This is a recap of the 2008-09 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour.
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On October 1, 2008, the PBA began a three-year sponsorship deal with Lumber Liquidators, making the American hardwood flooring retailer the tour's title sponsor through the 2010-11 season. Denny's, the title sponsor from 2005 to 2008, remains a PBA sponsor and continued as the title sponsor of the Denny's Dick Weber Open tour stop.[1]
The PBA kicked off its 50th season with a major tournament: the PBA World Championship was moved to the front of the PBA schedule for the first time in history. The tournament was contested October 19–25, 2008 at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kansas, with the live televised finals airing Sunday, October 26 on ESPN. The 20-event 2008-09 season concluded with the 66th U.S. Open, March 29-April 5 in North Brunswick, NJ. Other majors in 2008-09 included the Tournament of Champions (January 19–26 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas) and USBC Masters (February 8–16 at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas).
The Dydo Japan Cup, which typically kicks off the PBA Tour season on ESPN, was delayed until late April, 2009, due to arena issues.[2][3]
A special "Golden Anniversary Championship" featured 16 Senior PBA bowlers (age 50 or older) who earned entry through a dedicated qualifying round at the Hammond, IN tour stop. The eventual top two Senior bowlers squared off in a live televised final, airing after the final match for the regular touring pros on November 9.
The PBA Women's Series, which began on a limited basis in the 2007-08 season, continued this season with seven events (see article: PBA Women's Series). The series featured head-to-head women's matches airing jointly with six PBA telecasts, plus a mixed doubles event with PBA professionals that aired February 1, 2009.
Player Of The Year: Wes Malott
Rookie Of The Year: Jason Belmonte
High Average Award: Wes Malott (222.98)[5]
Money Leader: Norm Duke ($199,630)[6]
Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award: Ryan Shafer
Majors are noted in bold text. The number of titles for tournament winners is noted in parenthesis. The women's title count is for PBA Women's Series events only.
| Dates | Event | City | Oil Pattern | Swing | Notes / Concurrent Event | ESPN Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 20 | Chris Paul Celebrity Invitational presented by the brands of Ebonite International |
Winston-Salem, NC | Scorpion | n/a | Exhibition event - 5 NBA and 5 PBA players in Baker doubles; WINNERS: Jason Couch and LeBron James |
Oct. 19 |
| Oct. 19-26 | PBA World Championship | Wichita, KS | World Championship | Grand Slam | First time held at start of season (open event); WINNER: Norm Duke (30) |
Oct. 26 |
| Oct. 29-Nov. 2 | Pepsi Viper Championship | Omaha, NE | Viper | Versatility | Women's Series; MEN'S WINNER: Brad Angelo (1) WOMEN'S WINNER: Stefanie Nation (1) |
Nov. 2 |
| Nov. 4-9 | Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship | Hammond, IN | Dick Weber | n/a | Senior Division Golden Anniversary Championship PBA TOUR WINNER: Walter Ray Williams, Jr. (45) PBA SENIOR WINNER: Timothy Kauble |
Nov. 9 |
| Nov. 9-11 | Ultimate Scoring Championship | Taylor, MI | Standard League (TBA) | Extreme | Bowling on standard house conditions to demonstrate its scoring potential WINNER: Mike Wolfe (4) |
Nov. 23 |
| Nov. 12-16 | Chameleon Championship | Taylor, MI | Chameleon | Versatility | Women's Series; MEN'S WINNER: Mike Machuga (2); WOMEN'S WINNER: Michelle Feldman (1) |
Nov. 16 |
| Nov. 26-30 | CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship | Vernon Hills, IL | Scorpion | Versatility | Women's Series; MEN'S WINNER: Wes Malott (4); WOMEN'S WINNER: Michelle Feldman (2) |
Nov. 30 |
| Dec. 3-7 | Cheetah Championship | Cheektowaga, NY | Cheetah | Versatility | Women's Series; MEN'S WINNER: Parker Bohn III (32) WOMEN'S WINNER: Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (2) |
Dec. 7 |
| Dec. 10-14 | Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship | Baltimore, MD | Shark | Versatility | Women's Series; MEN'S WINNER: Rhino Page (2) WOMEN'S WINNER: Jodi Woessner (1) |
Dec. 14 |
| Holiday break | ||||||
