The PWBA: Where Are They Now?

Brandy Padilla — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 14:01:25 GMT

NOTE: These opinions stated by the Editor do not necessarily reflect those of The Foundation or those of The Kegel Company.

The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) has long become a memory to most since it ceased operation in September 2003. For many of the top women professionals, this meant the end of a career and the beginning of a new adventure.

Now, nearly two years later, the bowling world is still without a women's tour of any kind. There are no ladies bowling on TV; there are no regional events; there is nothing; not even a website to update us on the current 'PWBA' news. So, you may ask, what happened? And, more importantly, what is going to happen? Here's my ten cents.

The PWBA ceased operation in September 2003 because of 'a lack of operating funds'. We'll just say that there was no money to support the tour despite the presence of such national sponsors as the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC), Pepsi, Miller Brewing, and BowlersParadise.com. As a result, the remaining tour stops for the 2003 - 2004 season were cancelled. At that point, no one really knew what would happen. PWBA Founder and Chairman John Sommer would pursue new investors and all of the options in preparation for a 2004 tour.

In October 2003, Steve Sanders of Pinnacle Events jumped into the picture. His thought was to have a combined women's and senior's tour. He realized, however, that women would be more appealing to a TV audience so he knew that a full - blown women/senior tour would not be feasible. So he had the idea that there would be a large number of women's tournaments with a handful of combined tournaments. Sanders failed to reach an agreement with ESPN for television time, so Sanders backed out of the tour altogether.

The thought of a women's tour looked even more bleak. Then, WIBC jumped on board and acquired the full rights to the PWBA in July 2004. Having the WIBC market and promote the PWBA seems like the right thing. After all, the WIBC is responsible for marketing women's bowling in general so why not let them market and promote the women's tour. Now, with the merger of ABC, WIBC, YABA, and USAB into the USBC as of January 2005, the USBC owns the rights to the PWBA.

Unfortunately, there has been no news of the future of a women's professional tour. However, the PBA has extended its membership to allow women to bowl. In fact, in the PBA qualifier last year, several women participated in hopes of earning one of the remaining few spots available on the all - exempt PBA tour. Unfortunately, no women made the exemption. But that did not stop them. Several of our favorite professionals have been participating in PBA regional events and have been performing quite well. If you keep up with the PBA and the regional events, you may have seen the likes of Kendra Gaines, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Kelly Kulick, Cathy Dorin-Lizzi, Michelle Feldman, and of course Liz Johnson, who was the first woman to qualify for the round of 64. She qualified as the top amateur during the tour qualifying round (TQR) at the PBA Uniroyal Tire Classic. She was subsequently eliminated during the first round of match play as she took on long time friend and top seed Brad Angelo. Johnson did not defeat easily though as she took the best - of - seven match to six games.

Amateur women have also been seen at 'Major' events such as the Masters and the US Open. In fact, top amateur Diandra Asbaty has made quite a showing at these events. She was the highest finishing woman at the Masters event, finishing 25 th . She also made the first round of cuts at the US Open and subsequently finished in 86 th.

But alas, the fact remains that there is still no women's tour. And as time goes on, the thought of a tour seems farther and farther away. The USBC does have the rights to the PWBA but there have been no announcements of any further progress. I would guess that means that there is nothing promising in the works. One could hope, however, that the lack of news would mean that we may have something to which we can look forward. In other words, the old adage about 'no news is good news' would perhaps indicate that the horizon may hold a regenerated women's tour.

Many of the previously 'professional' women bowlers (can you really call them professional bowlers if there is no professional women's bowling association) have moved on to other things in their lives. Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Cara Honeychurch both took the opportunity to add new 'titles' to their already impressive resumes. Both recently added new additions to their families when they gave birth to little girls. Cara is home in Australia and is still involved with bowling. She has partnered with AMF Australia to help promote tenpin bowling by doing coaching and seminars. Carolyn is home in Texas and also remains involved in bowling. She has bowled several PBA regional events as well as several TQR and remains active as the spokeswoman for high school bowling. Kendra Gaines and husband John are living in Florida and own two pro shops in the Orlando area. Kendra stays active with bowling offering lessons and assists the collegiate women's bowling team at the University of Central Florida . Kendra has also bowled some PBA regional events.

I recently spoke to Kendra after an article appeared in Bowlers Journal International regarding the fate of the women's tour. She spoke candidly about the tour and hoped that there would in fact be another tour. And, you would think that as a former touring professional, she might be 'in the loop' with some current news. She laughed and said "If you hear anything about the tour, give me a call."

I wish I was optimistic about the coming of a revitalized tour, but I am afraid that I am not. I think the women's tour has already been gone for too long. While I do miss the tour and I hope that I am wrong, I think that the WIBC, nay the USBC, may have missed their window of opportunity. It has been nearly two years without a professional women's tour. I fear it may be forgotten entity.

I personally think the USBC should shift their focus towards promoting the women in a combined Professional Bowler's Tour with the men. The PWBA had been struggling before their demise so why try to revive the dead. Tournament entries were in a steady decline; tournament prize funds were getting smaller and smaller somewhat due to the decrease in entries; top level amateur women were and are not interested in turning professional; the thought of actually making a living on tour was only a reality for an elite few. When you consider some of this, it seems only natural that the USBC should take a radical approach. If women entries into the tournaments increased and it became warranted, perhaps a few years down the road, the USBC could reconsider an all-women professional tour.

The PBA has welcomed women into their events and some women have been somewhat successful in their venture. I think with a few changes to the PBA, there could be a permanent (or semi-permanent) home for the women and some added appeal to the professional tour in general. After all, there are a lot of male bowlers and it could attract more viewers to the weekly telecast. And at this point, let's face it; any publicity is better than no publicity.

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The PWBA: Where Are They Now?