The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) organizes and oversees a series of annual tournaments for the top competitive women

ten-pin Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...

bowlers. The series is often referred to as the "women's tour" of bowling. The PWBA was formed in 1960 but ceased operations in 2003. The PWBA Tour was re-launched in 2015 by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA) with a three-year funding commitment. In addition, through a new partnership with the

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Member ...

(PBA), the PBA began conducting PWBA Regional (women-only) events and PWBA members are now allowed to bowl all PBA events.

History

The PWBA was formed in 1960 by a group of professional women bowlers. After the organization struggled, some of the players left the PWBA in 1974 to form the Ladies' Professional Bowlers Association (LPBA). The two merged again in 1978, forming the

Women's Professional Bowlers Association A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

(WPBA). When the WPBA dissolved in 1981, bowling center proprietor John Summer of Rockford, Illinois, started the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour (LPBT), a private company, to continue the women's tour. The LPBT adopted the PWBA name and a new logo in 1998. In the fall of 2003, the PWBA Tour ceased operations before the completion of its 2003 season, primarily due to dwindling interest in sponsoring women's bowling. The Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) then acquired the rights and assets of the PWBA. This gave the WIBC control of the PWBA name, trademark, logo, website domain (pwba.com), as well as the PWBA's historical records. The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) acquired the PWBA when the WIBC merged with the American Bowling Congress (ABC), Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) and USA Bowling in 2005. Without a PWBA Tour, women either retired from professional bowling, competed in the remaining women-only tournaments in the United States, or moved on to other bowling tournaments outside of the United States. Wendy Macpherson started competing in the

Japan Professional Bowling Association The (JPBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in Japan. The organization was founded by , and was established on January 27, 1967. The JPBA sanctions tournaments and other functions related to professiona ...

(JPBA) in 2004, going on to earn ten JPBA titles. In 2007, the

Japan Bowling Congress (JBC) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of ten-pin bowling in Japan. The JBC sanctions tournaments and other functions related to amateur bowling for both men and women. The current president of the JBC is Tsutomu Takebe. The JBC was est ...

(JBC) started the DHC Cup Girls Bowling International - at the time the third largest women's tournament in the world in prize money, just behind the U.S. Women's Open and the USBC Queens. Some women chose to bowl in professional men's tournaments. The

(PBA) opened its membership to women in April 2004. PWBA members such as Kim Adler, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Liz Johnson, and

Kelly Kulick Kelly Kulick (born March 16, 1977) is an American professional bowler and sportscaster. She has won ten professional women's bowling titles (six of them majors), one PBA Tour title (a major) and a professional mixed doubles title. Kulick is the ...

became members of the PBA, with Kulick becoming the first female to earn an exemption on the PBA Tour ( 2005–06 season). Women have had limited success in PBA events. Missy Parkin was the first female PBA member and now holds three PBA Regional Titles. Johnson was the first woman to make a televised appearance on the PBA Tour, finishing runner-up to Tommy Jones at the 2005 PBA Banquet Open. Kulick became the first woman to win a national PBA tournament major with her defeat of Chris Barnes in the 2010 Tournament of Champions. Johnson became the second woman to win a national PBA tournament with her defeat of Anthony Pepe in the PBA Chameleon Championship at the 2017 World Series of Bowling. The USBC sponsored the PBA Women's Series starting with the 2007–08 season, allowing women PBA members to compete in a small number of events without their male counterparts. The final head-to-head match for that week's women's tournament would air in the same telecast as the PBA men's final round. The PBA Women's Series was discontinued after the 2009–10 season. The PBA created the PBA Women's Regional Tour program in 2014, in which women bowl with and against their male counterparts, but there are specific prizes and benefits for women only.

In the media before 2015

Many PWBA events were nationally televised on the TVS Television Network (as the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour) under a five year contract in the 1980s. When TVS could not maintain payments, it worked with Tom Ficara of the Cable Sports Network to continue coverage. After that agreement expired, Ficara acquired the TVS Network but did not renew the LPBT deal. LPBT final rounds were then televised on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

from the late 1980s up until 2003, when the association folded. From 2004-2006, the WIBC Queens event (renamed USBC Queens in 2005) was the only scheduled event for female bowlers that received TV coverage. For the autumn of 2007, the USBC acquired rights to the U.S. Women's Open. The event was televised for five Sundays on ESPN, with the action being called by PBA legends Nelson Burton Jr. and

Marshall Holman Marshall Holman (born September 29, 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and retired professional ten-pin bowler. He was known for his flamboyant, fiery demeanor and his success on the PBA Tour from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s. He i ...

. This event also served as the qualifier for the PBA Women's Series, a special four-stop mini-tour for the top 16 females. The finals for the mini-tour events were televised along with the regular PBA broadcasts for four Sundays on ESPN in November–December, 2007. The U.S. Women's Open returned for five weeks in September–October, 2008. The PBA Women's Series was expanded to eight events in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons but was then discontinued.

