PBA World Championship
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The World Championship is one of the four major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. Prior to 2002, the tournament was called the PBA National Championship. The PBA National Championship was first contested in 1960, called the First Annual National Championship. PBA Hall of Famer Don Carter won the first National Championship title.
The National Championship and World Championship have been contested over the years using a variety of formats. Currently, the PBA World Championship's format is different from normal PBA Tour events. The top four point leaders going into the World Championship (which is usually one of the last events of the year), receive a bye into the round of Super Sixteen. Additionally, the top 4 bowlers in qualifying are also given a bye into the Round of Super Sixteen.
Unlike most events, it is open to the entire PBA membership. There are 18 games of qualifying, and a 9 game block for the top 25% of the field. After these 27 games, bowlers who qualify 5-36 in qualifying are put into a 32 bowler bracket (they are seeded against one another based upon their finishing position in qualifying). These 32 bowlers then bowl head to head, best of 7 match play games. The 16 winners then proceed to bowl one another (head to head) in best of 7 match play in the Round of 16. The eight winners are then are placed into the Round of Super Sixteen, against the top four PBA point leaders, along with the top four qualifiers from the qualifying rounds. The eight winners then bowl the Round of 8 to determine which four bowlers will make the televised semifinal games, and the title match.
