The PBA/PBA50 doubles event, the last of which was held in Reno, Nevada in 2001, was an event like any other, where rising PBA players teamed up with “senior” bowlers in the PBA50, many of whom had already been inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame. And, after 14 years of not being held, the event is returning in the form of the PBA/PBA50 South Shore Doubles Championship, to be held at the Olympia Lanes in Hammond on Aug. 5-7.
Like previous versions of the event, the South Shore Doubles iteration of the PBA/PBA50 will continue the tradition of partnering new, young PBA players with their senior league elders, giving rising players the chance to bowl with experienced and storied veterans of the sport. And, in another one of the tournament’s traditions, the bowlers will have no idea which of their counterparts they will be teamed with until the event is underway.
Starting on August 5, the participating PBA50 players will all bowl in an eight-game qualifying round in the morning, followed by a similar eight-game qualifying round for the PBA players in the afternoon. The next day, the players from the two different leagues will bowl yet another eight-game qualifying round, this time with the younger players taking the morning slot and the seniors playing in the afternoon.
It is only after each player plays 16 qualifying round games that the PBA/PBA50 partnerships will be known. Players from the two different leagues will be paired up according to their qualifying round scores, with the top No. 1 qualifiers from the PBA and PBA50 groups becoming partners, the No. 2 qualifiers becoming another set of partners, and so on, down the list of 32 players for each league. At that point, the new teams will take part in two single-elimination match play rounds, with the top eight teams earning two byes, and teams nine through 16 earning one bye each.
After the elimination match play rounds have been completed, the tournament finals will begin on the 7th. The finals will take the form of best-of-five-game Baker format single-elimination match play … in other words, each player will bowl five frames per game, for five games. The teams ranked 17th through 32nd will begin play at 8 am, while the Round One winners and those teams ranked 9th through 16th will begin at 10:30 am.
Once those games have been played, the winners will join the top eight placed teams for a 16 team match play. After that, the best eight teams will bowl in a best-of-three-game round. The top four teams will then move onto the semifinals, with the two winners of the semifinal round moving onto the championship.
This year’s PBA/PBA50 will feature some of the most decorated champions and Hall of Famers, including Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Norm Duke, Pete Weber, Tom Baker, Johnny Petraglia, and Parker Bohn III. Bohn III was the co-winner of the last PBA/PBA50 doubles event with Rohn Morton. While Bohn represented the PBA at the 2001 event, he will now bowl for PBA50.
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