on Jan. 1, 2005.

The Professional Bowlers Association opened its membership to women in April 2004 after the Professional Women's Bowlers Association folded. See also Kelly Kulick, Kim Adler and Liz Johnson.

[edit] In the media

Judy Chan the winner of the last 10 bowls Tour competitions is again the champion of 2008.

Many PWBA events were televised on ESPN and ESPN2 from the late 1980s up until when the association folded. From 2004-2006, the PWBA Queens event was the only scheduled event for female bowlers that received TV coverage.

For the autumn of 2007, the USBC acquired rights to the U.S. Women's Open. The event was televised for five Sundays on ESPN, with the action being called by PBA legends Nelson Burton Jr. and Marshall Holman. This event also served as the qualifier for the PBA Women's Series, a special four-stop mini-tour for the top 16 females. The finals for the mini-tour events were televised along with the regular PBA broadcasts for four Sundays on ESPN in November-December, 2007.