Norm Duke won Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year on the 2014 PBA50 Tour

The PBA begins its 12-tournament 2015 PBA50 Tour season in April with expanded Xtra Frame coverage, a new match play format and a new PBA/PBA50 Tour doubles event.

Also, for the third consecutive year, a season-long point competition will qualify the top eight PBA50 Tour players for the PBA Challenge which will be conducted during the PBA World Series of Bowling VII later this fall.

All PBA50 Tour events (except the USBC Senior Masters) will be streamed live in their entirety on Xtra Frame, the online bowling channel, giving fans even more value for their Xtra Frame subscription.

For the third consecutive year, the season begins with the PBA50 Pasco County Open at Lane Glo Bowl in New Port Richey, Fla., April 11-14, and concludes with a PBA50/PBA60 doubleheader from Pro Bowl West in Ft. Wayne, Ind. Aug. 8-15.

New to the schedule for 2015 will be the Johnny Petraglia BVL Open, presented by Brunswick hosted by Farmingdale Lanes in Farmingdale, N.Y., May 2-5 and the Fountain Valley (Calif.) Open presented by Track at Fountain Bowl June 7-10.  Another new event will be the PBA Tour/PBA50 Doubles South Shore Open presented by DV8 which will be held at perennial PBA50 Tour host Olympia Lanes in Hammond, Ind.

The Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by Storm is scheduled for May 31-June 5 at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino for the lone stop in Las Vegas because the USBC Senior Masters, which will be streamed on USBC’s BowlTV video service, moves from its traditional spot in Las Vegas to Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Green Bay, Wis., July 27-Aug. 1.

For tournaments other than the Senior Masters and Senior U.S. Open, the qualifying format will retain its traditional two-day eight-game block format. However, an additional bowl-in qualifying round will be conducted on the third day prior to match play where cashers outside of the top 24 – including all PBA60 cashers – will vie for eight spots that will advance to the match play field.

Match play will consist of single game head-to-head modified round-robin matches replacing the previous best-of-five and best-of-three game formats. The top five players will then advance to a stepladder final except the Senior U.S. Open which will be a four-player stepladder.

“We had a couple goals in mind in making the changes which were made with player input and approved by the PBA50 Player Committee,” said PBA50 Tour Tournament Director John Weber. “First, we wanted to advance as many players as possible into match play.  Secondly, while players generally liked our original elimination match play format, the new round-robin head-to-head format enables players to bowl more games.  In the previous elimination format a player might only bowl two games and be eliminated.

“The excitement of an elimination-style format will still be there because the field will continue to be pruned after each of final-day match play rounds,” Weber added.

Also new for 2015 will be a $1,000 minimum guaranteed payout for all cashers including PBA60 cashers and a $25 entry fee increase. PBA is now accepting entries for 2015 PBA50 Tour events on pba.com.

An Xtra Frame Season Ticket subscription is $64.99 (12 months) or fans can enroll for $7.99 per month. To subscribe to Xtra Frame, click on http://www.xtraframe.tv/pba.

2015 PBA50 TOUR SCHEDULE

April 11-14 - PBA50 Pasco County Open, Lane-Glo Bowl, New Port Richey, Fla. (Xtra Frame)

April 18-21 - PBA50 Sun Bowl in The Villages presented by Radical, Spanish Springs Lanes, The Villages, Fla. (Xtra Frame)

April 26-29 - PBA50 Miller High Life Classic presented by Columbia 300, George Pappas’ Victory Lanes, Mooresville, N.C. (Xtra Frame)

May 2 – 5 – PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open, presented by Brunswick, Farmingdale, N.Y. (Xtra Frame)

May 31-June 5 - Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by Storm, Suncoast Bowling Center, Las Vegas (Xtra Frame)

June 7-10 – PBA50 Fountain Valley Open presented by Track, Fountain Valley, Calif. (Xtra Frame)

June 14-17 - PBA50 Northern California Classic presented by MOTIV, Harvest Park Bowl, Brentwood, Calif. (Xtra Frame)

July 19-22: PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino Open presented by Roto Grip, Island Xtreme Bowl, Welch, Minn. (Xtra Frame)

July 27-Aug. 1 - USBC Senior Masters, Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley, Green Bay, Wis. (BowlTV)

Aug. 4-7: PBA/PBA50 South Shore Doubles presented by DV8, Olympia Lanes, Hammond, Ind. (Xtra Frame)

Aug. 8-11: PBA50 Pro Bowl West Fort Wayne Classic presented by Ebonite, Pro Bowl West, Fort Wayne, Ind. (Xtra Frame)

Aug. 13-15: PBA60 Dick Weber Super Senior Classic presented by Hammer, Pro Bowl West, Fort Wayne, Ind. (Xtra Frame)