Quite possibly the most ridiculous format of all-time - PBA

[SeanGothe]

The PBA Tournament of Champions has been playing out this week and it has just reached the Stepladder Finals stage after 42 games of Qualifying & Matchplay.

The only problem with this made for TV farce is that the Stepladder Finals will include the top 17 bowlers. Not the traditional 5 or sometimes 4 used for most tournaments over the past 64 years.

This is basically on the same intellectual level as electing a mumbling goose who took 6 years to complete an Arts degree to lead a state. Oh I forgot that has already been done.

So the 17th best player after 42 games gets to compete at the pointy end of a major tournament. What a bloody joke. Is the sport so desperate that people have to invent or dream up this type of garbage? Yes it is for TV but I or anyone else who doesn't have their knuckles dragging along the ground could have created a more justifiable and fair format to still use up the allocated TV 'airtime' but only reward the best 4 or 5 players instead of 17.

It is little wonder that the players today outside of a handful at the very top of the sport would be better off rehearsing their lines for standing behind a take-away counter offering to add fries to a hamburger order. The Prizemoney on the PBA tour today isn't worth getting out of bed for. This type of format is not going to help the credibility of the sport in any way at all. It will be so exciting to watch the bloke who qualified 17th knock off the number 16 qualifier followed by the number 15 qualifier so he can ultimately jump up 2 places and finish in the 15th position. This can't be for real!!!

 

[SeanGothe]

Well Jason Belmonte has just created history in becoming the first bowler to ever win the Tournament of Champions 4 times. This is a tremendous achievement. The 2023 Tournament of Champions also made use of the most ridiculous format in the PBA's 64 year history allowing him to achieve this milestone. Belmonte was actually in 6th position after 42 games which would usually mean game over and move onto next week but not in this incredibly stupid designed for TV farce. There are a myriad of other formats which could have been used to produce a fairer outcome. The victory is made even more remarkable when you consider that on scratch pinfall Belmonte was the 9th best bowler after 42 games before matchplay bonus pins were added. Sometimes the cards fall the right way. On this occasion a hell of a lot of cards fell the right way. I believe this event will be remembered for awarding the most fortuitous title since the PBA commenced way back in 1959.
I just hope that the PBA never again uses a format so utterly moronic.

 

[willey]

Great TV and I followed Belmonte's U Tube as he bowled each day it was great to watch. He now has as many Majors as Tiger Woods, unbelievable.

 

[SeanGothe]

Hmmmm, yes the record books will show Woods and Belmonte both have 15 major titles BUT!!!!!!!!
Bowling is still predominantly a USA dominated sport.
When you win a golf or tennis major there are players from all over the world. These sports are played at a very competitive professional level almost everywhere across the globe.
I did a quick check and I believe that only 7 foreign players have ever won a major on the PBA tour. Bowlers on the PBA tour simply play the same people every week whether it is a standard tour event or another event with a fancy name such as the US Open and a slightly higher prize fund.
In golf and tennis all of the best players from the various tours around the world turn up and compete in the majors.
If you walked into a bowling centre and didn't see a sign displaying the name of the tournament you wouldn't know whether you were at the US Open or the Indianapolis Open. The competitors would basically be the same.
In bowling the 7 foreign major winners I could immediately think of were - Belmonte, Mika Koivuniemi (3), Dominic Barrett (3), Francois Lavoie (3), Amleto Monacelli (1), Jesper Svensson (1) & Osku Palerma (1).
Given only 7 foreign players appear to have won a major on the Men's Regular PBA tour since its inception in 1959 it is hard to equate bowling's majors with truly international sports such as golf & tennis.
Bowling at the truly professional level is America plus a handful of good foreign players. The lack of international depth is crystal clear with only 7 foreign major winners in 64 years.
It is nowhere near comparable with Nicklaus, Woods, Djokovic, Nadal & Federer who had to beat all of the greatest players from all over the globe whenever they competed in a major tournament.
Jason Belmonte's record is absolutely fantastic but when he wins (standard tour event or supposed major) he beats the Americans and a handful of good foreign players. AND this most recent major to be completely fair is the most fortuitous title ever awarded in the PBA's 64 year history (no fault of Belmonte) he simply benefited from the most idiotic TV stepladder final format ever created.

 

[willey]

To give you some history, Professional Golf and Tenpin started in the 50's, early on they had about the same prize funds, I believe the first Million Dollar earner was a Bowler. The oldest Sporting Magazine in the World is the Bowlers Journal, one of the problems with the forward projection of the Sports was the big Company's sponsored Golf, even though Bowling out rated all other Sports on TV in America. The Bowlers Journal never got Sponsors for Car hire or Hotel Motels, Aircraft flights but Golf did, yet the Nationals and the WIBO, Women's International Bowling Organisation would have been the biggest Tournaments in the World, I'm talking 40,000 plus Teams who all had to Fly to the Cities, holding the events, also having to hire Cars and have some where to stay. I don't know if the Journal did not sell it's advantages well but this is the difference between the Sports, as for your numbers on the Majors, there are a lot of international Bowlers competing more than your 7 but Majors are not easy to win, if you compare that to Tennis the Australians used to win everything in the 60's-70's, remember Rod Laver won 2 grand Slams in the 60's, that's every Major, so nobody else won any, and Margaret Court won a Grand Slam.

