USBC PARTNERS WITH PBA TO CONTINUE WOMEN'S SERIES

The Professional Bowlers Association Women's Series presented by the United States Bowling Congress will return for the third consecutive season in 2009-10 with more competitors and eight events showcasing women's bowling on ESPN.

The PBA Women's Series will feature five standard events, the open-field PBA Women's World Championship, the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship and the season-ending PBA Women's Series Showdown. Each standard event will have a 20-player field, up from the 16-player field used this season.

In all, women will be competing for nearly $500,000 in prize money.

"USBC is committed to continuing to support opportunities for elite women bowlers and this is another step in that direction," USBC Vice President of Media Pete Tredwell said. "Partnering with the PBA offers us a great opportunity to promote the best women bowlers in the world."

Four of the five standard Women's Series events along with the newly created open-field PBA Women's World Championship will be contested and taped for broadcast in suburban Detroit during the PBA World Series of Bowling starting Aug. 13 and concluding Sept. 7. The fifth standard event will follow the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championships in the spring.

Players will have the opportunity to qualify for PBA Women's Series exemptions at the U.S. Women's Open in Las Vegas from Aug. 3-9. Players who opt to pay a separate entry fee will be eligible to use their qualifying scores toward the PBA Women's Tour Trials to earn exemptions for the PBA Women's Series.

"It is a positive sign for everyone that each year there has been an expansion of the PBA Women's Series, whether it be increasing the number of events and now the number of exempt players," PBA Chief Operating Officer Tom Clark said. "The creation of the third women's major, the PBA Women's World Championship, and having the women prominent during the new PBA World Series of Bowling will also add more excitement to the Women's Series."

Here are some highlights of the 2009-10 PBA Women's Series:

* A total of 18 players will be exempt for the five standard events. The top 12 at the PBA Women's Tour Trials will earn spots while the six champions during the 2008-09 season will be granted exemptions (Stefanie Nation, Michelle Feldman, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Jodi Woessner, Liz Johnson and Wendy Macpherson). The prize money available at each standard event is just over $50,000.

* For each of the standard events, two spots will be up for grabs during the PBA Tour Qualifying Round, allowing those who do not earn exemptions another opportunity to bowl their way into each event. If any of the exempt players elect not to compete in an event, the number of players advancing through the Tour Qualifying Round would increase.

* The PBA Women's World Championship will be open to any female bowler and will be conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 5. It marks the first time an open-field women's event has been conducted in the three-year history of the PBA Women's Series and creates a third major women's event alongside the U.S. Women's Open and USBC Queens. The PBA Women's World Championships will feature an estimated prize fund of $85,000.

* The Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship will return during the second half of the PBA Tour season at a location and date to be determined. The 18 regular exempt players will be joined by the next 14 players from the PBA Women's Tour Trials to create a field of 32 women battling for more than $100,000 in prize money.

* The PBA Women's Series Showdown, which debuts this April, will return in April 2010 and feature the winners of each Women's Series event during the 2009-10 season with $50,000 in prizes up for grabs. The event will take place at the new USBC International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

The PBA Women's Series debuted in 2007 and has been conducted alongside the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour as a way to showcase women's bowling. It marks the only professional women's bowling tour in the United States after the Professional Women's Bowling Association ceased operations in 2003.