The first match had two former Collegiate All-Americans and Bowlers of the Year at Saginaw Valley State University in Bill O’Neill and Dan MacLelland. O’Neill was able to take over this match early and won decisively, 204-150. O’Neill went on to bowl against Ryan Shafer in the last Saturday night match. In a close match, Shafer was able to win, 193-183, as O’Neill left a split in the 10th frame. Shafer moved on to bowl against Mika Koivuniemi in the first Sunday match. Both bowlers scored well, but Mika was able to pull ahead and win the match, 236-222, and advance to the semifinals against Tommy Jones. Mika Koivuniemi continued to bowl well, as Jones struggled, and won the match, 241-158.

Mika Koivuniemi went on to face tournament leader Norm Duke in the finals. In a close match that went back and forth, it came down to the 10th frame. Norm Duke threw all strikes in the 9th and 10th frames to force Mika to mark in the 10th. Mika threw a great shot in the 10th, but left a 10 pin. All that was left was to cover the spare and get 8 pins on the fill ball. Off his hand Mika knew he had made a bad shot, as the ball fell into the gutter in front of the 10 pin. Norm Duke had won the match, 225-216, and the tournament.

After the match was over, both bowlers were visibly sick to their stomachs. As Norm Duke was happy to win, his feelings of sympathy toward Mika Koivuniemi strongly overpowered his happiness.

“I sat there stunned, shocked,” Duke said. “I knew I had just won the U.S. Open, but at that moment, my only thought was Mika had just lost. I was just like a fan watching in the living room. How could you not feel badly for him.”

“Mika will be fine, he’ll bounce back. He’s going to be our Player of the Year,” Duke said. “But he’ll never forget that one.”

In winning the U.S. Open, Norm Duke has won his 34th career PBA title and his 7th career PBA Major title.

In winning the PBA Cheetah Championship, Eugene McCune took home the top prize of $15,000 and his second career PBA title.

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.

Several U.S. bowlers had good showings at this event.  Mike Fagan finished 5th, while Norm Duke finished 7th.  Finnish bowlers Osku Palermaa and Kimmo Lehtonen finished 6th and 8th in the tournament.  Congratulations to Rob Thurlby!

There was a little added pressure coming from Garth Brooks as well.  Garth pledged to donate $1000 to the CP3 Foundation for every strike that was thrown by a celebrity.

Congratulations to Chris Paul and Jason Belmonte!  Next week is the USBC Masters tournament, taking place in Reno, Navada.

Over on the women’s side, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard is leading with a score of 3113 (+313, 222.36 Average). The top 8 make the cut with a cut score of 3016 (+216, 215.43 Average).

The top 28 men and top 8 women will begin bowling matchplay on Saturday morning at 10:00 at Thunderbowl Lanes.