PBA World Championships Update

An important advantage of finishing among the top four PBA World Championship qualifiers was the right to select the lane condition that will be used for each of the divisional finals Saturday in Exhibition Hall A at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

As the top qualifier in the Don Carter Division, England’s Stuart Williams has selected the Viper pattern for the 10:30 a.m. PT finals. His opponents will be Osku Palermaa, Dom Barrett and Jack Jurek.

For the 12:30 p.m. group, Billy Hardwick Division top qualifier Tom Smallwood has selected the Scorpion pattern. Smallwood’s group includes Ildemaro Ruiz, Andres Gomez and Ryan Shafer.

As the overall qualifying leader, Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL, has also selected the Scorpion pattern for the Johnny Petraglia Division finals at 3:30 p.m. Rash’s opponents will be Pete Weber, Ryan Ciminelli and Nathan Bohr.

The Mike Aulby Division final will be contested on the Shark pattern at 5:30 p.m., selected by top qualifier Jason Belmonte. His group includes Brian Kretzer, Josh Blanchard and Mike Fagan.

The winner of each division final will advance to the PBA World Championship finals at 8:30 p.m. The highest seeded player in that field will select the lane conditioning pattern for the final round.

All of the television shows are open to the public at no cost. The World Series television production schedule includes the men’s and women’s World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the PBA on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PT. Friday’s schedule includes the Bayer Viper Open finals at 1 p.m., Chameleon Open finals at 3 p.m., Scorpion Open finals at 6 p.m. and GEICO Shark Open finals at 8 p.m.

Saturday is PBA World Championship day. The 2011 PBA World Series of Bowling concludes on Sunday with the Lumber Liquidators Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles preliminary round at 10 a.m., doubles finals at noon, Carmen Salvino Classic finals at 3:30 p.m. and the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship at 5:30 p.m.

● The total number of unique participants in the 2011 PBA World Series of Bowling swelled to 316 over the weekend with an influx of 112 PBA Regional and amateur bowlers who came to South Point to bowl in the All Regions South Point Open singles event and the PBA West Region Member/Non-Member Doubles.

● Out of the composite field of 316 bowlers, 119 different individuals (37.65 percent) have cashed in at least one World Series event.

● With his win in Sunday’s PBA West Region Member/Non-Member Doubles with amateur partner Alex Aguiar, PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III has now won every kind of doubles event the PBA has offered. He won the 1992 PBA Doubles Classic with Hugh Miller, the 1993 Merit Mixed Doubles with Aleta Sill, and the 2001 National Bowling Stadium National/Senior Doubles with Rohn Morton.

● During the first week of World Series competition, the PBA’s ball drilling staff drilled nearly 650 new bowling balls.