The telecast started with Mika Koivuniemi taking on Andres Gomez. Mika won a close match, 224-220, to move onto his next match against Tom Daugherty. Daugherty struggled to get going and never gave Mika much of a challenge. On the other hand, Mika Koivuniemi used his great ball reaction and ran the front 11 strikes for a 299 game. Mika won the match, 299 to Daugherty’s record low 100, and moved on to the final match against Tom Smallwood. Mika kept his scoring pace up, throwing 10 of 12 strikes for a 269 game, which was plenty to beat Smallwood’s 207.

In winning the PBA Tournament of Champions, Mika Koivuniemi earned his 3rd PBA major title and his 9th overall PBA title.

The biggest announcement is about the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions.  This event will feature a $1 Million prize fund, with first place being $250,000.  This event will be open to any bowler who has won any PBA event (National, Regional, Senior, Women’s).  The Tournament of Champions will air on ESPN on January 23, 2011.

The 2010 – 2011 ESPN schedule will include 23 original PBA programs, running from late November through April.  ESPN will air PBA telecasts in HDTV.  Several events will feature three consecutive days of coverage.  The PBA World Championship and the U.S. Open will feature Friday, Saturday, Sunday presentations.

Lumber Liquidators has confirmed that it will remain the title sponsor through September 2011.

The PBA World Series of Bowling will return for the 2010 – 2011 season.  This event will feature nine separate TV shows and will finish with the PBA World Championship.

The USBC Masters will take place in the Reno National Bowling Stadium and the TV finals will be aired live on ESPN.

A new PBA Playoffs series will conclude the season, taking up the final six weeks of TV shows.  This series will have a separate prize fund and will be heavily weighted in the PBA Player of the Year standings.

A new “Xtra Frame Tour” will be created, having shows that only air on PBA Xtra Frame.  These shows will not air on TV and will only be available to Xtra Frame subscribers.

Many people have mixed feelings about these announcements.  The added prize money for the TOC is great, but the other side of the deal is that other tournaments will have a lowered prize fund.  It will be interesting to see if bowlers are able to hang around with the lowered prize fund in other tournaments.  Is this a step in the right direction for the PBA or is it the beginning of the end?

This win gives Kelly Kulick her first PBA Tour title.  She has two PBA Women’s Series titles.  Kulick has become not only the first woman to win a PBA Tour major title, but also the first woman to win any PBA Tour title.  Kulick had earned her PBA Tour exemption by finishing sixth in the 2006 PBA Tour Trials.  By winning the PBA Tournament of Champions, Kelly Kulick has earned herself a two year exemption for the PBA Tour.  Kelly is a former Collegiate All-American and three time Collegiate Player of the Year.

See what equipment the pros were using on my InTheBag page for the PBA Tournament of Champions.