Ronnie Russel Wins First Title in Germany Qualifies for TOC

After 10 years and 142 tournaments, Indianapolis area native Ronnie Russell captured his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour title Sunday, earning a berth in the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions which gets underway Wednesday at Woodland Bowl in his home town.

Russell, a 33-year-old right-hander, defeated Sweden’s James Gruffman, 224-210, to win the Brunswick Euro Challenge (BEC) at Dream Bowl Palace. The tournament is part of the World Tenpin Bowling Association-PBA International Tour. It was the final event leading into the PBA Tournament of Champions.


 

Russell jumped out to an early lead in the title match, starting with three strikes, but the tall Swedish left-hander fought his way back. Russell got a big break when Gruffman left the 4-6-10 split late in the game. With a strike on his first ball in the 10th frame, Russell locked up the title.

With his win, Russell became eligible to compete in the PBA Tournament of Champions for the first time, eliminating Cincinnati’s Brian Himmler, who held the 48th and final berth among eligible PBA Tour champions. The Barbasol PBA TOC features an exclusive field of the 48 most recent PBA Tour champions along with any past TOC champions who elect to enter. The tournament will conclude next Sunday with a five-player stepladder final airing live on ESPN at 2:30 p.m. ET.

 

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth tournament on the 2013 European Bowling Tour schedule and one of only two "Platinum" events this season, the EBT's highest tournament category. The BEC is also the seventh stop of the World Bowling Tour and the second of three WBT events in Europe in 2013.

For the first time in 10 years of BEC competition, Europe's richest tournament will be contested at Europe's biggest bowling center, 52-lane Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany.

The 106.000 Euro tournament, which runs from March 19-24, offers a 15.000 Euro top prize and a PBA International title if won by a PBA member.

Columbia's Gomez Leads Carmen Salvino Classic

Colombian native Andres Gomez, who has won titles around the world as a member of his national bowling team for more than a decade, will try to add a Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour title to his collection in the finals of the PBA’s Carmen Salvino Classic as part of the PBA Tour’s final “doubleheader” weekend of the 2011-12 season.

The seventh of eight PBA World Series of Bowling finals will air Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Also this weekend, the PBA Tour’s competition points leaders will join the best players from the PBA’s seven regional programs and the 2011 PBA Senior Tour points list for the Xtra Frame Tour Dick Weber PBA Playoffs presented by Hammer at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. The PBA Playoffs will be covered live, exclusively by PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame, including all qualifying and elimination rounds Saturday and Sunday.

Gomez, a 38-year-old veteran of four seasons of PBA Tour competition, earned top qualifier honors for the Carmen Salvino Classic by averaging 249.44 over 16 games at South Point Bowling Center. He will face 2008-09 PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, TX; non-titlist Ronnie Russell of Marion, IN, and Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte, who has already won two World Series of Bowling titles, in the four-player “eliminator” format finals.

Gomez, who now lives in the Miami area, came closest to victory during the 2010 PBA World Series of Bowling when he finished second in the Pepsi Viper Championship, losing to Bill O’Neill of Southampton, PA, 237-203, in the title match.

Malott won his seventh career PBA Tour title, and first in three years, when he teamed with Norm Duke to win the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship earlier in the World Series. In the process of winning, Malott helped deny Russell his first PBA Tour title for the fourth time. Russell and Sean Rash of Suburban Chicago (Montgomery), IL, were top qualifiers in the doubles championship, but lost to Malott and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, FL, 193-167.

Belmonte, now a three-time PBA Tour winner, has already won the 2012 Chameleon Open and GEICO Shark Open titles.

Sunday’s ESPN eliminator-format finals will feature three one-game rounds. All four players bowl the opening game, with the lowest-scoring player after each game being eliminated. In the two rounds to follow, the same “low man out” format applies.

In the Salvino title match, the two surviving players will bowl for $15,000 and a PBA Tour title. Gomez and Russell also have a chance to earn a berth in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions (TOC) if either wins (Belmonte and Malott have already qualified for the Round of 36 as title winners).

Malott and Russell will try for a second American title in World Series competition while Gomez and Belmonte will try to improve the international players’ domination in the World Series to six titles in seven events.

