Reigning PBA Player of the Year
Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, is still alive in the PBA World Championships tripleheader at Thunderbowl Lanes, but 11 of the 16 players who earned byes for two rounds went home Friday. In total, one of seven players in the PBA World Championship, three of four women in the Women's World Championship, and one of four in the Senior World Championship who were exempt from the first two rounds of best-of-seven-game, single-elimination match play survived Friday's early rounds. Malott, the top qualifier in the men's field, defeated Martin Larsen of Sweden, 4-3, to advance to Friday night's Round of 8.
A roster of more than 30 of the world’s top bowling stars, including the finalists in the PBA Women’s and Senior World Championships is set for a grand finale television weekend Saturday and Sunday Sept 5 and 6 to conclude the five-week PBA World Series of Bowling. Thunderbowl’s Arena Bay in Detroit will come full circle as the site for six ESPN television events at noon, 3:30 and 7 p.m. each day. These scores may not have been broadcast on television yet. 
Reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott (l.) led the field of 40 PBA World Championship finalists at Thunderbowl Lanes Thursday by sitting on the sidelines, resting. Malott, Ron Mohr (r.) and Shannon Pluhowsky
were the top qualifiers after 24 games in the PBA, PBA
Women's and PBA Senior World Championships, respectively, which earned
each of them – and a handful of others – byes for the first two rounds
of best-of-seven-game, single elimination match play.
Walter Ray Williams Jr. (pictured left) seeking an eighth major title and a record 46th Professional Bowlers Association Tour victory, averaged 244.17 to take the early lead in the PBA World Championship at Thunderbowl Lanes on Monday. Three-time 2009 PBA Senior Tour champion Ron Mohr of Eagle River, Alaska, and Kelly Kulick (right) of Union, N.J., led the Senior and Women's World Championships, respectively. 
Two Michigan bowlers earned top qualifier honors in the PBA Women's Series presented by BOWL.COM Tour Qualifying rounds Thursday at Thunderbowl Lanes. Lindsay Baker (l.) of Grand Blanc finished first in the Viper Championship TQR, and Christine Bator (r.) of Warren, finished first in the Chameleon Championship TQR to earn berths in those championships. The Women's Series Viper Championship begins Saturday and the Chameleon Championship will be conducted Aug. 18-20.
Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (pictured) was almost a "10" in recording one of the most unusual victories in her hall of fame bowling career at Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla. Dorin-Ballard, one of the most successful women bowlers in history, rolled a television record 20 consecutive strikes, including 11 in a row in the title match, to win the inaugural PBA Women's Series Showdown presented by the USBC which aired on ESPN Sunday. In an event that employed the Johnny Petraglia Scoring System for the first time on national television, Dorin-Ballard posted a near-perfect score of 11 in the Championship Round Title match to nip Jodi Woessner by a single point and rising star Stefanie Nation by two points.
Six of the nation's top women bowlers will return to television this weekend, competing in a radically different bowling format for a $25,000 first prize in the Professional Bowlers Association's inaugural Women's Series Showdown presented by the United States Bowling Congress.
The special event, to be hosted by Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla., will result in a back-to-back one-hour shows which will air on ESPN on Sunday, April 12, from 1-3 p.m.
The PBA Women's Series will feature a bonus televised event for the 2008-2009 season – the PBA Women's Series Showdown presented by the USBC. During the 2008-2009 season, the winner from each of the six individual PBA Women's Series events will automatically earn a spot into the field of six for the PBA Women's Series Showdown. Two players have already qualified for this special event – Stefanie Nation (l.), who won the Pepsi Viper Championship Women's Series and Michelle Feldman (r.), who won the Chameleon Championship Women's Series. 
Stefanie Nation (left) of Arlington, Texas defeated Michelle Feldman (right) of Auburn, N.Y. in the championship match of the PBA Viper Championship women's series en route to win the first her first career PBA title in the opening event of the 2008-09 PBA Women's Series. Nation, the No. 2 seed, a veteran of last year's inaugural PBA Women's Series which is sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), defeated top seeded Feldman in the championship match, 225-200. 
Shannon Pluhowsky (pictured left) led the 16-player field in the PBA Women's Series Qualifying at the Pepsi Viper Championship in which the top 10 women advanced to Friday’s match play. Pluhowsky, one of only two lefties in the Women’s Series field, moved from third after the first 7-game block to finish as the leader, with a 14-game total score of 3032. Pluhowsky, who averaged 216.57, led second-place Michelle Feldman (r.) by 29 pins. Friday’s competition continues with a 9-game match play round after which the field will be cut to the final two
