Tommy Hess Wins USBC Masters
The USBC Masters TV finals started with Mika Koivuniemi bowling against Mike DeVaney. Mika continued to bowl great, as he has done all season and won the match. This put Mika in the semifinals against the #2 bowler, Tom Hess. Tommy Hess bowled a great match and was able to defeat Mika Koivuniemi to move onto the finals against #1 bowler Jack Jurek. The finals match went back and forth between the two bowlers, with Hess being victorious in the end. By winning the USBC Masters, Hess takes home the first prize of $50,000.
Bill O’Neill Wins PBA Viper Championship
Bill O’Neill rolled through the TV finals of the Pepsi PBA Viper Championship to win his third PBA title. O’Neill started the day off with a match against Amleto Monacelli, winning 244-159. O’Neill went on to face Mike DeVaney and beat him 242-209, which moved him onto the semifinals to bowl against Tommy Jones. O’Neill won the match 248-192 to move on to the finals against Andres Gomez. O’Neill won the match and the championship, 237-203.
PBA Experience Showdown Takes Place This Weekend
The 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour’s regular season is over, but competition continues Sunday on ESPN with the first of two special events from the new International Training and Research Center located on the International Bowling Campus.
Eleven of the sport’s top players and six United States Bowling Congress league bowlers will compete in the PBA Experience Showdown and the PBA Women’s Series Showdown, both presented by BOWL.COM, which will air on ESPN on Sundays April 11 and April 18 at 1 p.m. Eastern, respectively.
The made-for-TV events will begin with the PBA Experience Showdown on Sunday. The PBA Experience Showdown is a unique competition, tying together USBC’s grassroots PBA Experience league program with the five PBA Tour champions who won the five PBA Experience “animal pattern” lane condition championships during the World Series of Bowling in Detroit, kicking off the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season.
The five champions are Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla. (Cheetah), Rhino Page (Viper), Bill O’Neill (Chameleon), Mike DeVaney (Scorpion) and Jack Jurek (Shark).
The PBA stars were joined in Arlington by six USBC PBA Experience league bowlers – one each representing the five “animal patterns” and a sixth representing any other Sport Bowling lane condition. The six USBC Sport Bowling members who earned trips to Arlington through a national online voting process, along with their respective league secretaries and the proprietor/manager of the center that hosted the league, were: Bill Motovina, Clearwater, Fla.; Joe Petrowski, East Syracuse, N.Y.; Kevin Reuer, Hoffman Estates, Ill.; Pattie Riddle, Palatine, Ill.; Brent Watson, Parkersburg, W. Va., and Bobby Wenger, Wooster, Ohio. In a preliminary event, the six players bowled one game on each of six different PBA Experience lane conditions, and Reuer won the qualifier, advancing to the television final where he will bowl with the five PBA stars.
Sunday’s unique Showdown format will involve all six bowlers bowling one frame on each of five lanes, each featuring a different PBA Experience pattern. In order, the frames will be Shark, Chameleon, Viper, Scorpion and Cheetah. After five frames, the group will be re-ordered, from lowest score to highest, and they’ll bowl another five frames. After one full game, the top two players will advance to a five-frame title match following the same order. The fifth frame will act as a 10th frame.
Mike DeVaney Wins Scorpion Championship
In the finals, Mike DeVaney defeated Jason Belmonte, 189-170, to win the PBA Scorpion Championship. On the way to the finals, DeVaney beat Sean Rash, 182-162. Belmonte defeated Tom Smallwood, 222-175.
This is DeVaney’s first PBA title of the season and second of his career.
See PBA.com for the full results.
PBA Scorpion Championship Update
The TV finals field is set for the PBA Scorpion Championship. For the men, the four finalists are Tom Smallwood, Mike DeVaney, Jason Belmonte, and Sean Rash. For the women, the two finalists are Liz Johnson and Shannon Pluhowsky.
This tournament is Smallwood’s first TV finals appearance, coming after winning his exemption in the tour trials back in May.
For the full results, see PBA.com
DV8 Hell Raiser