This is a recap of the 2011–12 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour.
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For the third season in a row, the PBA condensed the first half of the season into the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB). Preliminary rounds of the televised tournaments are November 5–16, with television tapings on November 17–20. All of the events are being held at the South Point Casino's bowling center in Las Vegas, NV.[1]
There are five "open" events at the World Series, meaning they are open to all PBA and World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) members around the world. (To earn a PBA title at an event, however, the winner must be a full-fledged PBA member by the time of the WSOB.) The open events include four stand-alone title tournaments (Viper Open, Chameleon Open, Scorpion Open and Shark Open), plus the PBA World Championship. Each stand-alone "animal pattern" event features 8 games of qualifying in the morning of each day, with the top 16 returning that evening for a best-of-five elimination match play round to determine the top four for the TV finals. The bowlers with the top 53 pinfall totals from the 32 qualifying round games in the four stand-alone events were entered into the "cashers' round" for the PBA World Championship. These 53 players then rolled 8 more games to determine the final 16 bowlers for the televised match play round of the World Championship.[2]
There are three "exempt" events added to the 2011 WSOB. The Carmen Salvino Classic will start with a field of up to 49 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exempt players, plus at least 15 Tour Qualifying Round (TQR) participants. Two other events, the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship and PBA Exempt Players Baker Doubles Championship are for PBA exempt bowlers only. The combined totals from 12 games of Carmen Salvino Classic and 18 games of Elite Players Championship qualifying determined the 16-player match play semifinals participants for both the Elite singles and Exempt doubles events.
An additional TV taping will take place at the WSOB: the WTBA World Bowling Tour Finals, presented by the PBA. Qualifying for this final round is based on multiple WTBA international events, and does not take place at the WSOB. The finals format is a three-man and three-woman stepladder.
In all, 14 TV programs will be taped at the 2011 World Series of Bowling: four stand-alone "animal pattern" finals, Carmen Salvino Classic finals, Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship finals, PBA Exempt Players Baker Doubles Championship finals, WTBA World Bowling Tour men's final, WTBA World Bowling Tour women's final, and five days of broadcasts for the PBA World Championship finals. The TV finals will be contested on specially-built lanes placed inside the South Point Casino's Exhibition Center.
The second half of the PBA Tour season includes the three remaining majors (USBC Masters, Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open and Tournament of Champions), plus four more title events.[3]
Below is a summary of the 2011–12 season. Total career PBA Tour titles for winners are shown in parenthesis.
| Event | Airdate | City | Preliminary Rounds | Final Round | Oil Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBA BowlersDeals.com All-In Showdown | November 4, 2011* 6:30 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 4 | Live* | TBD | Optional $5,000 buy-in WSOB event. Not a PBA title event. $45,000 top prize. Winner: Tommy Jones |
| GEICO World Bowling Tour Men's Final presented by the PBA | December 4, 2011 1:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | Multiple dates | November 18 | TBD | WBT qualifiers only. Not a PBA title event. Winner: Mika Koivuniemi (Finland) |
| GEICO World Bowling Tour Women's Final presented by the PBA | December 4, 2011 2:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | Multiple dates | November 18 | TBD | WBT qualifiers only. Not a PBA title event. Winner: Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (USA) |
| PBA World Championship | Dec. 11, 18 and Jan. 1, 8, 15 1:00 PM each day |
Las Vegas, NV | November 5–9 | November 17–18 | Top seed chooses pattern | Open event. $50,000 top prize. Finalists: Osku Palermaa, Ryan Shafer, Sean Rash, TBD. Winner: |
| WSOB Bayer Viper Open | January 22, 2012 3:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 5 | November 18 | Viper | Open event. $15,000 top prize. Finalists: Michael Fagan, Stuart Williams, Sean Rash, Ildemaro Ruiz. Winner: |
| Cheetah Open presented by Ebonite | January 22, 2012* | Fountain Valley, CA | January 20–21 | Live* | Cheetah | Open event. Winner: |
| USBC Masters | January 29, 2012 12:30 PM |
Henderson, NV | January 23–28 | Live | Custom | Open to PBA and qualifying USBC members. Winner: |
| Chris Paul PBA-Celebrity Invitational | February 4, 2012 4:00 PM |
Winston-Salem, NC | Taped | TBD | Invitational charity event. Winners: |
|
| WSOB Chameleon Open | February 12, 2012 3:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 6 | November 19 | Chameleon | Open event. $15,000 top prize. Finalists: Jason Belmonte, Osku Palermaa, Sean Rash, Ildemaro Ruiz. Winner: |
| WSOB Scorpion Open | February 19, 2012 3:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 7 | November 19 | Scorpion | Open event. $15,000 top prize. Finalists: Dom Barrett, Dave Wodka, Sean Rash, Patrick Allen. Winner: |
| Don Johnson Memorial Open presented by Columbia 300 | February 19, 2012* | Columbus, OH | February 17–18 | Live* | TBD | Open event. Winner: |
| 69th U.S. Open | February 26, 2012 3:00 PM |
North Brunswick, NJ | February 20–25 | Live | U.S. Open (custom) | Open event. Winner: |
| WSOB GEICO Shark Open | March 4, 2012 3:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 8 | November 19 | Shark | Open event. $15,000 top prize. Finalists: Chris Barnes, Jason Belmonte, Sean Rash, Mika Koivuniemi Winner: |
| Detroit Open presented by Track | March 11, 2012* | Allen Park, MI | March 9–10 | Live* | TBD | Open event. Winner: |
| Lumber Liquidators Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Exempt Players Doubles Championship | March 25, 2012 2:30 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 14–16 | November 20 | TBD | Exempt event. $15,000 top prize. Winners: |
| Carmen Salvino Classic | April 1, 2012 1:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 14 | November 20 | TBD | Exempt event with TQR. $15,000 top prize. Finalists: Andres Gomez, Wes Malott, Ronnie Russell, Jason Belmonte Winner: |
| PBA Dick Weber Playoffs presented by Hammer | April 1, 2012* | Indianapolis, IN | March 30–31 | Live* | TBD | PBA Tour and PBA Regional members only. Winner: |
| Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship | April 8, 2012 1:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | November 14–16 | November 20 | TBD | Exempt event. $35,000 top prize and automatic berth in the "Round of 36" at the PBA Tournament of Champions. Finalists: Norm Duke, Mike Devaney, Jason Belmonte, Mike Scroggins Winner: |
| PBA Tournament of Champions | April 15, 2012 1:00 PM |
Las Vegas, NV | April 8–14 | Live | ToC (custom) | Past PBA Tour, PBA Regional and PBA Senior Tour champions only. Winner: |
An asterisk (*) indicates a tournament that is broadcast start-to-finish (including finals) on the PBA Xtra Frame webcast service. All other broadcasts are on ESPN television. All broadcast times are Eastern (U.S.).
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