PBA goes one-on-one with Kirk von Krueger

This week, the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) sat down with Kirk von Krueger, Director of the Denny's PBA Tour, to discuss changes and upgrades to both the 2006 Denny's World Championship and the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials.

The 2006 Denny's World Championship, the third of four Major events on the Tour schedule, takes place March 20-26 at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis, Ind. The event is open only to PBA members and offers the largest open-field prize fund among all Major events. The winner of the 2006 Denny's World Championship will take home $100,000 and a four-season Tour exemption.

The 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials takes place May 30-June 4 at Stardust Bowl I in Hammond, Ind., and will offer nine exemptions for the 2006-07 Denny's PBA Tour season. Several changes have been implemented for the 2006 Tour Trials, including the addition of a prize fund and the switch from wood to synthetic lanes.


Question: Why should PBA members enter the 2006 Denny's World Championship? What are the benefits?
Kirk von Krueger: It's the best paying Major tournament we have, it's a limited field with a maximum of 292 entries and it pays $400,000. On it's own that is impressive, but when you look at our other Majors like the Masters, which has a 500 bowler field and only pays out $380,000, you really start to see the benefits. We've listened to the membership and made some changes in the format making it more compact and more convenient to attend. We also modified the requirements to bowl the Pro-Ams so that only the players that cash are required to bowl the Pro-Ams.

Question: Why did the PBA decide to shorten the length of the 2006 Denny's World Championship?
Kirk von Krueger: We realized the event was much too long. PBA members are our customers, and we need to find better ways so cater to our membership. We think we found something that makes sense to them.

Question: Explain the expense-to-reward ratio for the 2006 Denny's PBA World Championship.
Kirk von Krueger: The expense-to-reward ratio means you have expenses that are associated with the event, and those include getting to the event, room and board, as well as entry fees; and the payout in the tournament is such that if you cash you are going to get a lot more money on your return. For example, this year if you finished 24th at the Masters you made $1,800, at the U.S. Open you would have made $2,100, but at the World Championship you'll make $4,000. Even as far down the line at 50th place you'd make $1,200 at the Masters, $1,250 at the U.S. Open and $1,550 at the World Championship.

Question: What are some of the highlights of the 2006 Denny's World Championship format:
Kirk von Krueger: The membership should understand there is a special round called the Round of Super 16. In the past, the top eight exempt players would be automatically seeded into the Round of Super 16. Now only four of those players, plus the four high qualifiers in the field at large, will advance to the Round of Super 16. This puts a premium on qualifying and rewards those players who bowl well in qualifying. Case in point, last year Chris Loschetter led qualifying, earned a bye into the Super 16 and advanced all the way to the title match. Now he's an exempt bowler having a great year on Tour.

Question: What went into the decision to require bowlers to bowl in a Pro-Am only if they cash?
Kirk von Krueger: We realized if someone missed the cut after two days of qualifying they had to stick around for a couple days, and that's neither cost efficient nor an effective way to run an event. If you cash, you only have to wait one extra day to bowl a Pro-Am now. Being a casher places you deeper in the schedule, and makes it less of an inconvenience.

Question: What will be the benefits of having Woodland Bowl and the city of Indianapolis host the 2006 Denny's World Championship?
Kirk von Krueger: It's a centralized location and a beautiful, large facility. It's so large it allowed us to make modifications to the format, and make it more bowler-friendly. Because of this, we could go from three squads to two squads. The staff at Woodland Bowl is very experienced with hosting Major events being prior hosts of the U.S. Open and the Touring Players Championship. They know how to run a big event, and they have done a great job for us.

Question: Is there anything else PBA members should know about the 2006 Denny's World Championship?
Kirk von Krueger: It's their tournament. It's absolutely theirs, and it's not a tournament just for the exempt bowlers on Tour. It's for the entire membership and they should take advantage of it.

Question: Moving on to Tour Trials, why did the PBA decide to implement a prize fund for the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials?
Kirk von Krueger: Again, we listened to our membership. We admitted the error of our ways in incorrectly placing the emphasis on the exemptions, and not on the fact there are expenses as with any event. Every time a member has the opportunity to recoup money in any event it's a good thing. We not only reinstituted the prize fund, we increased it. We added another $8,000. Two years ago it was about $42,000 now it's at $50,000 which works out to $10,000 a day. We understand it's not a huge amount of money, but we think there is enough money in the fund to make every day interesting by adding emphasis to each individual day. Last year, if you were out of the running for an exemption by day three, there was no reason to continue bowling.This year, everyone has chance to make money every day.

Question: Why has the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials been switched from wood to synthetic lanes?
Kirk von Krueger: We realized the majority of our Tour stops are bowled on synthetic lanes, and it was important to move the Tour Trials to the same surface. After earning an exemption on Tour through the points list, being an existing exempt bowler, or winning an event, this is the main way our membership can earn a spot on Tour, and it should be as representative of the Tour conditions as possible. Hence, we bowl most of our Tour events on synthetic so it just seems logical to contest Tour Trials on synthetic as well.

Question: What are the fees for the Tour Trials and how have they been adjusted?
Kirk von Krueger: The fees have been reduced from $1,500 before the deadline and $1,700 after the deadline, to $1,300 before the deadline and $1,500 after. We want to encourage participation in Tour Trials and earlier registration, and in order to do that we discounted the entry fee for those who wanted to enter the event in a timely manner.

Question: Why should bowlers take advantage of the opportunity to bowl in the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials?
Kirk von Krueger: It's your last best chance to earn an exemption onto the Denny's PBA Tour. It's a great test of your bowling skills as well. It's our marathon of bowling: 45 games over five days on five different patterns.