Anthony Pepe is Challenger in Chris Barnes Challenge #5
Anthony Pepe is the highest bidder and will take on Chris Barnes in the fifth Chris Barnes Challenge. Pepe put up the max bid of $5000 today. Each bowler will put up their $5000, making the pot the highest in any of these events at $10,000. Barnes is currently 2-2 in these matches. There is currently some talk of people wanting to take on Barnes for more than just the $5000 this weekend, but we will have to wait and see if anything comes of this.
Chris Barnes and Anthony Pepe will take each other in a 3 game series on Saturday night, March 27, 2010 at approximately 9:00 Eastern Time. This match will take place at AMF Babylon Lanes in West Babylon, New York and will be aired live on PBA Xtra Frame. The challenger, Pepe, will have the choice of bowling with regular equipment on the PBA Shark pattern, or using plastic equipment on the modified “plastic shark pattern.”
Aguiar Wins in Chris Barnes Challenge #4
Alex Aguiar took on Chris Barnes for the second time this week, this time in the Chris Barnes Challenge. Aguiar was the highest bidder, at $1500, to take on Chris Barnes. Coincidentally, the two were paired together earlier in the week in the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship. Aguiar beat Barnes 4-0 in their match earlier.
This time, Aguiar jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back. Aguiar started with a 224 to jump ahead of Barnes’ 192 game. Aguiar beat Barnes the other two games to win the match 626-524. By defeating Barnes, Alex won the $3000 prize. As of the end of the match, Alex Aguiar has a 7-0 record against “the best bowler in the world.”
Chris Barnes is now 2-2 in his matches in the Chris Barnes Challenge. Barnes has already set the date of the next challenge, coming next week at the PBA GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship. Chris will look to make back some of the money that he lost to Aguiar this week.
Kretzer Wins Match Play Championship
The TV finals of the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship featured Brian Kretzer and Patrick Allen. The format of the TV finals was a three game series, taking total pins. With this format, only the final two bowlers make the TV show. The other two semifinalists were Ryan Ciminelli and Doug Kent.
In the final match, Kretzer posted scores of 192, 241, and 196 for a 629 series. Allen had a 185, 167, and a 214 for a 566 series. Kretzer won the match and the title. This is Brian Kretzer’s first PBA title. Kretzer became the sixth “first time winner” of the 2009 – 2010 PBA season. In winning this event, Kretzer took home the first place prize of $25,000.
See which equipment the pros were using on my InTheBag page for the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship.
Upsets Galore in Round 1 of Match Play Championship
The PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship is underway today. The first round of the tournament was full of upsets. Three of the top four seeds lost their opening match. #3 seed Bill O’Neill was the only of the top four to advance into round 2, but not without a struggle. O’Neill needed all seven games to defeat David O’Sullivan.
#1 seed Walter Ray Williams, Jr. lost in his opening match to Justin Warhol. #3 seed Wes Malott lost his match to Ryan Abel. #4 seed Chris Barnes lost his match to Alex Aguiar. Barnes hopes to get his revenge this saturday in the Chris Barnes Challenge.
This event is being bowled on both the PBA Cheetah and PBA Shark patterns. The rounds of 32, 16, and 8 will be bowled tomorrow, Friday, March, 19, 2010.
Aguiar Winning Bidder for Chris Barnes Challenge #4
Alex Aguiar is the winning bidder for the fourth Chris Barnes Challenge. Aguiar’s winning bid stands at $1500. Alex will take on Chris Barnes in a three game series on Saturday night, March 20, 2010. Alex Aguiar and Chris Barnes faced each other in the first round of the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship. Aguiar won the best of 7 match, four games to one. Aguiar averaged 245.6 in the match. If Alex can keep up the great bowling, he may have a very big week, not only facing the rest of the bowlers throughout the week, but when he takes on Barnes on Saturday night for the $3000 pot.
This match will be aired live on Xtra Frame Saturday night. Good luck to both bowlers!
PBA Makes Big Announcements About 2010 – 2011 Season
The Professional Bowlers Association has made some big announcements about next season. The 2010 – 2011 season will have some big changes. As most already know, the PBA has had a pretty difficult year financially. They knew that they had to make some changes in order to save the future of our sport.
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?
PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship TQR
The Tour Qualifying Round of the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship has finished. Ryan Ciminelli led all bowlers with a score of 1586 (+186, 226.57 Average). Jesse Buss finished in second with 1564. Tony LaCaze and Matthew O’Grady tied for third at 1544. Others making the cut include Alex Aguiar (1520), Ryan Avel (1518), David O’Sullivan (1514), and Justin Warhol (1500).
These top 8 bowlers advance into the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship. They will be matched up against the top eight seeds in the tournament. Best 4 games out of 7 match play will begin on Thursday, March 18, 2010. The full round of 64 will take place on Thursday, with the rounds of 32, 16, and 8 taking place on Friday. The semifinals will be bowled on Saturday. The finals will be bowled live on ESPN on Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. The TV finals will feature the final two bowlers bowling three games, taking total pins.
Go RVing Match Play Championship This Week
This week is the PBA Go RVing Match Play Championship. The Tour Qualifying Round will take place on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. TQR bowlers will bowl 7 games of qualifying and the top 8 bowlers will advance into the tournament. These 8 bowlers will face off against the top 8 ranked bowlers in the tournament. As the tournament starts on Thursday, bowlers will bowl best 4 games out of 7 matches against one another. The winner will go on to the next round. The top four seeds for this tournament are #1 Walter Ray Williams, Jr., #2 Bill O’Neill, #3 Wes Malott, and #4 Chris Barnes. These are the top guys looking to get into the final four. This tournament is the PBA’s version of March Madness. It should be a lot of fun to watch and to participate. To fill out your bracket, head over to PBA.com. This tournament is being bowled on the PBA Cheetah and PBA Shark patterns.
Beautiful Day
I know this isn’t bowling related, but I am so excited that it is such a beautiful day outside that I couldn’t help but write about it! At least it is here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s been slowly warming up for the last few weeks and it looks like today is the warmest/nicest day so far! I heard it’s supposed to snow this weekend, but I don’t really care about that right now. It’s warm right now and I am going to enjoy it!
Walter Ray Covers the “Big 4″
This happened in the 2006 PBA Atlanta Classic. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. left the “big 4″ split, the 4-6-7-10. As it is typically not a make-able spare, Walter Ray even surprised himself as he covered it!
DV8 Hell Raiser