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.
The 2011-12 PBA Tour season turned into one of the most compelling season-long battles for Chris Schenkel Player of the Year honors in history as a group of stars battled in PBA major championships and events around the world. The three leading vote-getters will be
announced on Wednesday, May 16, followed by the first-ever live
announcement of the winner on PBA’s Xtra Frame on
Monday, May 28.
Pete Weber's (l.) emotional post-U.S. Open celebration, wherein he coined the unique phrase, "Who do you think you are? I am!" and Chris Barnes' (r.) nationally-televised 300 game during Sunday's ESPN coverage of the GEICO Shark Open continue to provide the PBA with national media attention. Not to be overlooked was a New York Times front sports page feature on 14-year-old Kamron Doyle's
performance as the youngest casher in U.S. Open history.. 
NASCAR star Carl Edwards was among those impressed by Pete Weber's dramatic win in PBA's 69th U.S. Open. Edwards took in the U.S. Open ESPN telecast - which garnered a 25 percent increase in viewership over the 2011 U.S. Open telecast - during Sunday's rainout of the Daytona 500. Weber defeated Mike Fagan 215-214 in the title match last Sunday for a record fifth U.S. Open title at Brunswick Zone-Carolier in North Brunswick, N.J., surpassing his father Dick Weber and Don Carter who won the prestigious tournament four times.
Sixteen-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour titlist Jason Couch (l.) and 11-time PBA Senior Tour winner Gene Stus (r.) have been elected to the PBA Hall of Fame.
The 42-year-old Couch is the only player in PBA Tour history to win three consecutive Tournament of Champions titles. Stus' 11 Senior Tour titles rank fourth on the all-time list. Couch and Stus will be inducted during ceremonies at Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Saturday, April 14. 
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. 