This is a recap of the 2010-11 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour.
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For the second season in a row, the PBA condensed the first half of the season into the PBA World Series of Bowling. Preliminary rounds of the televised tournaments were held in October and November, with television tapings on November 5–6. All of the events were held at the South Point Casino's bowling center in Las Vegas, NV. South Point also hosted the live multi-day final for the PBA World Championship on January 14–16, 2011.
The World Series was open to all PBA, Korean Professional Bowlers Association, Japan Professional Bowlers Association, and World Ten-Pin Bowling Association members (except for USA-based WTBA members, who must also join the PBA).
The format for the first of the PBA's four majors, the PBA World Championship, overlapped with the five "oil pattern" championships of the World Series.[1]
Each of the five oil pattern championships (Cheetah, Viper, Chameleon, Scorpion, Shark) were both standalone title tournaments and part of the qualifying round for the 2010-11 PBA World Championship. Each oil pattern championship opened with a 12-game qualifying round, and proceeded to its own 16-bowler match play semifinal and 5-bowler televised final round. In addition, scores from the 60 total games of oil pattern tournament qualifying were combined to create the 8-bowler final field for the PBA World Championship. The PBA also used the 60-game scores to create a made-for-television exhibition event, U.S.A. vs. the World, taped on November 6 and aired on January 9, 2011. The event featured the top 6 USA qualifiers against the top 6 international qualifiers.
The PBA, for the first time, scheduled three consecutive days of live broadcasts for the PBA World Championship finals, January 14–16, 2011. The format was an 8-bowler stepladder. The 8-7 and 7-6 matches aired Friday night, January 14 on ESPN2; the 6-5 and 5-4 matches aired Saturday night, January 15 on ESPN2; the top four then competed Sunday afternoon, January 16 on ESPN.[2]
The 2011 Tournament of Champions featured an all-new format and a $250,000 first prize, making it the richest PBA tournament in history.[3] The event also marked the return of a PBA tournament to ABC-TV, where the PBA Tour aired from 1962 to 1997.
The 2011 Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open also featured live Friday and Saturday night broadcasts on ESPN2, this time covering the match-play rounds on February 25–26. The 4-person stepladder finals aired live Sunday, February 27 on ESPN.
For the first time in PBA history, the season concluded with a playoff. The qualifying rounds of the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs ran March 8–13, and featured 18 regional qualifiers in each PBA Region (East, Central, South, Southwest, Midwest, combined West/Northwest) plus 72 "seeded" regular touring pros randomly placed in each of the six regions. Two "knockout" rounds (three region finals each) and the "conference finals" were broadcast on a tape-delay basis for three straight Sundays, starting March 27, 2011. The finals, featuring the three conference final winners, were broadcast live on Sunday, April 17.[4][5]
Below is a summary of the 2010-11 season. Total career PBA Tour titles for winners are shown in parenthesis.
| Event | Airdate | City | Preliminary Rounds | Final Round | Oil Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick Cheetah Championship | November 28, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 25 & Nov. 1 | November 5 | Cheetah | Winner: Eugene McCune (2) |
| Pepsi Viper Championship | December 5, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 26 & Nov. 1 | November 5 | Viper | Winner: Bill O'Neill (3) |
| Chameleon Championship | December 12, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 27 & Nov. 2 | November 5 | Chameleon | Winner: Scott Norton (1) |
| Scorpion Championship | December 19, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 28 & Nov. 2 | November 6 | Scorpion | Winner: Yong-Jin Gu (1) |
| GEICO Shark Championship | December 26, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV | Oct. 29 & Nov. 3 | November 6 | Shark | Winner: Osku Palermaa (1) |
| U.S.A. vs. the World | January 9, 2011 | Las Vegas, NV | October 25–29 | November 6 | Cheetah | Exhibition event. Winners: World Team, 6-3 (1-point head-to-head matches tied 3-3, World defeats U.S.A. in 3-point team event, 1251-1208. |
| PBA World Championship | January 14–16, 2011 | Las Vegas, NV | October 25–29 | Live | Viper | No. 1 qualifier chooses oil pattern for finals. Winner: Chris Barnes (13) |
| Tournament of Champions | January 22, 2011* | Las Vegas, NV | January 16–21 | Live | PBA Tournament of Champions | Winner: Mika Koivuniemi (9) |
| One A Day Earl Anthony Memorial Classic | January 30, 2011 | Dublin, CA | January 24–29 | Live | Earl pattern | Winner: Ryan Ciminelli (1) |
| Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational | February 6, 2011 | New Orleans, LA | December 9–11 | December 12 | Final pattern TBD | Exhibition Event. Winners: Jason Belmonte and Chris Paul |
| Bayer USBC Masters | February 13, 2011 | Reno, NV | February 6–12 | Live | USBC Masters (custom) | Winner: Tom Hess (1) |
| Lumber Liquidators 68th U.S. Open | February 25–27, 2011 | North Brunswick, NJ | February 21–26 | Live | U.S Open (custom) | Winner: Norm Duke (34) |
| Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship | March 6, 2011 | Cheektowaga, NY | March 1–5 | Live | Modified house | Winner: Jason Couch (16) |
| Dick Weber PBA Playoffs | March 27, 2011 (Knockout Round 1) | Indianapolis, IN | March 8–14 | March 14 | Dick Weber | Advanced to Conference Finals: Central -- Ritchie Allen East -- Steve Jaros South -- Randy Weiss |
| April 3, 2011 (Knockout Round 2) | Advanced to Conference Finals: Midwest -- Jack Jurek Southwest -- Jason Belmonte West/Northwest -- Chris Barnes |
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| April 10, 2011 (Conference Finals) | Head-to-Head Matches: Randy Weiss defeated Steve Jaros Ritchie Allen defeated Jack Jurek Chris Barnes defeated Jason Belmonte |
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| April 17, 2011 (Final Round) | Live | Winner: Ritchie Allen (3) |
The seven bowlers who join the PBA's exempt bowler field for the 2010-11 season via the Regional Players Invitational tournament (which replaced the Tour Trials in 2010) are as follows:
These players join the bowlers who either (1) won a 2009-10 PBA Tour title, (2) earned a multi-year exemption by winning a major title, (3) earned an exemption via 2009-10 points list or (4) were awarded an injury deferment from the 2009-10 season. The total exempt field is 52 bowlers, with one more to be added via the PBA's "Golden Parachute" rule.[10]
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