PWBA Bowling Tour: 2018 season

The 2018 Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour retains a similar schedule to the 2017 season, with nine standard tournaments and four majors, but includes two changes. First, the final round of each standard tournament will now be contested in the bowling center where the qualifying rounds occurred. (In the three previous seasons, these final rounds took place in the center where the next major tournament came up on the schedule.) Second, the final three standard events of the year will feature an “Elite Field” of 24 bowlers, based on season-to-date points list, that are automatically placed into the top 32 for match play. The remaining players will bowl a qualifying round for the other eight spots in match play.[1]

PWBA Bowling Tour: 2018 season
LeagueProfessional Women's Bowlers Association
SportTen-pin bowling
DurationApril 26 – September 4
Season MVPShannon O'Keefe
PWBA Tour seasons

The final rounds of the first six standard tournaments will air live on a PBA Xtra Frame Webcast. CBS Sports Network will air the final round of the three Elite Field standard tournaments and all major tournaments live.[2]

The season's final event and final major, the PWBA Tour Championship, is an invitational featuring a starting field of only 16 bowlers. Tournament winners from the current season gain automatic entry into the starting field, with the remaining spots given to bowlers with the highest 2018 point totals among non-winners. The championship is set up in a bracketed elimination format, with players seeded 1-16 based on YTD points. The #5 through #16 seeds compete in Round 1, with the six winners joining the #3 and #4 seeds in the eight-player second round. The four winners from Round 2 then compete in Round 3, with the two survivors of those matches joining the #1 and #2 seeds in the four-player televised finals. All rounds leading up to the single-elimination televised finals are best three-of-five match play.[3]

An additional PWBA title was available at the Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles tournament, a cross-over event with the PBA Tour held on July 26-29 in Houston, Texas.

Season awards and statistics

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Player awards

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2018 points leaders

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1. Shannon O'Keefe (130,050)
2. Danielle McEwan (116,387.5)
3. Stefanie Johnson (102,115)

2018 average leaders

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1. Erin McCarthy (217.46)
2. Jordan Richard (217.43)
3. Danielle McEwan (216.41)

2018 final round appearances

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1. Shannon O'Keefe (7)
2. Danielle McEwan (6)
3. Jordan Richard (5)

Tournament summary

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Below is a list of events scheduled for the 2018 PWBA Tour season.[5] Major tournaments are in bold. Career PWBA title numbers for winners are shown in parentheses (#).

Event Airdate City Preliminary rounds Final round Winner Notes
PWBA Las Vegas Open Apr 28 X Las Vegas, NV Apr 26–27 Live Shayna Ng, Singapore (1) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Sonoma County Open May 5 X Rohnert Park, CA May 3–4 Live Shannon O'Keefe, USA (7) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Fountain Valley Open May 12 X Fountain Valley, CA May 10–11 Live Danielle McEwan, USA (4) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
USBC Queens May 22 C Reno, NV May 17–21 Live Shannon O'Keefe, USA (8) Open event, PWBA major. $20,000 top prize.
PWBA East Hartford Open Jun 2 X East Hartford, CT May 31–Jun 1 Live Josie Barnes, USA (2) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Louisville Open Jun 9 X Louisville, KY Jun 7–8 Live Erin McCarthy, USA (1) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Greater Harrisburg Open Jun 16 X Mechanicsburg, PA Jun 14–15 Live Jordan Richard, USA (1) Open event. $10,000 top prize.
U.S. Women's Open Jun 30 C Orlando, FL Jun 23–29 Live Liz Kuhlkin, USA (2) Open event, PWBA major. $20,000 top prize.
Storm Xtra Frame PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles Jul 29 X Houston, TX Jul 26–28 Live Liz Johnson, USA (23) & E. J. Tackett, USA Open PBA and PWBA title event. $16,000 top prize.
PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open Aug 4 C Seminole, FL Aug 2–3 Live Diana Zavjalova, Latvia (3) Elite field event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Twin Cities Open Aug 11 C Eagan, MN Aug 9–10 Live Rocio Restrepo, Colombia (4) Elite field event. $10,000 top prize.
PWBA Columbus Open Aug 18 C Columbus, OH Aug 16–17 Live Liz Johnson, USA (24) Elite field event. $10,000 top prize.
QubicaAMF PWBA Players Championship Aug 25 C Plano, TX Aug 22–24 Live Stefanie Johnson, USA (3) Open members-only event, PWBA major. $20,000 top prize.
PWBA Tour Championship Sep 19 C Richmond, VA Sep 16–18 Live Maria Jose Rodríguez, Colombia (1) Invitational event, PWBA major. $20,000 top prize.

References

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  1. ^ "Expanded Live TV Coverage, Finals in Host Centers Highlight 2018 PWBA schedule". PWBA.com. October 24, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  2. ^ "CBS Sports Network and USBC Reach Two-Year Deal to Televise Major Bowling Events". PWBA.com. October 25, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  3. ^ "BOOMERSHINE GETS FINAL SPOT IN PWBA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP". PWBA.com. August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  4. ^ "O'Keefe, Richard Highlight 2018 PWBA Tour Season". PWBA.com. September 27, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  5. ^ "2018 PWBA Schedule". PWBA.com. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
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PWBA.com, home of the Professional Women' Bowling Association