Event News, General News
Tenpin Premier League Releases Format for Inaugural Season
The Tenpin Premier League has announced the format of play for the upcoming inaugural season, which kicks off this weekend with TPL 1, the Wodonga Classic.
The unique event format will focus on head-to-head matches between bowlers for points over two stages before the concluding stage showcases the top 8 performers in a bracket-style Mach5 format.
“Our goal in creating the Tenpin Premier League is to develop an entertainment experience that Tenpin
Bowling fans around Australia and the world want to watch year in, year out,” said Rohan O’Neill,
Tenpin Bowling Australia CEO.
“We have chosen this format as we want the TPL to produce the most exciting spectacle possible, and
we want to see the best players go head-to-head live on broadcast.”
The main difference from an ordinary bowling event is the implementation of the Mach5 format for the top 8 finals stage. What’s the Mach5 format? It’s just like a regular game of bowling but shorter. The Mach5 format is a five-frame game with scores from 4 full frames plus a standard 10th frame with a maximum score of 150.
The new Mach5 format is fast.
It allows the TPL finals to showcase considerably more talent than a traditional stepladder. The Top 8 Finals also rewards the bowlers that have performed during the semi-finals. Players 1 to 4 will see a second chance should they lose, while for players 5 to 8 it will be sudden death. It all adds up to provide an exciting fast and engaging final.
3D Lanes in Wodonga will host 32 of the best bowlers from the country for TPL 1, the Wodonga Classic. The playing roster consists of bowlers from age groups that span all ages, from junior to senior, with most coming from Tenpin Bowling Australia’s (TBA) National Training Squads (NTS).
The path to a TPL title will see bowlers compete in three stages of play.
The field of bowlers will be cut in half at each event stage (32, 16 and 8) on the way to crowning the inaugural TPL champion.
Stage 1 – Pool matches
- Athletes will be divided into four (4) pools of eight (8) bowlers
- Each player will bowl against the other players in their pool once for seven (7) matchplay games. Two (2) points will be awarded for a win and One (1) point for a draw.
- After the seven stage one matches conclude, the top four (4) bowlers from each pool will advance to stage 2- semi-finals.
Stage 2 – Semi-finals
- Points are dropped from stage 1, and semi-finals are started in a clean slate
- There will be two (2) semi-final pools of eight (8) players
- Each player will bowl against the other players in their pool once for seven (7) matchplay games. Two (2) points will be awarded for a win and One (1) point for a draw.
- After the seven semi-final matches conclude, the top four (4) bowlers from each pool will advance to the final stage 3 TV finals.
- The top 8 players to advance will be ranked 1 to 8 based on points collected from stage two. All tied positions will be separated by Wins, For and Against (how much they win by or are defeated by) and average/pinfall. The highest last game will decide the tie if a tie still exists.
Stage 3 – TV Finals
- Like football final formats, after rankings are completed, the top 8 bowlers will enter a finals bracket
- Matches in the finals will be conducted in Mach5 format, where five-frame game scores are taken from four (4) full frames plus a standard 10th frame, with the maximum score being 150.
- Round One
- Qualifying finals – 1v4 and 2v3
- Elimination finals – 5v6 and 7v8
- Round Two
- Qualifying winners (1v4 and 2v3) will receive a bye in round two.
- Elimination final A – Loser of (1v4) vs Winner of (7v8)
- Elimination final B – Loser of (2v3) vs Winner of (5v6)
- Round Three
- Qualifying final winners from round 1 will bowl against round two winners
- Elimination final – Winner of Rd 1 (1v4) vs Winner of Rd 2 Elimination final B (2,3,5,6)
- Elimination final – Winner of Rd 1 (2v3) vs Winner of Rd 2 Elimination final A (1,4,7,8)
- TPL Title Match
- Winners from round three to contest the final for the TPL title
TPL 1 the Wodonga Classic Schedule
- Saturday 3 September 9:00 am – 6:00 pm: Stage 1 – Pool Matches
- Sunday 4 September: Stage 2- Semi-finals 8:00 am – 11:00am and Stage 3 – TV finals 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Catch all the action by purchasing tickets for the inaugural TPL event at Wodonga HERE and stay up to date with all the latest news and results at tenpinpremierleague.com or following it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.