PBA Tour Set for the New 2007 - 2008 Season

The Professional Bowlers Association will begin its 49th tour season September 18-23 with the Dydo Japan Cup. The PBA Tour has been going to Japan since 1985. This even has been the first event on tour every season since 2003-2004 with the lone exception of 2005-2006. The tour season also started in Japan in 2002-2003 with an event called Dream Bowl. The Japan Cup was held immediately after this one time event.

After the bowlers come back from Japan, they will take one month off before getting the tour started in earnest with the USBC Masters held in Wauwatosa (Milwaukee area), Wisconsin. The finals of this prestigious event will be held at Miller Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. This will be the second time that the finals of this event will be held in the baseball stadium. All of the professional bowlers on tour compete in the event which carries along with the honor of being named Masters champion, a three season exemption on the PBA Tour. Last season, Doug Kent won the Masters on his way to being named PBA Player of the Year.

The Masters is the first of twenty events on the main part of the PBA Tour schedule. Some changes have been thrown in this year as the World Championship and Tournament of Champions are no longer held at the end of the schedule. The format of the Tournament of Champions has also changed.

After the Masters, there are ten regular events that offer one year exemptions to the event champions. Then the changes occur. January will see the return of a doubles event to the tour schedule. The last time a doubles event was held on the PBA National Tour was 2001-2002. In all honesty, this is something brand new to the exempt tour so I am not sure if the winners will receive and exemption for next season or not. I would believe that they would.

Then, comes the newly modified Tournament of Champions. The PBA Tour has decided to expand the field. Instead of the previous limitations on the field to 32 bowlers (2 regional champions, 2 senior tour champions and the most recent 28 regular tour champions), this year's TOC will feature up to 52 bowlers. The field will include the most recent 36 champions, two senior major events champions (Tom Baker won both senior qualifying events so this year the most recent 37 champions are entered), two regional major events champions. After these spots, the remainder of the 52 player field will be past TOC champions in order of their most recent TOC title. If there are still not 52 bowlers, PBA Hall of Famers will be given spots, based on their most recent tour title. This means that some greats of the past are now eligible to compete in the TOC. The rule changes opens the door to Mike Aulby, Del Ballard Jr, Johnny Petraglia, Wayne Webb, Marshall Holman, Mark Williams and a few others in the past TOC champion category. Past Hall of Famers who may be able to bowl include Mark Roth, Dave Husted, Ernie Schlegel and Dave Soutar. Other players now eligible who are not currently exempt are Randy Pedersen, Brian Voss, Bryan Goebel and Lonnie Waliczek.

After the TOC, the tour begins to wind down with a couple regular events before the World Championship. This is followed up by a few more "regular" events before the tour season closes with the US Open.

Also new to the tour this year is the return of a women's tour. The women's "mini tour" will comprise of four stops held in conjunction with regular PBA tour stops. The women will go through a tour trial similar to the men held during the Women's US Open. This event was held in mid August so the sixteen women are already determined. The four stops will be at Taylor, MI, Cheektowaga, NY, Merrillville, IN, and Wyoming, MI. These are the first four regular stops on the PBA Tour after the Masters so we will find out quickly how successful this new addition will be. A list of the sixteen women bowlers can be found on the PBA website.

This year's tour appears to be an exciting one, albeit minus the question of when will Walter Ray Williams, Jr., pass Earl Anthony for the all time tour titles lead. This year's big question is will the young stars dominate the "old guard"? Last year, Doug Kent won two major titles (Masters and World Championship), Pete Weber won the US Open (joining his late father as the only four time winners of the event) for the old stars while Tommy Jones won the Tournament of Champions to save face for the young stars.