PBA World Series of Bowling

The PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB) is an annual multi-tournament ten-pin bowling event held by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) in North America.

Formation
The inaugural World Series of Bowling event was held by the PBA at the start of the 2009–10 PBA Tour season (August 2 through September 6, 2009), and took place in the Detroit, Michigan suburbs of Allen Park and Taylor. Part of the reason for developing the World Series, given the U.S. economic recession at the time, was to consolidate multiple tournaments into one location to save on travel and broadcast crew costs. The World Series included five “animal pattern” tournaments (Cheetah, Viper, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark), each named for a custom lane-oiling pattern. All of the animal pattern tournaments took place in Allen Park's Thunderbowl Lanes. A stand-alone tournament at nearby Taylor Lanes, the Motor City Open, was also considered part of the inaugural World Series of Bowling. In addition to being stand-alone title tournaments, the animal pattern events served as initial qualifying for that season's PBA World Championship major. While television tapings for the final rounds of the Motor City Open and all five animal pattern tournaments took place September 5 and 6, the PBA World Championship finals were not held until December 13, 2009 in Wichita, Kansas.

History
World Series of Bowling II moved to Las Vegas for the 2010–11 season. The event had five animal oil pattern events, with the PBA World Championship again running in a split format (qualifying in late October through early November, 2010, with the final rounds on January 14–16, 2011). Subsequent events ran only four or three animal pattern tournaments, but continued to use these events as initial qualifying for the PBA World Championship. After being held in Las Vegas for the next four years, the event moved to Reno, Nevada for three consecutive seasons.

The World Series of Bowling has run every PBA season since its inception, except for 2018. After Fox Sports acquired the PBA television rights earlier that year, the decision was made to move the World Series to a spring event so it would be included in Fox's TV schedule. Thus, World Series of Bowling X was moved from late 2018 to March 2019, and was held in its original home of Allen Park, MI.

Bowlers from over 30 countries have participated in the World Series of Bowling. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark, who helped launch the event as Deputy Commissioner in 2009, has credited the WSOB with inspiring an influx of international players who now regularly compete on the PBA Tour.

Tournament formats and qualifying have changed over the years. For the 2024 season, the WSOB had a maximum field of 108 entrants. Priority registration was given to the top 50 PBA players in 2023 season points, up to 20 international invitees not in the top 50, and any other PBA Tour title holders who are not in either previous group. The remaining entries came from a seven-game Pre-Tournament Qualifier (PTQ). Following the PTQ, all 108 bowlers rolled 15 games of qualifying per animal pattern tournament, split into three blocks. The 45 total games of qualifying determined the top 16 bowlers for the PBA World Championship Match Play rounds. The top 16 players in each animal pattern tournament had their own 16-game match play rounds leading to the five-player stepladder finals. The PBA World Championship qualifiers had a 16-game match play round to determine the top nine seeds. The 5–9 seeds bowled a play-in stepladder to determine the fifth seed for the televised finals, while the top four seeds automatically advanced to the telecast.

World Series of Bowling I
Dates: August 2–September 6, 2009 and December 13, 2009 Location: Allen Park, MI, except where noted

Events:

World Series of Bowling II
Dates: October 25–November 6, 2010 and January 14–16, 2011 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling III
Dates: November 5–19, 2011 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Events:

Notes: WSOB III was the first and only World Series in which all events were won by players from outside North America.

World Series of Bowling IV
Dates: November 3–11, 2012 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling V
Dates: October 25–November 3, 2013 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling VI
Dates: October 25–November 2, 2014 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling VII
Dates: December 8–19, 2015 Location: Reno, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling VIII
Dates: November 29–December 11, 2016 Location: Reno, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling IX
Dates: November 8–19, 2017 Location: Reno, Nevada

Events:

World Series of Bowling X
Dates: March 12–21, 2019 Location: Allen Park, Michigan

Events:

World Series of Bowling XI
Dates: March 6–15, 2020 & October 1–5, 2020 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada & Centreville, Virginia

The PBA's World Series of Bowling XI. which includes three standard PBA title events and the PBA World Championship, was scheduled to take place March 6–18, 2020 in Las Vegas, with live finals broadcasts occurring across four consecutive days on FS1 (one Sunday afternoon broadcast on March 15, followed by three prime time evening broadcasts on March 16–18). However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, only the PBA World Championship was completed in March. The match play rounds and finals of the other three tournaments were postponed, and eventually rescheduled for October 1–5, 2020. The location for the animal pattern tournament conclusions was also changed to Centreville, Virginia, allowing it to follow the PBA League event.

