ARLINGTON, Texas - Members of the Professional Women's Bowling Association have voted to redistribute the prize funds for the United States Bowling Congress Queens and U.S. Women's Open in 2022 and 2023.
The change will move a significant portion of the prize money for the two events from the top spots in order to pay higher amounts to other cashers and match-play finalists. The aggregate prize funds will remain the same for each event, with $262,250 paid out at the U.S. Women's Open and $352,000 paid out at the USBC Queens.
The top prize for both events now will pay $60,000, which will be the second-highest top prizes in the history of the PWBA Tour, following the $100,000 paid for first place at the 2021 U.S. Women's Open.
The changes will raise the minimum prize checks at the U.S. Women's Open from $1,250 to $2,000, and every spot in the top 24 nearly will double, with the minimum check for 24th place increasing from $1,900 to $3,700 and sixth place increasing from $4,000 to $8,000.
At the USBC Queens, the last cashing spots (49th-64th place) will increase from $1,875 to $2,500, with approximately $70,000 moving from the top six finishing positions to the remaining 58 spots.
"After reviewing the prize funds for these events, we saw that we could make a much more positive impact on the competitors by paying more to the cashers and match-play finalists, while still offering historically great prize money at the top," said PWBA Players Committee co-chair Bryanna Coté. "The goal is to distribute the prize money to a wider group to incentivize more athletes to participate in these marquee events and give more of our members a chance to earn additional money."
The PWBA Players Committee presented the options to members in a Zoom meeting on March 23, and all members were invited to vote on the proposed change. Members voted by a 56-10 margin to make the changes for the Queens and a 55-11 margin to make the changes to the U.S. Women's Open.
The changes will go into effect for the 2022 editions of each event.
