Press Releases
Any news story directly related to the EBT will appear on this page. Please contact Gary Gordon regarding to validate and confirm any Elite Bowlers Tour press releases.
- EBT on limited bowling schedule for 2022-2023
General Information
For the 2022-2023 season, Director Gary Gordon has announced the Elite Bowlers Tour will be on a limited schedule. The decision between a full shutdown or limited schedule was determined with the past week. Because the Elite Bowlers Tour may return to a full schedule, Gordon wanted the EBT to retain a presence in the bowling community. There will not be a 2023 COTY, however events such as the Oakfield Lanes Open, Plastic Ball Challenge, and Patricia Lanes Open in Dothan, AL are expected to remain. The EBT will post events in advance of a tournament. Bowlers can expect 3 to 4 tournaments next season.
- EBT Venus Proprietary Pattern Gives Up First Honor
Score! 05/01/2022
Award Notification
On Sunday, May 1, 2022, Karl Critchlow of Tampa, FL became the third EBT bowler and the first on the EBT Venus to achieve greatness! On the EBT Venus 39' pattern, Karl Critchlow shot a 300 game in the first game of a four-game series at Oakfield Lanes. Karl Critchlow, Cristian Azcona, and Chris Polizzi are the only bowlers in the world known to have shot honor scores on an EBT proprietary pattern. EBT Patterns are presently in use in Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio in the USA, as well as Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, and Canada internationally. No other location in any country has reported an honor score on an EBT pattern and EBT Venus 39', EBT Andromeda 44', and EBT Pegasus 36' have yielded only 5 ( 2 800s & 3 300s) between them since their inception in 2016.
- EBT new age limits for tournaments 03/31/2021
General Information
Effective starting the on the 04/25/2021 tournament, the new age limit for tournament bowlers in both the Classic and Elite Divisions is now 16. Per USBC rules, youth bowlers will have monies paid to their SMART account. We welcome these young bowlers to try out their skills in the Elite Bowlers Tour! Good luck, kids!!
- EBT has a new assistant! 10/23/2020
General Information
The Elite Bowlers Tour would like to welcome Canin MacDonald to the EBT staff beginning on Sunday 10/25/2020. Canin (pronounced "can in") will be assisting the EBT with brackets and score reporting as longtime staff member, Dale Franklin, will be out due to injury for some time. Bear in mind, Canin is not a bowler but was happy to step in and help out. Please welcome the young high schooler to the EBT and be patient while he learns the ropes. Canin is not a tournament director and will be unable to resolve bowling issues as that power remains with Gary Gordon.
- EBT is Back!!!! 09/16/2020
General Information
The Elite Bowlers Tour is returning from its long-awaited shut down caused by the Covid-19 pandemic! Now that the State of Florida and Hillsborough County is in the third phase of reopening, bowling centers and leagues are returning to some semblance of normalcy. In addition, the restrictions put in place by the tournament director's regular employers allowed for the Elite Bowlers Tour to restart safely. Since the 2019-2020 season ended abruptly, all the bowlers who qualified will automatically advance into qualifying for the 2020-2021 COTY because their season was cut short through no fault of their own. The Elite Bowlers Tour will follow all guidelines put in place by bowling centers to keep bowlers as safe as possible. The first tournaments are set to begin on Sunday, October 25, 2020 with the Oakfield Lanes Open Championships and the ever-popular Plastic Ball Challenge! Bowlers are still required to pre-register using existing registration procedures.
- New Bowling Center on the Horizon! 5/19/2019
General Information
The Elite Bowlers Tour has completed talks with Patricia Lanes in Dothan, Alabama (that's right...ALABAMA!). On August 4, 2019, the EBT will premier its very first out-of-state tournament for the Patricia Lanes Open Championships. "Everything just looks good on paper and it's the perfect time to try something new," said Gary Gordon, EBT tournament director. The tournament will feature a standard EBT format of an early morning handicap squad followed by an afternoon scratch squad and will include the optional doubles and a high senior out of cut. Bowlers in the Patricia Lanes Open Championships will be eligible for the COTY qualifications though it is not currently known how many bowlers will make the 4 1/2 hour drive back to Brandon, FL. The Elite Bowlers Tour is just excited for the opportunity and is hoping for a great turnout! All Tampa region bowlers who would like bowl are encouraged to do so. Registration for this event is on going and will close Saturday, August 3 at 11:59pm.
- EBT Pegasus Proprietary Pattern Gives Up First Honor
Score! 03/25/2018
Award Notification
On Sunday, March 25, 2018, Cristian Azcona of Lake Wales, Florida became the second bowler worldwide and first on the EBT Pegasus to achieve greatness! On the EBT Pegasus 36' pattern, Cristian bowled an 802 series with scores of 290, 266, 246, (215, 245). Cristian Azcona and Chris Polizzi are the only bowlers in the world known to have shot honor scores on an EBT proprietary pattern. EBT Patterns are presently in use in Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio in the USA, and Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, and Canada internationally. No other location in any country has reported an honor score and EBT Andromeda 44' and EBT Pegasus 36' have yielded 4 between them.