| Jan. 4-6 | Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship | Reno, NV | Shark | n/a | Companion event with Women's Series; WINNERS: Norm Duke (31) and Liz Johnson (1) |
Feb. 1 |
| Jan. 7-11 | National Bowling Stadium Championship | Reno, NV | Cheetah/Shark | n/a | WINNER: Patrick Allen (11) | Jan. 11 |
| Jan. 14-18 | Bayer Earl Anthony Medford Classic | Medford, OR | Earl | Versatility | Debut of "Earl" pattern; Women's Series MEN'S WINNER: Wes Malott (5); WOMEN'S WINNER: Wendy Macpherson (1) |
Jan. 18 |
| Jan. 21-25 | H&R Block Tournament of Champions | Las Vegas, NV | Tournament of Champions | Grand Slam | Invitational event WINNER: Patrick Allen (12) |
Jan. 25 |
| Feb. 3-8 | Denny's Dick Weber Open | Fountain Valley, CA | Dick Weber | n/a | Open event WINNER: Norm Duke (32) |
Feb. 8 |
| Feb. 10-15 | USBC Masters | Las Vegas, NV | Masters | Grand Slam | Open event WINNER: John Nolen (1) |
Feb. 15 |
| Feb. 18-22 | GEICO Plastic Ball Championship | Wheat Ridge, CO | Cheetah | Extreme | PBA assigns two plastic balls to each player to equalize competition WINNER: Jeff Carter (1) |
Feb. 22 |
| Feb. 25-Mar. 1 | Etonic Marathon Championship | Indianapolis, IN | All Tour patterns | Extreme | Open event; 54 games in 5 days including two 18-game days; different oil pattern each day; top qualifier chooses pattern for finals WINNER: Wes Malott (6) |
Mar. 1 |
| Mar. 2-8 | Don Johnson Buckeye State Eliminator Championship | Columbus, OH | Viper/Scorpion | Extreme | Semifinals and TV use Eliminator format WINNER: Chris Barnes (11) |
Mar. 8 |
| Mar. 18-22 | Go RVing Match Play Championship | Norwich, CT | Chameleon/Cheetah | Extreme | 64-bowler match play event seeded by Tour Points WINNER: Chris Barnes (12) |
Mar. 22 |
| Mar. 25-29 | The Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic | West Babylon, NY | Viper/Shark | n/a | Winner can earn a bonus for also winning the US Open WINNER: Jason Belmonte (1) |
Mar. 29 |
| Mar. 29-Apr. 5 | Lumber Liquidators 66th U.S. Open | North Brunswick, NJ | US Open | Grand Slam | Open field WINNER: Mike Scroggins (6) |
Apr. 5 |
| Apr. 23-26 | Dydo Japan Cup | Tokyo, Japan | Custom | n/a | Field included Japanese, Korean and American bowlers WINNER: Patrick Allen (13) |
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The following is a breakdown of the 58 bowlers who received a PBA exemption for most tournaments in the 2008-09 season:
(+) Rhino Page topped all non-exempt bowlers during the 2007-08 season. But because Page also won a title, this exemption went to the next-highest non-exempt bowler, Edward VanDaniker Jr..
This leaves six spots that can be earned each week through the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Qualifying Round (TQR), for a total starting field of 64 bowlers. If a bowler from any of the aforementioned categories does not take his or her spot in a given week, the next-place bowler beyond 6th place in the TQR will take the spot.
There are some exceptions to this breakdown. The PBA World Championship, Dick Weber Open and PBA Marathon Championship events are open to the entire PBA membership in 2008-09. The U.S. Open and USBC Masters events are open to the entire PBA membership plus qualifying USBC amateurs.
The following six bowlers received 2008-09 tour exemptions by finishing with the most points in their respective PBA Regions (the East Region points leader declined his exemption). This is the last year that points alone will qualify a Regional bowler for an exemption (see main article, Professional Bowlers Association).
In late May 2008, the PBA held the 2008 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials to determine the final seven bowlers who would attain exempt status for the 2008-09 season. At the Tour Trials, six-time PBA titlist Dave D'Entremont led the field with a 45-game pinfall of 10,051 (223.4 average) to regain the tour exemption he lost following the 2007-08 season. Below are the seven bowlers with the largest pin totals, who received exempt status for the 2008-09 season[7]:
The 2008-09 season used a combination of bracketed and stepladder finals, plus some newly-introduced finals formats. The four-player bracketed format was used four times during the season, a four-player stepladder format was used nine times, and a five-player stepladder format was used five times. In addition:
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