Ricart Ford in Columbus, Ohio, will be the title sponsor of the
PBA Ricart Ford Open presented by Columbia 300, Feb. 17-19 at Sequoia Lanes in Columbus. The tournament will be the third of four PBA Tour Xtra Frame tournaments on the 2011-12 PBA Tour schedule. The newly-created Xtra Frame Tour will also include the
Cheetah Open presented by Ebonite, Jan. 21-22, in Fountain Valley, Calif.; the
Detroit Open presented by Track, March 11-12, in Allen Park, Mich., and the
Dick Weber PBA Playoffs presented by Hammer, March 31-April 1, in Indianapolis.
South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas will host the fourth annual PBA World Series of Bowling, a multi-event international competition, Nov. 2-11, that will kick off the 2012-13 PBA Tour season, PBA Commissioner Tom Clark announced Thursday. The 2012 World Series of Bowling will feature four PBA "animal pattern" championships and conclude with the PBA World Championship. The package also will include the 2012 WTBA World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the PBA. 
The Professional Bowlers Association and the World Tenpin Bowling Association Wednesday announced an historic agreement that will result in the first true global professional bowling tour. The alliance will allow international and domestic PBA members who compete in World Bowling Tour events to earn PBA Tour titles in WBT events and to bowl in PBA Tour events in the United States.
The PBA has announced that veteran ESPN sportscaster Gary Thorne (l.) will replace Rob Stone as ESPN's play-by-play voice for the three remaining PBA Tour majors during the 2011-12 season. Stone (r.), the originator of the famous "hambone" for four strikes in a row and other bowling colloquialisms to describe the action on the lanes, leaves ESPN to join FOX Sports primarily as lead studio host for FOX's soccer coverage.
Bowling's original superstar, PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Don Carter, died at his home in Miami Thursday night. Carter, who had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia complicated by emphysema, was 85. Carter rocketed to fame during bowling's so-called golden era of team bowling in the 1950s, but at that same time he was a dominant figure in the emerging world of sports television. In great part due to his high standing among his fellow competitors, Carter became a leading force in the formation of the PBA in 1958.
In addition to competing on the PBA Tour and dominating this year's PBA World Series of Bowling, PBA star Sean Rash (pictured) also hosts an annual youth tournament in his former home state of Alaska. The event started in 1996 as a way to supplement the annual Coca-Cola Youth Championships that, for many years, was the only major scratch bowling event in the state. The event is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 27 at Jewel Lake Bowl in Anchorage and Rash is flying there the day before to attend.
The world-beating achievements of tenpin bowling champion Jason Belmonte were acknowledged this week at an impressive Civic Reception hosted by the Mayor of Orange City Council, Cr. John Davis (l.). Before a large audience of Orange citizens and distinguished guests including New South Wales MP, the Hon. Andrew Gee, Mayor Davis commended Belmonte (r.) on the combination of hard work, determination, natural talent and passion that has led to his outstanding success.
Longtime PBA Senior Tour player Mel Wolf of Jackson, Mich., died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 71. During a nearly 20-year career bowling on the Senior Tour, Wolf had one Senior Tour title and one senior regional title. While an avid competitor on the Senior Tour, he was also a great supporter of PBA as the tournament chairman of the PBA Senior Jackson (Mich.) Senior Tour event hosted by Airport Lanes where he was the driving force in bringing the event to Jackson in 1992.
ESPN will televise the 2011-12 PBA Tour season in HD for the first time. The 16-show tour will begin Sunday, Dec. 11, at 1 p.m. ET with the Don Carter Division finals of the PBA World Championship. In their fifth year together, play-by-play announcer Rob Stone (l.) and analyst Randy Pedersen (r.) will serve as ESPN’s commentator team for all events, which will be televised on Sunday afternoons through mid-April.
An international journey that began in Helsinki, Finland, in January 2011 and ended 10 months later in Las Vegas will kick off the Professional Bowlers Association's 2011-12 television season Sunday when the men's and women's finals of the inaugural GEICO World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the PBA air at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN. 
With the TV finals fields still to be determined for the PBA Elite Players Championship and Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, 22 different players have qualified for a TV show. Six of the seven international players in that field have qualified for multiple TV shows including Jason Belmonte (left; 4 times); Ildemaro Ruiz (right; 3); Andres Gomez, Stuart Williams, Dom Barrett and Osku Palerma (2 each)
After a day off to rest up and re-focus, competition resumed in the PBA World Series of Bowling Friday at South Park Bowling Center. Also Friday, in Exhibit Hall A in another part of the South Point Casino/Hotel complex (r.), construction was getting underway on the special television set that will host 14 ESPN telecasts and eight PBA Tour title events over a span of four days next week.
Thirteen-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour champion Tommy Jones (pictured) of Simpsonville, S.C., survived three tension-filled matches to win the $45,000 jackpot in the winner-take-all BowlersDeals.com All-In Showdown Friday at South Point Bowling Center. Jones defeated four-time PBA Tour titlist Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., 446-426, in the two-game final match. The All-In Showdown was a prelude to the PBA World Series of Bowling, which begins Saturday with the Bayer Viper Championship.