2016 PBA Tour season

2016 is the 57th season of the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. There were 26 singles title events, two doubles title events, and two team events on the 2016 schedule.

Tournament schedule and recaps

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. Taking place in Reno, Nevada for the second straight season, the event included four "animal" oil pattern events. 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 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, 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 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. Tommy Jones was the bonus winner with 89 points, surpassing E. J. Tackett 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 and Shawnee, Oklahoma, 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, plus a 40-foot U.S. Open-style pattern.

Season highlights

Young players dominated the major tournaments in 2016:

2015 PBA Rookie of the Year Jesper Svensson of Sweden won the PBA Fire Lake Tournament of Champions for his third title and first major. Svensson, who was just shy of his 21st birthday at the time, became the youngest player ever to win this tournament. The previous record-holder was Marshall Holman, who won the 1976 TOC at age 21.
One week after Svensson's historic feat, Anthony Simonsen won the USBC Masters to become the youngest player to win a PBA major of any kind. Mike Aulby had held that distinction for over 36 years, having won the 1979 PBA National Championship at age 19 years, 83 days. The victory was Simonsen's first singles title, and second title overall.
The PBA Players Championship, re-elevated to major status in 2016, was won by 24-year old Ontario native Graham Fach, who became the first bowler from Canada to win a PBA title.
23-year old François Lavoie, a Canadian native who bowled collegiately at Wichita State University, won the 63rd U.S. Open, and rolled a 300 game in the semifinal match. It was the 26th perfect game in a televised PBA Tour event, and the first ever to be rolled in the televised finals of the U.S. Open.
In the season's final major event on December 11, 24-year old E. J. Tackett won the PBA World Championship in Reno, NV. The victory was Tackett's first career major, his fifth title overall, and his fourth title of the 2016 season.

Additional highlights:

The GoBowling.com Dallas Strikers, a five-player team headed by player-manager Norm Duke, rolled a nationally televised Baker format 300 game in the semifinal round of the PBA League Elias Cup event. This is the first Baker format perfect game recorded in PBA history. Although the standard $10,000 bonus that is given for a televised 300 game by an individual did not apply, the PBA retroactively awarded the bonus to Duke and his teammates on June 30, 2016.

Awards for the 2016 season were as follows:

GEICO Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year: E. J. Tackett
Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year: François Lavoie
Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award: Tom Smallwood
Tony Reyes Community Service Award: Rhino Page
George Young High Average Award: Jesper Svensson

Tournament summary

Below is a schedule of events for the 2016 PBA Tour season. Major tournaments are in bold. Career PBA title numbers for winners are shown in parentheses.

