Here come the Ladies again!

Women's PBA tour to roll into Detroit

BY MATT FIORITO
FREE PRESS BOWLING WRITER
The Denny's Pro Bowlers Association Tour hasn't completed its schedule for the 2007-08 season, but officials in Seattle have confirmed that a new chapter of bowling history will be written in the Detroit metro area. In addition to hosting its regular PBA tournament stop Oct. 31-Nov. 4, Taylor Lanes has been chosen as the host of the inaugural tournament in the PBA Women's Series sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress. The tour starts with the USBC Masters Oct. 23-28 in Milwaukee, followed by the Motor City Classic, which is the first regular PBA tournament of the season. Since the Professional Women's Bowling Association died in 2003, a handful of the top women have competed in PBA events, most notably Kelly Kulick, who qualified as an exempt PBA player for the 2006-07 tour. But in April, the PBA and the USBC, which held the rights to the women's tour, announced that four of the stops on the 2007-08 PBA would also host a women's tournament. It's a mini mini-tour -- 16 women will compete based on tour trials at the USBC Women's Open Aug. 13-18 in Reno, Nev., and just for four tournaments -- but it's a needed and welcome start. "We're thrilled and honored to be chosen to host the rebirth of women's pro bowling," Taylor Lanes general manager Erin Dobbins said. "It's another opportunity for us to make history. The tour trials at the Open and the incorporation of women's competition into the PBA Tour is one example of many great results coming from the growing relationship between the USBC and the PBA." The title match of the women's tournament will be part of the finals telecast for the men's tournament Nov. 4. The winner of each women's event will earn $10,000. All 16 participants are guaranteed a minimum of $1,800 each week.