Norm Duke Wins U.S. Open
The U.S. Open took place this past week, concluding on Sunday, February 27, 2011. This event is held on the toughest of all of the PBA patterns, the flat U.S. Open pattern. The difficulty of this pattern was shown in the TV finals this weekend.
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.
Lambert Maintains Lead at USBC Masters
George Lamber IV has kept his lead from day of the USBC Masters throughout day 2 of this event. After 2 rounds of qualifying, Lambert is leading at 2356 (+356, 10 games, 235.6 Average). After the second round, the field was cut to the top 25% (65 bowlers). The remaining bowlers will bowl another 5 game block and the field will then be cut to the top 63 plus last years champion, Walter Ray Williams, Jr. These 64 bowlers will advance to matchplay this evening, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011.
After 2 second round, the top 10 looks like this:
1, George Lambert IV, Canada, 2,356.
2, Bill O’Neill, Southampton, Pa., 2,345.
3, Tommy Jones, Greenville, S.C., 2,299.
4, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 2,297.
5, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 2,274.
6, Mike Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y., 2,255.
7, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 2,253.
8, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 2,250.
9, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 2,247.
10, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 2,234.
10, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 2,234.
For full results, see the USBC Masters page.
Chris Barnes Wins PBA World Championship
The PBA World Championship at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, NV concluded this weekend. The opening match of the TV finals had Chris Barnes bowling against Osku Palermaa. Barnes was able to win the match, 246-176, to advance to the semifinal round against fellow former Wichita State University bowler Sean Rash. Barnes continued to bowl well and won 237-161 to advance to the finals against former SVSU bowler Bill O’Neill. Both bowlers rolled some big scores, but Barnes was victorious, winning 267-237.
Before this event, Chris Barnes had had some trouble bowling on TV. He had done great in the qualifying and matchplay rounds of several events, but couldn’t get over his “TV demons” and finish strong. Winning this event helped Barnes get over that. This is his 13th PBA title and now Barnes has won the “PBA Triple Crown” by winning the U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions, and now the World Championship.
Yong-Jin Gu Wins PBA Scorpion Championship
South Korean Yong-Jin Gu rolled through the TV finals to win the PBA Scorpion Championship. Gu had to climb the ladder to earn the title. The first match had Yong-Jin Gu bowling against Canadian Dan MacLelland, who was an All-American and USBC Collegiate Bowler of the Year at Saginaw Valley State University. Gu won the match, 245-204, and went on to bowl against another SVSU standout, Bill O’Neill. Gu also beat O’Neill, 256-208, to move on to the semifinals against Australian Jason Belmonte. Yong-Jin Gu beat Belmonte, 233-208, and went to the finals against fellow South Korean, Jun-Yung Kim. Gu continued to bowl well, as he had done all day, and beat Kim, 236-224.
This is Yong-Jin Gu’s first PBA title. He had not bowled any PBA events prior to the PBA World Series of Bowling this year.
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.
PBA Plastic Ball Championship Round of 32 Results
The round of 32 has completed in the PBA GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship. After completing 23 games, there is a very tight race for the few spots around the cut. Jason Belmonte is in the lead at +1125 with a 5-4 record. Brian Ziesig is in second with +1091. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is in third at +1011. Other bowlers rounding out the top 5 are Bill O’Neill and Mike Machuga.
The field will now be cut to the top 16, with the cut score being at +774. Scores have been high for this event with the lowest bowler in the round of 32 averaging 217.22 for the tournament. The field of 16 will bowl today and the field will be cut to the top five for the TV finals. The TV finals will be aired live on ESPN on Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.
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.
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.
Bill O’Neill Wins U.S. Open
The opening match of the U.S. Open TV finals had Tommy Jones up against Jason Couch. Jones started off on fire, running the front six strikes to jump out to a big lead. Tommy’s lead was too big for Couch to make up. Tommy Jones won the match 245-192, making the Ebonite Mission look great, just like everyone else has done since its release. Match #2 had Tommy Jones Taking on Bill O’Neill. Jones started to lose his carry toward the end of his first match and made a ball change. Tommy Jones was not able to get his reaction back. Bill O’Neill had to grind out the beginning of the match, but was able to find a good reaction and finally string a few strikes together, winning the match 203-152. O’Neill went on to face Mike Scroggins in the final match. O’Neill caught fire in the middle of the match and jumped out to a huge lead. Scroggins tried to make a come back, but it was too late as Bill O’Neill finished striking out from the third frame to win 267-207. O’Neill won the tournament using a Hammer Black Widow Sting. See the equipment used by all of the pros in the TV finals on my InTheBag page for the U.S. Open.
DV8 Hell Raiser