Jason Belmonte Retains Lead in U.S. Open
Jason Belmonte used his 9 game score of 1934 (+134) to bring his total to 6051 (+651, 224.11 Average) and keep his lead in the U.S. Open. Belmonte will lead all bowlers going into match play this afternoon. Belmonte currently has an 85 pin lead on the second place bowler Andres Gomez’s score of 5966. Other bowlers currently in the top five include Bill O’Neill (5958), Jason Couch (5866), and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. (5850). The field will now be cut to the top 24 bowlers with a cut score of 5637 (+237, 208.78 Average). Matchplay will begin this afternoon and continue throughout the day tomorrow.
Walter Ray Wins USBC Masters
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. has won his second career USBC Masters title. Walter Ray defeated top qualifier Chris Barnes by a score of 290-217. His first Masters title also came at the hands of Chris Barnes, in 2004. Walter Ray now has eight major titles, tied with Mike Aulby and Pete Weber. Earl Anthony is the only bowler with more, which he has 10 major titles.
To start of the TV finals, Ryan Ciminelli took on Mike Scroggins. Ciminelli won the match, 246-229, and went on to take on Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Walter Ray won that match, 258-224, to go on and face Chris Barnes. In winning the Masters, Walter Ray also takes home $50,000.
See which equipment the pros were using on my InTheBag page for the USBC Masters.
Chris Barnes Earns #1 Seed for USBC Masters TV Finals
Chris Barnes went undefeated in matchplay this week to earn the #1 seed for the TV finals of the USBC Masters. Barnes defeated Walter Ray Williams, Jr. to earn the top seed. Walter Ray earned the #2 seed by winning all of his matches until facing Barnes. Ryan Ciminelli and Mike Scroggins earned the #3 and #4 seeds by winning their ways out of the losers bracket.
In the opening match of the stepladder TV finals, Ciminelli and Scroggins will face off. The winner of that match will go on to bowl against Walter Ray Williams, Jr. This winner will face Barnes in the final round.
Mike Fagan Wins PBA Dick Weber Open
In the opening stepladder match of the 2009-2010 PBA One A Day Dick Weber Open, Bill O’Neill took on Ryan Shafer. O’Neill won the match, 226-200. Bill O’Neill went on to face #3 qualifier Pete Weber. Weber won the match, 214-202, to go on and face #2 qualifier Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Walter Ray won the match, 234-178, and advanced to bowl in the championship match against #1 qualifier Mike Fagan. Fagan continued to bowl well, as he had done all week, and beat Walter Ray, 241-213.
This is Mike Fagan’s first individual PBA Tour title. He has one doubles title, in the 2007-2008 PBA Exempt Doubles tournament with his teammate Danny Wiseman. Fagan came close to winning this same tournament last year, but fell just short, losing to Norm Duke in the championship match. The Chris Paul PBA Celebrity SNL Invitational will be taking place next week.
Mike Fagan used an Ebonite The Mission to win the tournament. See the rest of his equipment and the other pros’ equipment at my InTheBag page for the Dick Weber Open.
Mike Fagan Leads Field for PBA Dick Weber Open
Mike Fagan has been the top qualifier for the TV finals of the 2009-2010 PBA One A Day Dick Weber Open. Fagan finished with a total of 9136 (39 Games + Bonus Pins). This gave him a 172 pin lead over second qualifier Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Other qualifiers include Pete Weber (#3), Ryan Shafer (#4), and Bill O’Neill (#5).
The TV Finals will consist of stepladder matches, starting with O’Neill taking on Shafer, with the winner going on to bowl against Pete Weber. The show will be aired live on ESPN2 at 1:00, rather than ESPN this week. This tournament is being bowled on the 39 foot Dick Weber Open pattern, which was designed to force bowlers into making constant moves because of ongoing lane transitions.
Mike Scroggins Wins Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open
The Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC was created to show bowlers the differences between PBA oil patterns and typical house oil patterns. This tournament used different patterns, with the “red” pattern being the easiest and highest scoring and the “blue” pattern being the toughest. The Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open did a good job of showing exactly how easy these patterns are. There were lots of high scores this week, with several bowlers averaging well over 250 on the red pattern.
Patrick Allen led all bowlers for the week, finishing in first after 48 games, with a total score of 12,308 (+2708, 247.67 Average). The cut to the top 6 was 12,138 (+2538, 243.5 Average). In the round of 4 (Bowlers #3 – #6), Walter Ray Williams, Jr. defeated Mike Machuga, 257-244, and Mike Scroggins defeated Michael Fagan, 218-183. Scroggins went on to bowl against tournament leader Patrick Allen. Scroggins won the match, 227-215. In the other semifinal match, Wayne Garber took on Walter Ray Williams, Jr. The two tied with a score of 237. Garber won the rolloff with a score of 19 to Williams’ 17.
Scroggins and Garber went on to face each other in the finals. Scroggins started the game off great and didn’t look back. He ran the front nine strikes and had a nine-spare-nine in the tenth for a 278 game to beat Garber’s 229 Game. Congratulations to Mike Scroggins!
See which equipment the bowlers were using at MyBowlingBlog.com/InTheBag.
Walter Ray Wins Motor City Open
In the first stepladder match of the Motor City Open, Bill O’Neill defeated Tommy Jones, 201-169. O’Neill won again in his next match, beating Pete Weber, 257-224. O’Neill met his match against Chris Barnes in the semifinals, losing 183-169. After defeating O’Neill, Barnes went on to lose to Walter Ray Williams Jr., 238-230.
This Walter Ray’s first championship of the season, giving him his 46th all time PBA title. Walter Ray’s 46 PBA titles is the most of anybody in PBA Tour history. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. was using the 900 Global Bounty Hunter to win this tournament. You can see what the other pros were throwing on my InTheBag page for the Motor City Open.
The PBA Motor City Open is the first event of the inaugural World Series of Bowling, which includes the first 7 PBA Tour events of the year, all taking place in Detroit, MI. The TV Finals will be aired on ESPN on Sunday, November 1 at 1:00 PM.
View the full Motor City Open results at PBA.com
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