US Open Likely To Decide PBA Player of the Year

After a one-year absence, the 68th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open will return
to Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, N.J., Feb. 21-27, with the addition of 
a unique three-day schedule of live television coverage, an $80,000 guaranteed
first prize and maybe a decisive role in the 2010-11 PBA Player of the Year race. 

The fourth and final major championship on the 2010-11 Lumber Liquidators PBA 
Tour schedule, the U.S. Open is considered by many to be the most challenging 
title in all of bowling to win. It is an extreme test of bowling skill, patience 
and perseverance. What makes the U.S. Open special is that non-professionals, 
men or women, international and domestic, are invited to compete against the 
world’s top professionals on difficult lane conditions that place a high premium 
on accuracy and precise shot-making.

Heading into the U.S. Open, Mika Koivuniemi of Hartland, MI, is the odds-on 
favorite to win Player of the Year after winning the $1 million PBA Tournament 
of Champions in Las Vegas on Jan. 22 to go along with a sixth-place finish in 
the PBA World Championship and a third-place finish Sunday in the Bayer United 
States Bowling Congress Masters. The 43-year-old native of Finland was PBA 
Player of the Year for the 2003-04 season.

Koivuniemi’s closest challenger is his close friend and tour roommate, Chris 
Barnes of Double Oak, TX, who won the PBA World Championship, finished fifth 
in the Tournament of Champions and tied for ninth in the Masters (thanks to an 
804-698 loss to Koivuniemi that bounced him out of the double-elimination match 
play tournament). Barnes was Player of the Year for the 2007-08 season.

Chasing Koivuniemi and Barnes is defending U.S. Open champion Bill O’Neill of 
Southampton, PA, who won the Pepsi Viper Championship, finished second in the 
PBA World Championship and ninth in the Tournament of Champions. O’Neill 
advanced to the 64-player match play field in the Bayer USBC Masters, but was 
eliminated quickly with two losses. A win in the season’s final major championship 
could put him back into the race.

There are a lot of other players who hope to make a statement in North 
Brunswick, including Kelly Kulick of nearby Union, NJ, who became the PBA 
Tour’s first woman champion when she won the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions, 
and Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, TX, who won the 2009 U.S. Open at Brunswick 
Zone-Carolier. Kulick, who earned the right to bowl on the PBA Tour this season 
as an exempt player after her Tournament of Champions victory, is coming into 
the U.S. Open after a 29th place finish among 256 competitors in last week’s 
USBC Masters in Reno, Nev.

In addition to Scroggins, other U.S. Open champions who won at Carolier include 
Barnes (2005), Tommy Jones (2006), Pete Weber (2007) and Norm Duke (2008). Prior 
to moving to Indianapolis for the 2010 event, Carolier had hosted five 
consecutive U.S. Opens between 2005 and 2009. Weber will be trying for a record 
fifth U.S. Open title.

Also at stake in North Brunswick will be competition points affecting the 
end-of-season Dick Weber PBA Playoffs March 8-14 in Indianapolis and the 
inaugural World Tenpin Bowling Association World Bowling Tour Finals next fall 
in Las Vegas.

For the PBA Playoffs, players are competing for points that will determine the 
top 72 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour players who will qualify for the event as 
well as how many “bye” rounds the points leaders can earn. As far as the World 
Bowling Tour Finals is concerned, the U.S. Open is one of seven international 
tournaments awarding qualifying points toward that event. The international 
connection is expected to attract some of the world’s premier men and women 
players to New Jersey.

Unique to the 2011 event will be three days of live television coverage, 
including an expanded six-player stepladder final, with two matches airing live 
on ESPN2 on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 10 p.m. Eastern. Saturday’s winner will 
advance to the four-player stepladder final field for Sunday’s ESPN telecast at 
3 p.m. where the winner of the $80,000 top prize will be decided.

The first telecast will provide live coverage of several matches during the 
opening round of match play on Friday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Saturday’s telecast will feature the No. 6 qualifier bowling the No. 5 
qualifier. The winner will then meet the No. 4 qualifier to complete the 
one-hour show.

The 68th U.S. Open will begin with 18 qualifying games for all players. The top 
25 percent of the field will advance to an eight-game cashers’ round, and the 
top 24 will then bowl three eight-game match play rounds to determine the six 
finalists.

Bowling fans will be able to follow the U.S. Open from start to finish on 
pba.com’s Xtra Frame video streaming service. More than 70 hours of live 
coverage of U.S. Open qualifying and match play will be aired on Xtra Frame. For 
subscription information, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.