Bohn Climbs The Stepladder Wins PBA World Championship

Parker Bohn III of Jackson, NJ, completed one of the most impressive, if unlikely, victories in his hall of fame career, defeating four opponents including top qualifier Jason Belmonte of Australia, 254-227, to win the PBA World Championship at South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV.

The concluding event of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IV, and the first major championship of the 2012-13 PBA Tour season, aired Sunday on ESPN.

Bohn, who had not won a title in more than four years, captured his 33rd PBA Tour title – and second major – with a stunning performance that began when he claimed the 24th and final position in match play by only three pins, followed by qualifying for the stepladder finals by only nine pins.

In the championship round, he defeated Canada’s Dan MacLelland, 226-218; Rhino Page of Dade City, FL, 200-170, and reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash of suburban Chicago (Montgomery), IL, 278-231, to advance to the title match where he defeated Belmonte.

In winning the World Championship, Bohn became only the third ever to win a major championship after qualifying 24th for match play (Mike Aulby won the 1989 U.S. Open and Pete Weber won the 1991 U.S. Open after qualifying 24th), and the 15th overall to accomplish that feat. At age 49 years, 122 days he also became the second-oldest player ever to win the PBA World Championship (Tom Baker was 49 years, 192 days when he won in 2004).

“Dreams do come true if you wait long enough, I guess,” Bohn said. “It was a lot of destiny, a lot of things working in my favor.”

Bohn, who almost cancelled his plans to attend the World Series after Super Storm Sandy devastated his home state, began his miraculous title quest with seven strikes in his first nine frames en route to his victory over MacLelland. In the second match, he got help in overcoming a 10-pin deficit when Page missed a 7 pin spare attempt in the eighth frame and opened again in the ninth.

The veteran left-hander started the semifinal match against Rash with seven strikes and never trailed. In the title match, he struck on eight of his first 10 shots against Belmonte, but didn’t break away until Belmonte left 10 pins in the seventh and ninth frames.

“When I look at everything that’s gone on this week,” Bohn said, hesitating. “I looked at (my wife) Leslie the night before I left and said, you know, it’s a tossup over whether I even go. The only thankful grace at that point was we had our power back a couple of hours before I left."

“When I got here, I missed the first practice session, but lo and behold, I kept going throughout the week. I never made the top 16 in any of the events, but still found myself fortunate enough to sneak in to match play in 24th. I just kept plugging along."

“The only pin I threw away all week was on one fill ball, when I threw a 7 pin away. That’s the only pin I can remember throwing away the entire week. Every pin mattered. I only made the top 24 by three pins, and then I made the TV show by less than 10 pins as well.”

When he got to the ESPN finals, Bohn believes divine intervention came into play.

“I do believe my old friend (the late Tony Reyes) was looking down on me and letting me stand tall. The biggest key was going through the nose in the seventh frame against (Rash). A pin rolls out of nowhere and takes out the 4-7, and I get a strike. Usually whoever wins has one or two breaks and I’m here to tell you, I had my share of breaks today.”

Throughout the World Series, Bohn said he was bowling for more than himself.

“My wife and I have created a Striking Out Sandy fund. We’re trying to raise funds for kids who unfortunately lost everything,” Bohn said. “I know there are families that lost everything, but hopefully there will be other people who can take care of them. We had people who were donating money for every strike during qualifying. All of the money we’re raising is going to buy kids backpacks and things they need for school so they can hopefully put the past behind them."

“My heart always goes out to kids,” he added. “I’ve got five children myself and I want them to be able to live life as normally as they can. I had one guy compute all of the strikes I threw in qualifying and match play – 415 or 420 – and he put up $1 a pin himself. We had another guy who lives in upstate New York near my brother-in-law Doug Kent and his wife Chrissie who had a 25-foot trailer. He saw what we were doing on our website, and filled the trailer with clothes and supplies, and delivered it to our area.”

Information about the Striking Out Sandy program can be found of Bohn's Facebook page and parkerbohn.com. “It’ll be there for a long time to come, because I can’t tell you how much the people back east have gone through,” Bohn said. “It’s not going to get corrected by tomorrow.”

While the hardships friends and family faced were fresh on his mind, Bohn might have been the happiest he has ever been after winning a PBA title.

“I’m as happy as I can be,” he grinned. “Now I can say that I’m the world champion.”

ESPN’s coverage of the 2012-13 PBA Tour season continues next Sunday with the finals of the Round1 Japan Cup from Tokyo, Japan, at 3 p.m. ET. The all-new PBA League then makes its debut with a live two-hour ESPN telecast from Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, MI, at noon ET on Sunday, Jan. 27.

