The 2018 PBA Tour season, the 59th season of play of the U.S. Professional Bowlers Association's (PBA) ten-pin bowling tour, began on January 26, 2018. The season included 21 singles title events, two doubles title events, and a non-title team event (PBA League). The 2018 season was used to mark the PBA's 60th year of operations, which included a 148-player PBA 60th Anniversary Classic in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, and the unveiling of the Tour's top 60 moments.

Tournament schedule

The

PBA Tournament of Champions The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) Ten-pin bowling, bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qu ...

and the PBA Players Championship majors were held in February. The season's third major, the

USBC Masters The USBC Masters is a championship ten-pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 200 ...

, took place in April, while the U.S. Open was contested in late October. The PBA Tour Finals, first contested in 2017, returned for 2018, featuring the top eight money leaders from the start of 2016 through the 2018 Maine Shootout (April 18). It was held in

Allen Park, MI Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 28,638. Ford Motor Company is an integral part of the community. Many of the company's offices and facilities lie within the city limit ...

on May 4-6. On March 21, 2018, Fox Sports announced that it had acquired the television rights for the PBA Tour, replacing ESPN, with 26 broadcasts on Fox Sports 1 and four on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

beginning in 2019. Fox aired an additional PBA Clash event on December 23, 2018, which served as Fox's debut bowling broadcast and as a prelude for the 2019 season. This broadcast drew a live TV audience of 1.768 million viewers, the highest audience for a bowling broadcast on any network since 2005. Due to the new agreement, the World Series of Bowling and

PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateurs to enter.) ...

were postponed from the 2018 season and moved to March 2019, in order to have them be part of Fox's 2019 schedule. They were replaced on the schedule with a reinstated PBA Fall Swing, held in the Tulsa suburb of Owasso, Oklahoma. This event consisted of two standalone title events (Wolf Open and Bear Open), with these events serving as initial qualifying for the PBA Tulsa Open.

Season awards

The PBA announced its 2018 season awards on November 20. *

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and bar ...

PBA Player of the Year: Andrew Anderson * Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year:

Kamron Doyle Kamron Doyle (born January 13, 1998) is an American ten-pin bowler from Brentwood, Tennessee. Amateur accomplishments Doyle was at one time the youngest person in USBC history to record a sanctioned 800 series — a three-game set with scores ad ...

* Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award:

Tom Smallwood Thomas Smallwood (born November 4, 1977) is a professional ten-pin bowler competing on the PBA Tour. In 2009, the right-hander won his first PBA Tour title and first major in the PBA World Championship, defeating 2008–09 PBA Player of the Year ...

* Tony Reyes Community Service Award: Chris Barnes

Tournament summary

Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parenthesis (#). In late 2017, the PBA released a list of 16 oil patterns that would debut with the 2017 PBA World Series of Bowling and continue into 2018. The patterns now include both a name and number, with the number representing the oil length (in feet). There are nine "Animal" oil patterns: Cheetah 33, Wolf 33, Viper 36, Chameleon 39, Bear 39, Scorpion 42, Shark 45, Dragon 45, and Badger 52. (The Badger 52 pattern will not be used in 2018.) There are also seven "Legends" patterns:

Johnny Petraglia John Petraglia Sr. (born March 3, 1947) is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the P ...

36, Don Carter 39, Don Johnson 40, Earl Anthony 42,

Mark Roth Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

42, Carmen Salvino 44, and Dick Weber 45. *C: broadcast on CBS Sports Network *E: broadcast on ESPN *F: broadcast on

*X: broadcast on the PBA's Xtra Frame webcast service *NQ: World Bowling Tour rules on

handicapping Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which th ...

allowed female competitors eight handicap pins per game. As a result, she did not qualify for a PBA or WBT title. A subsequent rule change has since eliminated the handicapping rule.

References

External links

PBA 2018 Season SchedulePBA 2018 ESPN TV Schedule
{{DEFAULTSORT:PBA Bowling Tour: 2018 season Professional Bowlers Association seasons 2018 in bowling