PBA Bowling Tour: 2008–09 season

This is a recap of the 2008-09 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour.

Season Highlights

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.

First Half Highlights

• Norm Duke won the season-opening PBA World Championship in Wichita, KS. The major title earned Duke the distinction of being the only PBA bowler in history to win three consecutive majors. (He won the Denny's PBA World Championship and the 65th U.S. Open at the end of the 2007-08 season.)

• Walter Ray Williams Jr. extended his all-time titles lead, winning his 45th at the Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship. The victory extended his streak of seasons winning at least one title to 16, also a PBA record.

• Brad Angelo, thought by many to be the best bowler on tour without a title, ended six years of frustration with his first title at the Pepsi Viper Championship. He had been in 13 previous TV finals without winning.

• Wes Malott made the TV finals in four of the first eight events, but came away with only one title (Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship).

Second Half Highlights

• Wes Malott continued his dominance in the second half, making four more TV finals (eight total in 2008-09), and picking up his second and third titles of the season (Bayer Earl Anthony Medford Classic and Etonic Marathon Open).

• Patrick Allen made the TV finals in the first three singles events of the half, winning titles in two of the appearances. The second title was a major at the H&R Block Tournament of Champions, where he defeated friend and Tour roommate Rhino Page in the final match, 267-263. The victory also snapped Norm Duke's string of three consecutive major titles.

• In the first PBA mixed doubles tournament since 1998,^[4] Liz Johnson and Norm Duke defeated Jennifer Petrick and Steve Harman, 274-180, to claim the title in the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship.

• John Nolen, winner of the Regional Players Invitational (RPI) tournament in December, 2008 but otherwise a relative unknown, won the third major of the season at the USBC Masters.

• 2007-08 Player of the Year Chris Barnes won back-to-back titles for the first time in his career, capturing both the Don Johnson Buckeye State Eliminator Championship and the Go RVing Match Play Championship.

• Mike Scroggins won his second career major title at the season-ending Lumber Liquidators 66th U.S. Open, defeating top seed Norm Duke in the final. Duke was aiming to become just the fifth bowler in history to repeat as U.S. Open champion, and would have surpassed Wes Malott in Player of the Year points had he won.

Awards and Leaders

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

Tournament Schedule and Recap

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)	PBA.com Xtra Frame only

Exemptions for 2008-09

The following is a breakdown of the 58 bowlers who received a PBA exemption for most tournaments in the 2008-09 season:

• 40 - Current Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour (previous season champions and 2007-08 point leaders among non-champions)
• 6 - Point leaders from PBA regions
• 7 - 2008 Lake County Indiana Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials
• 1 - Non-exempt Points Leader from the 2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour (+)
• 4 - Deferred Exemptions from the 2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour

(+) 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.

Newly Exempt Bowlers for 2008-09

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).

• Ken Abner (Central Region)
• Nathan Bohr (Southwest Region)
• Andrew Cain (West Region)
• Chester Rogers Jr. (Northwest Region)
• Jason Sterner (South Region)
• David Traber (Midwest Region)

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]:

• Dave D'Entremont
• Craig Tuholski
• Chad Kloss
• Joe Bailey
• Jason Lundquist
• Randy Weiss
• Terrance Reeves

2008-09 Finals Formats

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:

• The Don Johnson Buckeye State Classic (March 8) featured an "Eliminator" format. In the opening match, the top four bowlers from match play competed with the low bowler being eliminated. In the next match, the low bowler was again be eliminated from the remaining three. The final match was standard: two bowlers faced each other, with the winner crowned champion.
• Inspired by NCAA Basketball's "March Madness," the PBA Match Play Championship (March 22) started by ranking the Top 64 bowlers in points through this point of the season. The first round paired the 1st-ranked bowler against the 64th-ranked, 2nd-ranked versus 63rd-ranked, and so on in single-game match play to cut the field to 32. Using the same seedings, the field was cut from 32 to 16, from 16 to 8, from 8 to 4, and from 4 to 2. Only two bowlers remained for the televised final. These two bowled three games each, with total pinfall deciding the champion.^[8]

References

1. ^ "PBA Announces New Title Sponsor." Article at www.pba.com, 9/23/08.
2. ^ "Shafer continues to make mark on PBA Tour." Article at www.stargazette.com, October 9, 2008.
3. ^ "Malott Continues Hot Streak at DYDO Japan Cup 2009." Article at www.pba.com, April 24, 2009.
4. ^ "Johnson, Duke Nearly Perfect in Winning PBA Mixed Doubles Title." Article at www.pba.com, February 1, 2009.
5. ^ http://www.pba.com/players/singlebio03.asp?ID=8642
6. ^ [1]
7. ^ "Super Seven," news article at www.pba.com
8. ^ "New formats for new era." Article at www.pba.com, August 4, 2008.