Mr. 100 Shoots 200 and Wins PBA Bowlers Journal Scorpion Championship

After bowling a Professional Bowlers Association record-low 100 game in his only previous television appearance, Tom Daugherty of Wesley Chapel, FL, redeemed himself in the Bowlers Journal Scorpion Championship, winning three consecutive matches including a 200-182 victory over top qualifier Osku Palermaa of Finland, to capture his first PBA National Tour title at South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV.

The Bowlers Journal Scorpion Championship finals, the fourth of five GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IV events, aired Sunday on ESPN.

Daugherty, who bowled his record-low game in a 299-100 loss to eventual champion Mika Koivuniemi in the semifinal round of the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions, used his “thumbless” delivery to mow down an impressive field of high-rev power players in the Scorpion finals, raising his television average by 88 pins in the process.

After sneaking into the stepladder finals in fourth position by four pins over Rhino Page of Dade City, FL, Daugherty ruined Jason Sterner’s television debut, eliminating the McDonough, GA, resident, 199-177. He then romped past Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte, 256-187, and threw a critical double in the fifth and sixth frames of the title match to defeat Palermaa, getting help from the Finnish two-handed star when he had consecutive opens in the sixth and seventh frames.

Ironically, Daugherty put together the best performance of his professional career while glancing at a very large “100” in a graphic above the lanes promoting “Bowlers Journal 100th Anniversary.”

“I want to thank Bowlers Journal for reminding me all day of my 100 game,” Daugherty said with a grin at the conclusion of the match.

While all four finalists use power techniques that allow them to generate significant hooking power, the key was slower ball speed, a result of Daugherty not using his thumb in his delivery.

“The difference between me and the two-handers is my ball speed,” Daugherty said. “They throw it 100 miles per hour, so I can actually do something they can’t and that’s a slow hook. I knew if I could get by Sterner, I’d have a good chance. I knew (Belmonte and Palermaa) weren’t going to bowl anything. They might say they threw some bad shots, but I didn’t think either one of them could shoot 200 because of their ball reactions.

“They couldn’t get inside as far as I was because of their ball speed. Their ball would never hook from there,” Daugherty added. “As soon as Belmo tried to move in just a little, he missed the headpin. It was easy for me to do, too, but on my good shots, I could get the ball to make the turn. They couldn’t do that.”

Daugherty admitted he was nervous in making his second career television appearance.

“There was a lot of nerves going on the first game. The three-bagger kinda calmed me down, but leaving that 3-6-9-10 in the first frame was unnerving. I didn’t want to start with an open,” he said after successfully converting the difficult spare. “That’s all I thought about after making the show: not starting with an open and that’s not the spare you want to shoot at in the first frame.”

Daugherty said he was thrilled to win his first National PBA Tour title because it made him eligible to bowl in the 2013 PBA Tournament of Champions under revised eligibility rules that will only allow PBA Tour champions to enter. He had bowled in the TOC previously under rules that allowed PBA Regional title winners to participate.

“I was so disappointed when they changed the TOC criteria,” Daugherty said. “I made a lot of money in that tournament the past two years, but now I’m back.”

The GEICO World Series of Bowling concludes on ESPN next Sunday at 1 p.m. ET with the finals of the PBA World Championship, the first major championship of the 2012-13 PBA Tour season. Finalists will include PBA Hall of Famer and 31-time PBA Tour titlist Parker Bohn III of Jackson, NJ; Canada’s Dan MacLelland; Rhino Page of Dade City, FL; reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL, and top qualifier Jason Belmonte of Australia, a five-time PBA Tour champion who is trying for his first major title.

Rash Top Average in the PBA World Series of Bowling IV

Reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL, came into the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IV as the highest averaging player on PBA “animal patterns” in three previous WSOB (224.54 for 162 games), more than two pins ahead of Chris Barnes, and he easily retained his No. 1 ranking in that category.

After another 32 games and 7,662 pins on the Cheetah, Viper, Chameleon and Scorpion patterns – a 239.44 average which earned him the No. 1 seed for the PBA World Championship match play finals – Rash improved his four-year animal pattern average to 226.99.

Some other WSOB IV notes:

● Through the four animal pattern events, Australia’s Jason Belmonte has taken the lead in “most World Series” television finals with 12 after qualifying for the Chameleon and Scorpion finals. Rash is second with 11 after qualifying for the Viper finals. Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, PA, is third, qualifying for his eighth ESPN final in the Cheetah. All three have a chance to add to their totals if they can fill any of the five stepladder berths in the PBA World Championship.

● Speaking of Belmonte, Rash and O’Neill – they are the only three players who have qualified for at least one television final in all four World Series.

● For the five WSOB tournaments, 76 players in the 240-player field – 31.6 percent – cashed in at least one event. Tommy Jones, Dan MacLelland and Stuart Williams were the only players to get a check in all five.