 

[SeanGothe]

I don’t think many people would even contemplate trying to give me a history lesson but that was incredibly amusing. The facts are that the ridiculous format used in the 2023 Tournament of Champions gave Belmonte the opportunity to win when he clearly wasn’t anywhere near the best bowler last week. Fact 2: Bowling fields week to week including the supposed Majors have basically the same players competing. Tennis and Golf have far stronger fields for their Majors and yes bowling and golf did have similar prize funds in their early years. It was Don Carter who had the first sporting $1 million sponsorship deal and it was with Ebonite Bowling ($100,000 per annum for 10 years). Now the strength of last week’s supposed Major - 64 bowlers (12 of whom were actually seniors and super seniors aged over 50 & 60 years). Of the 64 competitors only 9 were foreign players including Stu Williams (formerly of England) who now resides in the USA. Not exactly comparable with a golf or tennis major. Let me just repeat that - a bowling tournament categorised as a major had only 9 bowlers from the entire world competing (outside of the USA). Tennis and golf had greater numbers of international players competing at their major events 50-60 years ago when travelling was a great deal more difficult. The PBA remains the strongest bowling tour but it is an organisation made up of Americans with a handful of foreign entrants. To further emphasise my point - this week is the PBA Kokomo classic in Indiana. There is again only 64 competitors including 12 foreign players. Very similar to last week’s supposed Major. Last week 12 seniors helped make up the numbers. This week only 2 seniors are competing. Winning one of bowling’s supposed Majors doesn’t appear to be harder than winning a standard PBA tour event.

 

[willey]

I don't know much about you Sean, but your comparing apples with oranges, you have picked out the 2 limited events of the year, after googling the Pro Tour I found they have 3000 members from 30 Countries. I'm sure you have a lot of empathy for the sport in this country as do I.I worked in Bowling Centres for 38 years before I left in 2005 and bought my own business, I could see " The Writing On The Wall" and had to get out, to me the problem was pricing, I walked out of a Centre in 1997 because they wanted $5 a game (Harvey Bay) but a few years later we got the GST and what did AMF do, they put up the price of games before the GST took effect in the year 2000, this than increased the prices 10%, ok but than at the end of the year the usual increase, 3 increases in 1 year, not needed. In 1998 I went to Mackay to work the game prices just got to $6 a game, when I came back to Newcastle in 2000, Bennetts Green had a large sign over the Counter with 1 game $8. My wife worked the counter at Mayfield and I seen a Family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children) ask for 2 games each, my wife tells them that will be $80+, they immediately change to we will have 1 game each, that will be the last time you will see them. So I saw many quiet times in Mayfield before I left, I remember a famous person in the American Bowling industry say, "there is nothing more expensive than an empty Bowling lane"

 

[SeanGothe]

I am confused - all I have stated is that the format used in the Tournament of Champions was garbage. Jason Belmonte was nowhere near the best player last week and the ridiculous format gave him the opportunity to pull off the most unlikely victory in PBA history. In any other event from the past 64 years he would have exited the tournament after matchplay.
Secondly only a handful of international players compete in PBA events. It has always been an American dominated tour. This is a well known fact.
I have simply stated 2 undeniable facts.
Not sure what the price of a game in Hervey Bay, McKay, Newcastle or Mayfield or the impact of GST in Australia or the fact that you and your wife worked in a bowling centre has on a PBA format and the number of international competitors participating in tournaments.
The PBA may well have 3,000 members but only 2.133% of them bowled last week and of those 3,000 members 0.3% were international members competing in the Tournament of Champions. This week in Kokomo 0.4% of the 3,000 membership will be international competitors.
Many of the 3,000 will never bowl a national tournament in their entire lives. A significant number will bowl regional tournaments. So 30 countries have at least 1 PBA member - there were only 9 international bowlers (TOTAL) competing last week. I think I have made my point.

 

[willey]

Still apples and oranges Sean, the rest of my post is about the state of bowling in this country, WHY IS IT STUFFED? As for your concern over the format, the bowlers knew what was happening and Belmonte had to beat the 5 bowlers who out averaged him and he did, Amazing

 

[SeanGothe]

Oh well, bowling in Australia is led by the TBA. That is all that needs to be said. The sport has already had many great moments in its 60+ year history in Australia, as to what happens in the immediate future is up to the next generation of bowlers - whether good, bad or indifferent. Unfortunately I don't see too many people around the game today who are going to make the game better - there are not too many people with the attributes and / or intellect of Steve Jones, Phil Brook, Bob Cook, Patrick Birtig, Sue Raphael & Steve Mackie (just a few examples) who have all given so much to the game with little return. This list is obviously far from exhaustive but we all know who had the brains and talent within our game. These are some of the people who could write volumes about the games history in this country. I would certainly be pleased to have them sitting on my table at a Bowling Trivia night. If there was something I didn't know someone else on this table certainly would. These are the people who I admire for their decades of service and expansive knowledge.
Oh, and just for the historical record Belmonte was out averaged by 8 bowlers last week. But to be fair I might just possess slightly superior arithmetic skills.
I know you like trying to debate me but I will admit that what I write on here is from memory. I have read a little about the games history over the past 47 years. I almost never google historical facts about the game unless checking my own recollections for accuracy. A friendly analogy for you - I would be out of my depth if I started debating Apollo missions to the moon with Buzz Aldrin.

 

[willey]

Sean I thought about your thoughts on the TOC, your thinking is that the lower bowlers should be eliminated but isn't that how a Masters event happens, I bowled in the 1981 NSW State masters and after Qualifying for the match-play I was running 9th and had to start against the top qualifier Terry Wenban, so no different to the TOC so instead of 2 game blocks they only have 1 game, I bowled in the Australian Masters and the blocks were 3 games, so 1 game is much harder so what Belmonte did was amazing. I eventually ran 2nd that year, in case you would like to know but I won it the next year undefeated