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.
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.
Jack Jurek Leads after Round 2 of U.S. Open
Jack Jurek used a 1298 (+98) score in the second round of the U.S. Open to bring his 12 game total to 2672 (+272, 222.67 Average), which leads Amleto Monacelli’s 2659. Other bowlers rounding out the top five are David Beres (2656), Jason Wojnar (2652), and Robert Smith (2650). Bill O’Neill had the high score for the day of 1457, but currently sits in 13th place. As of right now, the cut score (top 25%, 88/352 bowlers) is at 2396 (-4, 199.67 Average). Today bowlers are bowling 6 more games, then the cut will be made to the top 88 of the 352 bowler field. Those who make the cut will come back on Friday for 9 more games, before cutting to the top 24. Then matchplay begins on Friday night and will continue throughout the day on Saturday.
Jack Jurek Wins Shark Championship
Jack Jurek defeated Wes Malott, 255-213, to earn his way to the finals of the PBA Shark Championship. Michael Fagan defeated Jason Couch in the semifinals, 224-201. Jurek and Fagan squared off in the finals match, tying with a score of 218. In a one ball rolloff, Jurek beat Fagan by throwing a strike to Fagan’s 8 count.
This is Jurek’s first PBA title of the season, and second of his career.
View the full results on PBA.com
The bowlers will now have a break until December, when the season will pick back up.
PBA Shark Championship Results
The TV finals are set for the PBA Shark Championship. The four men bowling in the finals are Michael Fagan, Jason Couch, Jack Jurek, and Wes Malott. 2008 Player of the Year Wes Malott lost in the finals of the Shark Championship in 2008 against Rhino Page, so he is looking to take advantage of another opportunity to win it this year.
For the women, Kelly Kulick and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard are the two finalists. Kulick won a close semifinal match against Liz Johnson.
The PBA Shark Championship finals will be bowled on Saturday, September 6 and aired on ESPN on Sunday, December 6.
See PBA.com for the full results.
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