Wednesday, November 25, 2009

PBA Tournament of Champions Field

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) has announced the 63-player field for the 2010 PBA 
Tournament of Champions (TOC), set for
Jan. 19-24 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. The
stepladder finals will be
telecast live by ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern on Jan. 24.

Kelly Kulick, who made PBA history in 2006 as the first woman to earn a full-season exemption to
bowl on the PBA Tour, will make history again as the
first woman to compete in the prestigious PBA
event. She won the inaugural PBA
Women’s World Championship in August during the PBA World
Series of Bowling.


Another trend-setter in the field is Jason Belmonte of Australia who will be the first two-handed
player to compete in the event after winning last season’s
Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic
in West Babylon, NY.


At age 50, Walter Ray Williams Jr., the Tour’s all-time win leader with 46 titles, will again try for his
first Tournament of Champions title. The
TOC is the last jewel Williams needs to complete the
PBA’s
Triple Crown, Grand Slam and Super Slam.

The PBA Tournament of Champions, the second major championship on the 2009-10 Lumber
Liquidators PBA Tour schedule, is open exclusively to PBA Tour
exempt-player champions; the
winners of the most recent PBA Regional
Championship and Regional Players Invitational; the
United States Bowling
Congress (USBC) Masters winner; the USBC Senior Masters, PBA Senior
U.S. Open and PBA
Senior World Championship winners; all Tournament of Champions past
winners, PBA
Hall of Famers, and the PBA Women’s World Championship titlist.

Fifty-nine players have been assured spots in the tournament with the Regional Players Invitational
(RPI) representative to be determined at the RPI Championship
Dec. 15-17 in Reno, NV. If there
are new PBA Tour champions in the events
leading up to the TOC, the players “on the bubble” who
would
be eliminated in order are Bob Learn Jr., Kurt Pilon and Dave Arnold.

If any spots in the field are vacant, PBA Tour champions not currently on the exempt Tour list will be
eligible in order of the most recent title winners.


In all, 13 past TOC winners, 16 PBA Hall of Famers and 19 members of the PBA 50 greatest players
of all-time list are scheduled to
compete.

The first Tournament of Champions was conducted in 1962 in Indianapolis. The event was not
conducted in 1963 and ’64 but moved to Akron, Ohio, in 1965 where
it was conducted until 1994.
Since then, it has been conducted in various
locations.

2010 PBA Tournament of Champions Roster
1. Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, NY
2. Mike DeVaney, San Diego, CA
3. Bill O'Neill, Southampton, PA
4. Rhino Page, Wesley Chapel, FL
5. Norm Duke, Clermont, FL
6. Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, FL
7. Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, FL
8. Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, TX
9. Jason Belmonte, Australia
10. Chris Barnes, Double Oak, TX
11. Wes Malott, Pflugerville, TX
12. Jeff Carter, Springfield, IL
13. John Nolen, Grand Blanc, MI
14. Parker Bohn III, Jackson, NJ
15. Mike Wolfe, New Albany, IN
16. Michael Machuga, Erie, PA
17. Brad Angelo, Lockport, NY
18. Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, SC
19. Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, AZ
20. Michael Fagan, Patchogue, NY
21. Robert Smith, Columbus, OH
22. Sean Rash, Wichita, KS
23. Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, MI
24. Doug Kent, Newark, NY
25. Pete Weber, St. Ann, MO
26. Jason Couch, Clermont, FL
27. Brian Voss, Alpharetta, GA
28. Ritchie Allen, Columbia, SC
29. Steve Jaros, Yorkville, IL
30. Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, NY
31. Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, KS
32. Eugene McCune, Munster, IN
33. Mike Edwards, Tulsa, OK
34. Dale Traber, Cedarburg, WI
35. Wayne Webb, Sacramento, CA
36. Joe Ciccone, Buffalo, NY
37. Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., MI
38. Kelly Kulick, Union, NJ
39. RPI CHAMPION (To be determined)
40. Del Ballard Jr., Keller, TX
41. Dave D'Entremont, Middleburg Heights, OH
42. Bryan Goebel, Shawnee, KS
43. John Petraglia, Jackson, NJ
44. Mark Williams, Beaumont, TX
45. Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela
46. Dave Soutar, Bradenton, FL
47. Carmen Salvino, Schaumburg, IL
48. Dave Husted, Milwaukie, OR
49. Tom Baker, King, NC
50. Don McCune, Las Vegas, NV
51. Ernie Schlegel, Vancouver, WA
52. Roy Buckley, Westerville, OH
53. Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, MD
54. Mike Mineman, St. Louis, MO
55. Tony Reyes, San Bruno, CA
56. Chris Collins, Savannah, GA
57. Brian Himmler, Cincinnati, OH
58. Rick Lawrence, Waxahachie, TX
59. Bryon Smith, Roseburg, OR
60. Randy Pedersen, Clermont, FL
61. Dave Arnold, Dublin, CA

62. Kurt Pilon, Warren, MI
63. Bob Learn Jr., Erie, PA.

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