BPAA All-Star and Senior Women's Open set to begin

ARLINGTON, Texas - The best female bowlers in the world will be in Rockford, Ill., next week for the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America Women's All-Star Tournament and the 2014 Bowling's Senior Women's U.S. Open.

The tournaments will be held simultaneously at The Cherry Bowl from July 21-25.

All competitors will bowl 18 qualifying games over three days before the field is cut. The top 16 BPAA Women's All-Star Tournament participants will bowl 16 games of round-robin match play, and the top eight in the Senior Women's U.S. Open will bowl eight games of match play to determine the stepladder finalists for each event.

The Senior Women's U.S. Open stepladder finals are scheduled for July 24, and the BPAA Women's All-Star Tournament finals will be July 25.

All qualifying, match play and championship-round competition will be broadcast live on BOWL.com's BowlTV.

The Women's All Star Tournament, which began in 1971, was the pre-cursor to Bowling's U.S. Women's Open, which is on hiatus until 2015. This year's event will showcase today's top talent, highlight the history of women's bowling and celebrate the 40th anniversary of formation of the Ladies Pro Bowling Tour.

The Women's All-Star will feature a $75,000 prize fund, with $15,000 going to the winner, based on 64 entries.

The Senior Women's U.S. Open marks the third and final stop of the Senior Women's Triple Crown Series presented by The Orleans. The Triple Crown Series is a special competition for bowlers who compete in the United States Bowling Congress Senior Queens, National Golden Ladies Classic and Senior Women's U.S. Open.

The top 10 players in the Triple Crown standings, which combines qualifying totals from all three events, will take part in the Triple Crown Shoot-Out presented by The Orleans.

The Triple Crown Shoot-Out will be held after the Senior Women's U.S. Open qualifying rounds July 24 at The Cherry Bowl in Rockford, Ill.

Paula Vidad of Sun City, Calif., is the defending champion at the U.S. Senior Women's Open, while USBC Hall of Famer Lucy Sandelin of Tampa, Fla., won the Triple Crown Shoot-Out in 2013.

Bowling's U.S. Open officially will return in 2015 after USBC and BPAA agreed to a three-year deal that will see USBC operate and conduct the U.S. Open for men and women in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

As part of the agreement, USBC and BPAA each will contribute at least $100,000 annually toward operating the events. Further details will be announced at a later date.

For more information on the BPAA All-Star Tournament and Bowling's Senior Women's U.S. Open, visit BPAA.com.