PBA Bowling Tour: 2016 season
| PBA Bowling Tour: 2016 Season | |
|---|---|
| League | Professional Bowlers Association |
| Sport | Ten-pin bowling |
| Duration | January 12 – December 16 |
| PBA Tour | |
| Season MVP | E. J. Tackett |
2016 is the 57th season of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. There were 26 singles title events, two doubles title events, and two team events on the 2016 schedule.
For the eighth year in a row, the PBA held multiple fall North American events in one location, at the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII (WSOB VIII). Taking place in Reno, Nevada for the second straight season, the event included four "animal" oil pattern events (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark). While each provide individual PBA titles, the four pattern tournaments in WSOB VIII also served as initial qualifying for the PBA World Championship. The top 25% of players in total pinfall over the 32 games of qualifying (8 games per pattern tournament) moved on to the PBA World Championship cashers round, and bowled an additional six games of qualifying on the PBA World Championship oil pattern to determine the top 24. Three additional match play rounds of eight games each determined the field for the televised finals. The WSOB field announced on November 16 included participants from a record 22 countries.
Several international tour stops, which are part of the World Bowling Tour (WBT), were again part of the PBA schedule. As in 2015, a PBA title was awarded for any qualifying WBT tournaments won by a PBA member. For the second straight season, some tournaments formerly consigned as PBA Regional Tour stops now qualified the winner to earn a PBA title in addition to a minimum $10,000 top prize for each event. These nine tour stops were designated as "Xtra Frame" tournaments, because they are broadcast exclusively (start-to-finish) on the PBA's Xtra Frame webcast service. For 2016, the Xtra Frame series had a rolling points list, with a $10,000 bonus given to the player with the most points after all eight Xtra Frame singles events were completed. (Note: The Xtra Frame series was shortened to seven singles events when the PBA Xtra Frame Tamarac Classic in Florida was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew.) Tommy Jones was the bonus winner with 89 points, surpassing E. J. Tackett (84 points) in the final Xtra Frame event of the season.
After three seasons, the PBA dropped the "Summer Swing" series that had taken place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2013) and Shawnee, Oklahoma (2014–15), in favor of a Fall Swing series that took place September 5–11 in Allen Park, Michigan. Oil patterns and event structure, however, were the same as the previous Summer Swing series. The Swing features the shortest and longest oil patterns used in any PBA tournament (32-foot "Wolf" and 52-foot "Badger"), plus a 40-foot U.S. Open-style pattern ("Bear").
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