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Home » Navigation » PBA » PBA50 » Indianapolis’ Woodland Bowl to host first PBA50 Major in 2017

Indianapolis’ Woodland Bowl to host first PBA50 Major in 2017

11 May, 2017

PBA50

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The season’s first multiple winner, Brian LeClair of Delmar, N.Y., and a host of PBA Hall of Famers head the list of approximately 100 players ages 50 and over who will compete in the season’s first major when Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis hosts the inaugural PBA50 Miller Lite Players Championship May 13-16.

Woodland Bowl has been a longtime host of PBA Tour events and the site of some the most memorable championships in PBA history for nearly three decades, including all of the PBA Tour majors.

The venue will add another chapter to that illustrious history when it hosts its first PBA50 Tour major tournament, an event that will include a number of players who wrote chapters in their own histories at Woodland Bowl as younger stars.

The entire tournament, from first ball to last, will be live streamed exclusively on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame. For subscription and schedule information click here.

Throughout its history Woodland Bowl has hosted more than 30 PBA Tour events. It is the only bowling center that has hosted all five PBA Tour majors, including four U.S. Opens, two PBA World Championships, two PBA Players Championships, two Tournament of Champions and, most recently, the 2016 United States Bowling Congress Masters. It also is the favorite center of PBA Hall of Famer and two-time reigning PBA50 Player of the Year Pete Weber (left).

Weber, a 10-time PBA50 Tour winner, is off to a slow start in the relatively young 2017 season but Woodland Bowl has been very good to the son of Indianapolis native and bowling legend Dick Weber. The late Dick Weber’s youngest son has won three of his record-tying 10 PBA Tour majors at Woodland, including the 1991 U.S. Open, 1992 Players Championship and 2013 Tournament of Champions (pictured above is the 2013 TOC TV setup).

In addition to Weber, other PBA50 Tour stars expected to compete in Indianapolis include PBA Hall of Famers Walter Ray Williams Jr., Tom Baker, Parker Bohn III, Dale Eagle, Bryan Goebel, Amleto Monacelli and Brian Voss, among others who have impacted the “senior tour” since reaching age 50.

LeClair (second from right), for example, won his second title of the season and third of his career when he beat two-time PBA50 Player of the Year Ron Mohr of Las Vegas, 245-195, in Tuesday’s title match of the Johnny Petraglia BVL Open presented by Brunswick.

LeClair bowled in a record 433 PBA Tour events without winning a title, but has blossomed as a “senior” player. Ditto for Mohr, who never joined the PBA until he reached 50 and retired from his career as an air traffic controller in Alaska.

The other PBA50 Tour majors that will be conducted in 2017 are the USBC Senior Masters, June 4-11, and the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by Storm June 11-16, both in Las Vegas.

Players Championship competition begins on Sunday, May 14 at 10 a.m. EDT with the first of two eight-game qualifying rounds. Qualifying continues on Monday at 11 a.m. with second round qualifying.

After 16 qualifying games, the field will be cut to the top 32 players for match play beginning Tuesday, May 16 at 9 a.m. Match play continues with the top 16 players advancing to the second round at 2 p.m. which will determine the top five for the stepladder finals scheduled for 7 p.m.

A practice session will be held on Saturday, May 13 beginning at 9 a.m. and pro-ams are scheduled for 2, 4:30 and 7 p.m.

Spectator ticket prices are $5 for the practice session and the pro-am with an all-day pass available for $9. For qualifying on Sunday and Monday, ticket prices are $10 for each session or $15 for an all-day pass.

For Tuesday’s match play rounds, tickets are $5 for each round and $10 for the stepladder finals. An all-day pass is available on Tuesday for $15. Entry fee for the pro-am, which enables grassroots bowlers to compete with the pro stars, is $65 for adults and $50 for juniors.
For additional ticket and pro-am entry information contact Woodland Bowl at (317) 844-4099.

2017 PBA50 Tour Schedule & Champions

PBA50 Tour Miller Lite Players Championship Schedule

Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis, Ind., United States (May 13-16, 2017)

All times EDT.

Saturday, May 13, 2017
9 a.m. – Practice session
2, 4:30, 7 p.m. – Pro-Am Squads

Sunday, May 14
10 a.m. – A Squad qualifying (8 games)
3 p.m. – B Squad qualifying (8 games)

Monday, May 15
11 a.m. – B Squad qualifying (8 games)
4 p.m. – A Squad qualifying (8 games
Top 32 after 16 games advance to match play

Tuesday, May 16
9 a.m. – Match Play Round One (8 games)
Top 16 after 24 games advance to Match Play Round Two
2 p.m. – Match Play Round Two (8 games)
Top 5 bowlers advance to stepladder final
7 p.m. – Stepladder finals

Herbert Bickel