by Jason Thomas

The Professional Bowlers Association has created a new PBA Women’s Regional Tour program that will begin in July and culminate at the PBA World Series of Bowling VI in Las Vegas this fall, Commissioner Tom Clark announced today.

The PBA Women’s Regional Tour will provide women bowlers with opportunities to compete against other women in the same kind of affordable, close-to-home tournament structure that has given thousands of male bowlers an opportunity to develop their skills since the PBA introduced its regional program in 1969.

“Women bowlers have been without a formal tournament structure for too long,” Clark said. “The PBA took steps to address that problem when we introduced the PBA Women’s Series in 2007. The program was suspended after three seasons, but we have always wanted to provide women with a place to compete. This new program is a step in that direction. Our sincere hope is that it will evolve into something more substantial in the future.”

The PBA has allowed women to bowl with and against their male counterparts since 2004, and a number of women bowl in PBA Tour, PBA Regional and PBA50 events each year. Eight women have won PBA Regional Tour titles. Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., made history when she won the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions.

Under the new program, six PBA Regional programs (East, South, Central, Midwest, Southwest and West/Northwest combined) will each conduct three events that will be designated as PBAW competition points events (see schedule below). Women will bowl with and against their male counterparts, but there will be specific prizes and benefits for women only, similar to the cashing system for “super seniors” who bowl in PBA50 tournaments. The tournaments will not diminish PBA Regional prize funds in any way, but at least one woman will cash for $250 in each tournament if a woman doesn’t cash in the regular prize list. Additional cash prizes will be paid based upon the number of women entered.

In each designated event, competition points will be earned based upon how the women finish. The leader in competition points in each of the six programs will receive a paid entry into PBA World Series of Bowling VI at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas Oct. 24-Nov. 2, and the six regional qualifiers will compete in a special six-game, round robin Champion’s Challenge Match Play round on Oct. 24. The top two women from the match play round will compete for the PBA Women’s Regional Finals title.

Women’s entry fees for regional events will be the same as for men: $220 for members or $285 for non-members. Non-members are welcome for all PBAW events, but only PBA members will earn points and be eligible for the paid WSOB entries.

Complete details about all PBA Regional tournaments are available on pba.com under the Schedule menu (click on Regional Tour and then the appropriate region link to find details about each tournament).

July 25-27 – Lebanon, Pa., Aug. 15-17 – Liverpool, N.Y., Aug. 22-24 – Deptford, N.J.

July 11-13 – Spring Hill, Fla., Aug. 15-17 – Gloucester, Va., Oct. 17-19 – Franklin, Va.

July 18-20 – Fishers, Ind., Sept. 19-21 – Troy, Ohio, Oct. 3-5 – Muskegon, Mich.

July 19-20 – St. Charles, Mo., Sept. 20-21 – Dubuque, Iowa, Oct. 3-5 – Belton, Mo.

Aug. 8-10 – Killeen, Texas, Aug. 22-24 – Greenville, Texas, Sept. 26-28 – Tomball, Texas

Aug. 22-24 – Citrus Heights, Calif., Sept. 26-28 – Daly City, Calif., Oct. 10-12 – Tuolumne, Calif.