PBA Chameleon Championship Sunday

 

The stepladder finals of the third “animal pattern” PBA Tour event of the 2012-13 season from the South Point Hotel and Casino Las Vegas, NV takes on an international flavor and features the return of Walter Ray Williams Jr. to a televised final.

In the opening match of the PBA Chameleon Championship, 2010-11 Rookie of the Year Scott Norton of Costa Mesa, CA, takes on Fawaz Abdulla, the first bowler from the Middle East country of Bahrain ever to make a PBA finals telecast.

Norton made a memorable debut in the 2010 World Series of Bowling Chameleon Championship, qualifying as tournament leader in his first TV appearance and then stringing eight consecutive strikes on his way to a 256-181 win over Sean Rash for his first career title.

Abdulla went from 11th to fourth in the final qualifying round, slipping past
PBA stars Tommy Jones and Norm Duke in the final game to take the last TV spot. Suffering from a chronic case of gout prior to the finals, Abdulla required an overnight hospital stay but recovered enough to make his first TV appearance. Abdulla is part of a seven-man Bahrain contingent coached by longtime international competitor and PBA member Tim Mack of Indianapolis.

The winner of the opening match will take on Williams in the semifinal. The
PBA’s all-time leader in Tour wins with 47, is making his first TV appearance in
more than a season. In 2011-12, for the first time in a record 26 seasons, the
PBA Hall of Famer failed to make a TV show.

The winner of the semifinal match will then take on 2011-12 Player of the Year challenger and five-time Tour winner Jason Belmonte of Australia. Belmonte, who won three titles in last year’s WSOB, lost a close vote for Player of the Year honors to Sean Rash last season.

The next two Sundays after the Chameleon telecast will feature World Series of Bowling finals with 90-minute programs airing at 1 p.m. ET. The Bowlers Journal Scorpion Championship will air on Jan. 6, and the PBA World Championship on Jan. 13.