The World Bowling Tour, a major professional tour, unites bowlers from selected major professional and amateur organizations through a series of events organized by World Bowling.
The World Bowling Tour's marquee event, the WTBA World Championships, attracts bowlers from over 50 countries. World Bowling Tour events include all the PBA Tour major tournaments. As a stepladder tournament, the season-ending World Bowling Tour Finals features the top three men, and top three women in the World Bowling Tour points standings.World Bowling Tour Sees Continued Growth
Tour Qualifications To participate in the World Bowling Tour, bowlers must be a member of one of the federations of the World Tenpin Bowling Association. The federations of the WTBA include:
Professional Bowlers Association, which include the PBA Tour, PBA50, and PBA international; Professional Women's Bowling Association. Thai Tenpin Bowling Association; Korea Professional Bowlers Association; Japan Professional Bowling Association;
The winner of a WBT tournament can also earn credit for a PBA Tour title, as long as the bowler registered for the tournament beforehand as a professional.PBA, World Tenpin Bowling Association Unveil International Tour International bowlers, bowlers who do not reside in the United States, can also join the PBA under its PBA International program. If a PBA International member wins a WBT tournament, he must upgrade to full membership of the PBA.Become a PBA Member
WBT Tournaments The entry fee for a WBT tournament is US$5,000. Winners of World Bowling Tour events also qualify for the PBA Tournament of Champions.
2019 Schedule Tournaments listed in bold are considered majors by the World Bowling Tour. Date Event Location Tier March 2–8, 2019 H.H. Emir Cup Doha, Qatar Tier 2 March 11–21, 2019 PBA World Series of Bowling Detroit, MI Tier 1 March 26 - April 4, 2019 USBC Masters Las Vegas, NV Tier 1 May 15–21, 2019 USBC Queens Wichita, KS Tier 1 - Women Only June 16–23, 2019 US Women's Open Las Vegas, NV Tier 1 - Women Only July 25–28, 2019 Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Houston, TX Tier 2 August 16–18, 2019 New Mexico Open Rio Rancho, NM Tier 3 August 22–30, 2019 World Women's Championships Las Vegas, NV Tier 2 - Women Only August 24–31, 2019 FloBowling PBA Summer Swing Aurora, IL Tier 2 August 24 - September 8, 2019 Lucky Larsen Masters Helsingborg, Sweden Tier 2 September (TBD), 2019 Thailand Open Bangkok, Thailand Tier 2 October 23–30, 2019 U.S Open Mooresville, NC Tier 1 October 31 - November 6, 2019 Kuwait Open Kuwait City, Kuwait Tier 2
Major tournaments In order for a tournament to qualify as a major, it must offer a minimum prize fund of US$200,000. The tournaments that are recognized as majors by the World Bowling Tour include:
International Bowling Championship supported by DHC (JBC) USBC Masters (USBC) United States Open (USBC) PBA World Championship (PBA Tour) PBA Tournament of Champions (PBA Tour) United States Women's Open (USBC) WTBA World Championships (WTBA)
World Bowling scoring The World Bowling scoring system, described as "current frame scoring," is used during the stepladder finals of the World Bowling Tour Finals. Current frame scoring counts 30 pins for each strike (regardless of previous shot), 10 pins for each spare (bonus pins that are added match the first roll of the next frame), and basic pin count for open frames. The tenth frame follows the same format as the first nine frames. That means no bonus, or fill shots, are given. The maximum score is still 300, achieved with ten rather than twelve, consecutive strikes. World Bowling scoring is intended to be easier to understand than traditional scoring for fans or bowlers that are new to the sport. The television networks also advertised current frame scoring to increase struggling television ratings.
Match play scoring Match play scoring is a 12-frame system that made its first national appearance in bowling at the 2014 World Bowling Tour finals. This system scores by counting frames won rather than counting total pinfall. It resembles match play scoring in golf where players go even, plus one, or minus one as the match progresses. A frame is won if a bowler has a higher pinfall on the first roll of the frame than their opponent. The bowler that wins the most frames will win the match.
Previous World Bowling Tour Champions Year Male Winner Male Runner-Up Female Winner Female Runner-Up 2011 Mika Koivuniemi Sean Rash Cathy Dorin-Ballard Sandra Andersson 2012 Chris Barnes2012 Final Men Mika Koivuniemi Missy Parkin 2012 Final Women Liz Johnson 2013 Sean Rash Mike Fagan Kelly Kulick Missy Parkin 2014 Mika Koivuniemi2014 Final Men Sean Rash Kelly Kulick2014 Final Women Liz Johnson 2015 Dom Barrett2015 Final Men Mike Fagan Danielle McEwan2015 Final Women Kelly Kulick 2016 Anthony Simonsen Martin Larsen Danielle McEwan Liz Johnson 2017 Jason Belmonte2017 Final Men Marshall Kent Diana Zavjalova 2017 Final Women Danielle McEwan 2019 E. J. Tackett Anthony Simonsen Liz Johnson Danielle McEwan
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