Season-by-season breakdown

2015 PWBA rebirth

The PWBA Tour returned from a 12-year hiatus in 2015, thanks to a three-year funding commitment from the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA). The 2015 tour had ten stops (seven standard tournaments and three majors), running from May 13 to September 13.

2016 season

The PWBA Tour expanded to 13 events in 2016, with one additional major (GoBowling.com PWBA Players Championship).

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known a ...

aired the final round of all PWBA Tour events this season on a tape-delay basis, except for majors which aired the final round live.

2017 season

The 2017 PWBA Tour retains the format of 2016, with nine standard tournaments and four majors.

aired the final round of all PWBA Tour events this season on a tape-delay basis, except for majors which aired the final round live or same-day delay.

2018 season

Although the three-year funding commitment from the USBC and BPAA ended with the 2017 season, the PWBA announced in 2017 a 2018 season with two enhancements. The final three standard events are replaced with "elite format" events in which the top 24 players on the 2018 PWBA points list after eight events will earn automatic spots, and the remaining eight spots will be filled through an on-site eight-game qualifier each week, for a total field of 32 players. More significantly, the finals of each of the 13 events will take place in the same center where the event's other play took place, with the finals of the standard format events

live-streamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

, and the finals of the elite format events and majors televised live on

2019 season

The 2019 season continued the enhancements started in 2018 and added one event, for a total of 14 events.

2021 season

The 2020 PWBA Tour season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The 2021 PWBA Tour season features 20 title events (the most since 2001), plus a non-title made-for-TV event hosted by the

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional profess ...

called King of the Lanes: Empress Edition.

Notable members of the PWBA Tour

* Donna Adamek * Kim Adler * Josie Barnes (Ernest) * Lynda Barnes (Norry) * Leanne Barrette *Lisa Bishop *Alayne Blomenberg *Cindy Coburn-Carroll *Stephanie Chiera *

Patty Costello Patty Costello (May 8, 1947, Washington, D.C. – April 16, 2009, Scranton, Pennsylvania) was an American left-handed professional ten-pin bowler and former member of the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA). She was one of the best fem ...

*Cheryl Daniels *Dede Davidson *Marianne Dirupo * Carolyn Dorin-Ballard *Cathy Dorin-Lizzi *Anne Marie Duggan *Helen Duval *Jeri Edwards *Karen Ellingsworth * Michelle Feldman *Rene Fleming *Kendra Gaines *Julie Gardner *Shirley Garms *Carol Gianotti *Nikki Gianulias *Tennelle Grijalva-Milligan *

Clara Guerrero Clara Juliana Guerrero Londoño (born April 22, 1982, in Armenia, Colombia) is a right-handed Colombian ten-pin bowler who has won Colombian championships and multiple international championships. She has been a member of Team Colombia for twent ...

* Liz Johnson *Tish Johnson *Cara Honeychurch *Shirley Hintz *

*Karen Krejcha * Wendy Macpherson *

Danielle McEwan Danielle McEwan (born September 1, 1991) is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Stony Point, New York. She currently competes on the PWBA Tour and in some events on the PBA Tour. She has been a member of Junior Team USA, and is current ...

*Dana Miller-Mackie *Debbie McMullen *Patricia Lucci Mercatanti *Betty Morris *Michelle Mullen *Jeanne (Maiden) Naccarato *Sue Neidig *Lori Nichols *Carol Norman *Virginia Norton *

Shannon O'Keefe Shannon O'Keefe (née Rondeau, born January 27, 1979) is an American professional bowler and bowling coach now living in Shiloh, Illinois, who has competed in the United States and internationally. She is an 18-time member of Team USA (2005– ...

*Missy Parkin (Bellinder) *

Shannon Pluhowsky Shannon Pluhowsky is an American left-handed ten-pin bowler who competes in the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) and internationally. Pluhowsky is a 21-time member of Team USA (2001–2021), and a former four-time member of Juni ...

*Sandy Postma *Stacy Rider *Jan Schmidt *Robin Romeo *Tori Romeo *Jackie Sellers *Sandra Jo Shiery *Aleta Sill *Michelle Silver * Linda Kelly *Judy Soutar *Diana Teeters *Kim Terrell-Kearney *Tammy Turner *Lisa Wagner *Leila Wagner *

Stephanie Zavala Stephanie Zavala (born May 29, 1996) is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler from Downey, California, known for winning the 2022 PWBA Tour Championship. She bowls professionally on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (P ...

References

External links

Official website of the Professional Women's Bowling AssociationOfficial website of the Professional Bowlers AssociationWomen's professional bowling champions and awards 1949-present
{{Ten pin bowling Bowling organizations