In the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs presented by Hammer, the winner (if he hasn’t previously won a title during the 2011-12 season), also will earn a TOC Round of 36 berth along with $20,000 and a PBA Tour title. Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., is defending champion.

A Carmen Salvino Classic pre-event show will be webcast at no cost on pba.com’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel starting Wednesday, with a follow-up post-game show immediately following Sunday’s ESPN telecast. To subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo. The monthly subscription rate is $7.99; a full-year subscription is $64.99.

Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championships

Ronnie Russell of Marion, IN, with a 24-game total of 5,850 pins, claimed the fourth-round lead in the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship Tuesday by 86 pins over Colombia’s Andres Gomez at South Point Bowling Center. Both players are trying to win their first PBA Tour title.

Russell and Gomez jockeyed for the lead for 12 games before Russell moved in front behind games of 231, 255, 226, 235, 247 and 249 in Tuesday’s fourth round.  Russell maintained a 243.75 average for the first 24 games of Elite Players Championship and overcame Gomez’s 64-pin third-round lead.

“Round to round it seems like we need to move left on the lanes quicker and I’ve been able to stay on top of those changes in conditions with my adjustments and equipment,” Russell said. “There’s more friction on the conditions we’re bowling on now and that’s a situation I’m more comfortable with. I just need to continue to make good shots, not press and finish off each round.”

“I’m doing well on the medium length patterns, which is generally where I have my best success,” Gomez said. “The two finals I’ve made have been on medium patterns and I’m usually confident I can finish in the top 10 whenever we bowl on those conditions.”

Russell and Gomez had previously qualified for the Carmen Salvino Classic finals. Gomez also has qualified for the PBA World Championship finals.

The Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship began with an exclusive field of 49 PBA Tour exempt players. The field has been reduced to the top 32 for a final six-game qualifying round Wednesday morning.

After round five, the top 16 players based on 30 games will advance to the Eliminator Round of 16 Wednesday afternoon where they will compete for four spots in the Elite Players Championship finals. The same 16 players will compose the field for the Lumber Liquidators Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship which will be contested on Sunday as part of a four-day PBA World Series of Bowling television extravaganza at South Point.

Beginning Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Pacific, the PBA will produce the first of 14 television shows for delayed telecast on ESPN in a special arena in South Point’s Exhibition Hall A. Admission is free for all of the shows.

PEPSI PBA ELITE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

South Point Bowling Center, Las Vegas, Nov. 15

Round Four (after 24 games; top 32 advance to Round Five)

1, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 5,850.
2, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 5,764.
3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 5,761.
4, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 5,688.
5, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 5,679.
6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 5,638.
7, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 5,558.
8, Bill O'Neill, Southampton, Pa., 5,536.
9, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 5,519.
10, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 5,512.
11, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 5,511.
12, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 5,487.
13, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 5,479.
14, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 5,475.
15, Dan MacLelland, Saginaw, Mich., 5,452.
16, Mike DeVaney, Murrieta, Calif., 5,451.
17, Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., 5,446.
18 (tie), Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., and Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 5,403.
20, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 5,402.
21, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 5,345.
22, Patrick Allen, Baltimore, 5,344.
23, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 5,342.
24, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 5,325.
25 (tie), Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, Ariz., and Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 5,324.
27, Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., 5,320.
28, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 5,308.
29, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 5,297.
30, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 5,295.
31, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 5,294.
32, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 5,266.

Did not advance:
33, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 5,240, $2,150.
34, Scott Norton, Costa Mesa, Calif., 5,231, $2,140.
35, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 5,210, $2,130.
36, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 5,201, $2,120.
37, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 5,200, $2,110.
38, Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, 5,193, $2,100.
39, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 5,191, $2,090.
40, Joe Ciccone, Buffalo, N.Y., 5,190, $2,080.
41, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 5,163, $2,070.
42, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 5,156, $2,060.
43, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 5,150, $2,050.
44, Paul Gibson, Brunswick, Ohio, 5,022, $2,040.
45, Wayne Garber, Modesto, Calif., 5,013, $2,030.
46, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 4,978, $2,020.
47, Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nev., 4,804, $2,010.
48, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 4,717, $2,000.
49, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., withdrew, $2,000.