Events:

World Series of Bowling XII
Dates: March 5–17, 2021 Location: Tampa, Florida

The PBA announced on January 15, 2021 that World Series of Bowling XII would take place in Tampa, Florida on March 7–17, with a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) on March 5. As in the previous season, WSOB XII included three animal pattern events (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion) plus the PBA World Championship major. This season's WSOB also hosted the Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship. Combined pinfall from the three animal pattern qualifying rounds determines the top 30 that move on to the PBA World Championship cashers round, and also determines the top 16 teams that advance to the Roth-Holman Doubles match play rounds.

World Series of Bowling XIII
Dates: March 3–16, 2022 Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

World Series of Bowling XIII took place in Wauwatosa, WI on March 3–16, with a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) on March 1. As in the previous season, WSOB XIII included three animal pattern events (Cheetah, Scorpion, Shark) plus the PBA World Championship major. Combined pinfall from the three animal pattern qualifying rounds determined the top 30 that move on to the PBA World Championship cashers round. This season's WSOB opened with the Roth-Holman PBA Doubles Championship.

World Series of Bowling XIV
Dates: April 7–23, 2023 Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

World Series of Bowling XIV took place in Wauwatosa, WI on April 9–23, with a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) on April 7. WSOB XIV included three animal pattern events (Cheetah, Scorpion, Shark) plus the PBA World Championship major. Combined pinfall from the three 20-game animal pattern qualifying rounds determined the top 12 that moved on to World Championship match play. This season's WSOB television coverage opened with the USA vs. the World non-title event.

World Series of Bowling XV
Dates: April 2–21, 2024 Location: Allen Park, MI

World Series of Bowling XV returned to Allen Park, MI on April 2–21, kicked off by the Roth-Holman Doubles Championship on April 4 (PTQ on April 2). The pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) for all singles events was April 6. In addition to the Doubles Championship, WSOB XV included three animal pattern events (Cheetah, Scorpion, Shark) plus the PBA World Championship major. Combined pinfall from the three 15-game animal pattern qualifying rounds (45 games total) determined the top 16 that moved on to World Championship match play.

WSOB highlights

 * 2009: Tom Smallwood, a 32-year old laid-off auto worker who had re-qualified for the PBA Tour only seven months earlier, becomes the Cinderella story of the year, defeating Wes Malott in the PBA World Championship.
 * 2010: The WSOB sees its first two international champions, as Yong-Jin Gu (South Korea) and Osku Palermaa (Finland) win the Scorpion and Shark Championships, respectively.
 * 2011: All five events are won by international players – Stuart Williams and Dominic Barrett (England), Jason Belmonte (Australia, two titles), and Osku Palermaa (Finland).
 * 2012: Redemption for Tom Daugherty, who had rolled a record-low televised 100 score in the previous season's Tournament of Champions; Daugherty wins the Scorpion Championship for his first PBA Tour title. Also, the PBA World Championship is won by 49-year old Parker Bohn III.
 * 2015: Gary Faulkner Jr. becomes the second African American (following George Branham III) to win a PBA Tour title and PBA major, as he takes the PBA World Championship crown.
 * 2017: Liz Johnson becomes the second female to win on the PBA Tour (following Kelly Kulick) when she defeats fellow New Yorker Anthony Pepe for the Chameleon Championship title.
 * 2019: Australian Jason Belmonte wins his second consecutive PBA World Championship title, giving him a record-breaking 11 major championships on the PBA Tour.
 * 2020: Belmonte earns a three-peat in the PBA World Championship, becoming the second player (after Earl Anthony, who did it twice) to win this major three years in a row.
 * 2021: It's the year of "Tampa Tom". In his hometown bowling center, Tom Daugherty wins two WSOB titles, including his first major in the PBA World Championship, and finishes second in another event.

PBA50 World Series of Bowling
The World Series of Bowling concept was introduced on the PBA50 Tour (for players 50 years of age and over) in the 2023 season. The PBA50 World Series of Bowling featured three standard PBA50 events (PBA50 Ballard Championship, PBA50 Monacelli Championship and PBA50 Petraglia Championship) on three different oil patterns named after PBA Hall of Famers, followed by the PBA50 National Championship major. A full field of 192 players aged 50 and older competed, with all events taking place July 15-23 in Jackson, Michigan.