Event	Airdate	City	Preliminary rounds	Final round	Oil pattern	Winner	Notes
Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship*	Jan 17 E	Las Vegas, NV & Reno, NV	Oct 20–21, 2015	Dec 18, 2015	Mark Roth	Anthony Simonsen, USA and Connor Pickford, USA	Open event.
DHC PBA Japan Invitational 2016	Jan 31 E2	Tokyo	Jan 12–16	Jan 17		Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela	Invitational event. $40,000 first prize.
51st PBA Fire Lake Tournament of Champions	Feb 7 E	Shawnee, OK	Feb 1–6	Live	TOC Custom	Jesper Svensson, Sweden	Invitational event. PBA major. $50,000 first prize.
USBC Masters	Feb 14 E	Indianapolis, IN	Feb 8–13	Live	USBC Custom	Anthony Simonsen, USA	Open event. PBA major. $50,000 first prize.
Barbasol PBA Players Championship	Feb 21 E	Columbus, OH	Feb 15–20	Live	Custom	Graham Fach, Canada	Open event. PBA major. $40,000 first prize.
H.H. Emir Cup	N/A	Doha, Qatar	Feb 24 – Mar 1	Mar 2		Danielle McEwan, USA	WBT and PBA title event. $20,000 first prize.
Kingdom of Bahrain International Bowling Championship	N/A	Sitra, Bahrain	Mar 3–8	Mar 9		Ahmed Al Awadhi, Bahrain	WBT and PBA title event. $25,000 first prize.
Brunswick Euro Challenge	N/A	Munich, Germany	Mar 13–19	Mar 20		Jesper Svensson, Sweden	WBT and PBA title event. €11,300 first prize.
PBA League Elias Cup	Semis: May 1 E Finals: May 8 E	Portland, ME	Mar 31 – Apr 2	Apr 3	Multiple	gobowling.com Dallas Strikers	Non-title team event. $60,000 top prize.+
bowlingball.com PBA Xtra Frame Maine Shootout	Apr 6 X	Portland, ME	Apr 4–5	Live		Ryan Ciminelli, USA	Open event. $10,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Storm Open	April 24 X	Carpentersville, IL	Apr 22–23	Live	Cheetah	E. J. Tackett, USA	Open event. $10,000 first prize.
Downums Waste Services PBA Xtra Frame Jonesboro Open	Jun 5 X	Jonesboro, AR	Jun 3–4	Live	Scorpion	Tommy Jones, USA	Open event. $15,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Southwest Open	Jun 26 X	Lubbock, TX	Jun 24–25	Live	Viper	Jakob Butturff, USA	Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles	Jul 31 X	Houston, TX	Jul 29–30	Live		Bill O'Neill, USA and Shannon O'Keefe, USA	Open event. $16,000 top prize.
World Bowling Tour Thailand	N/A	Bangkok, Thailand	Aug 6–11	Aug 12		Jesper Svensson, Sweden	WBT and PBA title event. ฿1,000,000 first prize
PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter's Pro Shop Classic	Aug 21 X	Middletown, DE	Aug 19–20	Live	WC	Michael Haugen Jr., USA	Open event. $15,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Wolf Open	Sep 21 C	Allen Park, MI	Sep 5	Sep 10	Wolf	Tom Daugherty, USA	Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Bear Open	Sep 28 C	Allen Park, MI	Sep 6	Sep 10	Bear	E. J. Tackett, USA	Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Badger Open	Oct 5 C	Allen Park, MI	Sep 7	Sep 10	Badger	Sean Rash, USA	Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Fall Swing Detroit Open	Oct 12 C	Allen Park, MI	Sep 5–8	Sep 11	Wolf, Bear and Badger ; top seed chose Bear for TV finals	Sean Rash, USA	Starting field includes top 18 in combined points from Wolf, Bear and Badger opens. $18,000 top prize.
PBA Fall King of the Swing	Oct 19 C	Allen Park, MI	Sep 5–8, 10–11	Sep 11	Badger and Wolf	E. J. Tackett, USA	Non-title event. Winners of Fall Swing events plus top qualifier among non-winners compete for $10,000.
PBA Xtra Frame Parkside Lanes Open	Oct 2 X	Aurora, IL	Sep 30 – Oct 1	Live	Multiple	Ryan Ciminelli, USA	Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Xtra Frame Las Vegas Open	Oct 30 X	Las Vegas, NV	Oct 28-29	Live		Jakob Butturff, USA	Open event. $10,000 top prize.
PBA Team Challenge	Nov 1 X	Las Vegas, NV	Oct 31	Live		'Merica Rooster Illusion: Marshall Kent, Chris Loschetter, Rhino Page, Ronnie Russell, E.J. Tackett	Team and PBA title event. $30,000 top prize.
U.S. Open	Nov 9 C	Las Vegas, NV	Nov 4–8	Live	U.S. Open Custom	François Lavoie, Canada	Open event. PBA major. $30,000 top prize.#
PBA Cheetah Championship	Dec 18 E	Reno, NV	Nov 29, Dec 6, 8	Dec 10	Cheetah	Mike Wolfe, USA	Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Chameleon Championship	Dec 24 E	Reno, NV	Nov 30, Dec 6, 8	Dec 10	Chameleon	Mitch Beasley, USA	Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Scorpion Championship	Dec 25 E	Reno, NV	Dec 1, 7, 8	Dec 10	Scorpion	Tommy Jones, USA	Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA Shark Championship	Dec 25 E	Reno, NV	Dec 2, 7, 8	Dec 10	Shark	François Lavoie, Canada	Open event. $20,000 first prize.
PBA World Championship	Dec 11 E	Reno, NV	Nov 29 – Dec 5	Live	World Championship Custom	E. J. Tackett, USA	Open event for WSOB entrants. PBA major. $60,000 top prize.
PBA-WBT Qatar Open	N/A	Doha, Qatar	Dec 10–15	Dec 16		Diana Zavjalova, Latvia	WBT and PBA title event. $40,000 top prize.

C: broadcast on CBS Sports Network
E: broadcast on ESPN
E2: broadcast on ESPN2
X: broadcast on the PBA's Xtra Frame webcast service
*Tournament finals were held in December 2015, but this counts as a 2016 season title. There was an earlier Mark Roth-Marshall Holman doubles tournament in February 2015 that counted as a 2015 title.
Accepted 8 pins handicap per game offered to female competitors by the tournament committee, and thus was not eligible to earn a PBA or WBT title.
Denotes amateur bowler; did not qualify for a PBA title.
+ The Dallas Strikers earned an additional $10,000 for rolling a perfect game in the semifinal round.
# François Lavoie earned an additional $10,000 for rolling a perfect game in the semifinal match.