- EBT Andromeda Proprietary Pattern Gives Up Another
Honor Score! 01/28/2018
Award Notification
On Sunday, January 28, 2018, Cristian Azcona of Lake Wales, Florida became the second bowler worldwide to achieve the unthinkable! On the EBT Andromeda 44' pattern, Cristian bowled a 300 game as the fourth game of a four game set. Chris bowled a 213, 248, 258, 300. Cristian now joins Chris Polizzi as the only bowlers in the world known to have shot an honor score on an EBT proprietary pattern. EBT Patterns are presently in use in Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio in the USA, and Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, and Canada internationally. No other location in any country has reported an honor score and EBT Andromeda 44' has given up 3 now!
- EBT Change of Schedule for the 2017-18 Season! 07/02/2017
General InformationEBT Bowlers, I wanted to bring everyone up-to-speed on what is going on in the wonderful world of the Elite Bowlers Tour. The tournament for July 16 is all set for AMF Lakeland Lanes and the flyer will be posted with details as soon as life adds a 25th hour in the day to do it! That tournament will be the final chance to qualify for the Champion of the Year on August 27, 2017.
This brings up a very important issue greatly affecting the Elite Bowlers Tour and its operations. For those of you who may not know, I, Gary Gordon, will be starting school in August for a PhD in Public Administration. The work load and expectations are enormous, and as you can see it has already impacted the ability for us to get out our flyers. Even the COTY in August is of concern because it occurs two weeks after school starts, but no worries, the COTY is going on as scheduled!
The reason for this concern is the EBT must host 11 tournaments per year to properly fund the COTY with the assistance of the sponsor. Without 11 tournaments, it isn't possible to have it. Since I do not know what impact school will have on the ability to run tournaments each month, I am bracing the EBT for an EBT Lite schedule next year. THE EBT IS NOT CEASING OPERATIONS. I'm just not sure how many tournaments will be possible. As we get closer to August 14th (1st day of school), I will learn more about the doctoral program and I will be able to adjust the EBT schedule accordingly. It is also very possible school will have no affect on our operations. So this is a wait and see thing. But I thank all of you for your support these last 8 years, and as we enter our 9th season, I ask that you bear with us as we make these competing projects work. Thank you all.
- EBT Proprietary Pattern Gives Up First Ever Double
Honor Score! 07/31/2016
Award Notification
On Sunday, July 31, 2016, Chris Polizzi of Spring Hill, Florida became the first bowler worldwide to achieve the unthinkable! On the EBT Andromeda 44' pattern, Chris bowled a 300 game as part of an 816 series and set the EBT four game series record. Under the new USBC rules effective 08/2015, only 300 games and 800 series are eligible for honor score awards. Chris' 258, 258, 300, 225 satisfied that requirement as no other bowler is known to have bowled any honor scores anywhere in the world. Brett Childress bowled a 299 game on the PanHandler in 2013. EBT Patterns are presently in use in Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio in the USA, and Australia, Saudi Arabia, England, and Canada internationally. No other location has reported an honor score making Chris Polizzi the first confirmed to have done so. Now that that feat has been accomplished, the challenge will be to shoot an honor score on the other 10 individual EBT patterns!
- EBT Partners With Real Bowlers Tape 02/07/2016
General Information
The Elite Bowlers Tour through the association of Real Bowlers Tape representative, Thomas Bosquez, will be able to offer this high quality product to our bowlers. The Elite Bowlers Tour will receive a predetermined number of boxes to raffle off on select tournaments, and all bowlers will be automatically entered into a drawing to receive Real Bowlers Tape at the conclusion of the tournament. The Elite Bowlers Tour is proud to partner with and support Real Bowlers Tape and their images will appear on EBT flyers and communications. However, if bowlers are in need of tape supplies, do not hesitate to contact Thomas Bosquez. More information to follow.
- EBT Oil Patterns Make International Debut 08/24/2014
General Information
The Elite Bowlers Tour quasi-sport patterns known collectively as the "User" patterns make international debut. The shortest of the three user patterns, EBT FreeLoader 38', is presently in use in Saudi Arabia and has been used there since 2012. The medium pattern, EBT Gold Digger 42', and the long EBT Panhandler 46', are now in use in Sydney, Australia. However, no one has ever bowled a 300 game or an 800 series on any of the patterns. As they are used in more events worldwide, pressure mounts on the United States based Elite Bowlers Tour to produce the first honor score bowler. The closest person to shoot an honor score was Brett Childress who still holds an impressive 299 game on the Panhandler on 03/03/2013. Next season, the Elite Bowlers Tour is considering having a high score prize fund to be awarded to the first person to shoot a 300 or 800 on any of the three patterns. Details are still in the works and the bowlers will be notified if such plan develops.
- High Senior Out-Of Cut 05/05/2014
Prize Fund Modification
Director Hal Kee has requested and confirmed that the Elite Bowlers Tour will include a high senior out-of-cut in both the handicap and scratch divisions. To be eligible, the bowlers must be age 55 or older with proof of age. For every 30 entries in a division that the EBT receives, it will pay one high senior that pays back their entry fee (generally $45.00 handicap/$55.00 scratch) though those dollar amounts could change. The EBT will use a portion of its collected fees plus fees obtained through brackets to pay the senior spots. If there 60 entries, the EBT will pay two spots, 90 pays three spots, and so on. If there are no eligible seniors, the EBT will not pay any senior spots. The EBT may round up if desired, but it is not required to do so meaning that if the EBT receives 56 entries, for example, it does not have to pay two seniors. However, the EBT has historically rounded up to the benefit of the bowlers and each tournament will be taken on a case by case basis. This new feature is not expected to have any bearing on the general prize fund. High senior out-of-cut is eligible for the Champion of the Year.