Belmonte Advances to Pepsi PBA Scorpion Championship Finals for Second WSOB IX Animal Pattern Telecast Appearance

by JSchneider  |  Thursday, November 16, 8:36 PM

RENO, Nev. – Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte won his best-of-three Pepsi PBA Scorpion Championship presented by Go Bowling! Round-of-8 match at the National Bowling Stadium Thursday to make his second consecutive GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX animal pattern ESPN finals telecast.

Bowling on the 42-foot PBA Scorpion lane oil pattern, the three-time PBA Player of the Year also made his 18th career WSOB telecast by beating rookie Raymond Lussier of Canada, 2-0 (235-189, 276-237).

Belmonte, a 15-time Tour winner that includes eight majors, qualified for the Cheetah Championship finals earlier Thursday with a 2-1 Round-of-8 win over Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y.

Belmonte, who also qualified second for the PBA World Championship finals earlier in WSOB IX, added to his PBA major win total earlier this season with wins in the Barbasol PBA Players Championship and USBC Masters.

The Scorpion Championship finals will be taped Saturday by ESPN at 6 p.m. PT at the National Bowling Stadium and live streamed on ESPN3. The Finals will air on ESPN Dec. 24 at 2 p.m. ET.

In addition to being part of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX, presented by Eldorado Reno Resorts Properties, the Scorpion Championship is also part of the 2017-18 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

Defending PBA Player of the Year EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., made his first WSOB IX finals appearance by beating Arturo Quintero of Mexico 2-1 (220-157, 188-247, 205-176). Tackett, an eight-time Tour winner will be trying for his third win of the season.

Brandon Novak of Chillicothe, Ohio, made his second consecutive WSOB Scorpion Championship finals appearance by beating Matt McNiel of Minneapolis, Minn., 2-1 (199-205, 279-237, 223-196). In 2016 Novak finished fourth in the Scorpion Championship.

Rounding out the Scorpion Championship finals telecast will be Shawn Maldonado of Houston who swept England’s Dom Barrett 2-0 (234-232, 225-206).

All animal pattern championship ESPN finals telecasts (Chameleon, Shark, Cheetah, and Scorpion) will use a format where the four finalists simultaneously bowl one game on the same pair of lanes with the top two scorers advancing to a head-to-head final match.

Svensson, Belmonte Headline All-International PBA Cheetah Championship Finals Field

by JSchneider  |  Thursday, November 16, 3:40 PM

RENO, Nev. -- Two-handers Jesper Svensson of Sweden and Jason Belmonte of Australia won best-of-three Round of 8 matches Thursday to headline an all-international field advancing to the PBA Cheetah Championship presented by PBA Challenge Mobile Game finals which will be taped Saturday by ESPN at 4:15 p.m. PST and live streamed on ESPN3.

Svensson qualified for his second GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX presented by Eldorado Reno Resorts Properties telecast by sweeping PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., 2-0 (259-214, 268-201).

Svensson, a six-time PBA Tour winner, earned top-qualifier honors for the PBA World Championship finals after cashers’ rounds were completed earlier in the week.

Belmonte, who qualified second for the World Championship finals, beat Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y., 2-1, in his best-of-three match to also make his second WSOB IX finals telecast. After losing the first game 234-206, Belmonte came back to win the next two, 259-189 and 300-214.

For Belmonte, a 15-time Tour winner and three-time PBA Player of the Year, the Cheetah Championship finals marks his 17th World Series of Bowling telecast appearance.

The Cheetah Championship, which will be aired on ESPN Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. ET, is also part of the 2017-18 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

Making it two players from Australia in the finals, Sam Cooley beat PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J., 2-0 (243-212, 279-194) to advance to his first WSOB final. Cooley’s best Tour finish was third in the 2016 Barbasol PBA Players Championship.

Two-time PBA Tour winner Thomas Larsen of Denmark rounded out the all-international finals field by sweeping South Africa’s Francois Louw, 2-0 (232-189, 247-232), to advance to the final.

The finals telecasts will use a format where the four finalists simultaneously bowl one game on the same pair of lanes with the top two scorers advancing to a head-to-head final match.

Round of 16 and Round of 8 Elimination Rounds for the Pepsi PBA Scorpion Championship presented by Go Bowling! continue this afternoon. And will be covered live by PBA’s online bowling channel Xtra Frame.

Jesper Svensson Cruises in Last Two Rounds to Earn PBA World Championship Finals Top Qualifier Honors

by JSchneider  |  Tuesday, November 14, 8:46 PM

RENO, Nev. -- After six days of competition and 60 games on four different lane conditions, Sweden’s Jesper Svensson averaged 241 to earn top qualifier honors for the stepladder finals of the PBA World Championship.

The 22-year-old left-handed two-hander finished with a 14,465 60-game pinfall total at the National Bowling Stadium Tuesday to lead right-handed two-hander Jason Belmonte of Australia who qualified a distant second for the finals with a 14,129 pinfall total.

“Obviously a major (win) means more than the rest but it will be like bowling a new tournament,” said Svensson, who as top qualifier needs only to win one match for the title. “I have to forget that I led the qualifying rounds by so many pins and focus on the best 10 frames I can bowl.

“It’s really a different mindset than qualifying,” Svensson added. “If you bowl a bad frame or a bad game there’s plenty of time to make up for it. In the championship match, at the end of the day, it’s whoever throws it the best the quickest.”

In Tuesday’s final cashers’ round bowled on the 42-foot Scorpion lane condition, Svensson bowled games of 183, 255, 224, 224 and 246 after bowling games of 233, 247, 258, 257 and 255 earlier in the day on the 33-foot Cheetah lane condition.

The World Championship finals will be taped on Sunday, Nov. 19 at noon PST (live streamed on ESPN3, taped for telecast on ESPN on Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. EST).

The PBA World Championship is the crown jewel of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX, presented by Eldorado Reno Resorts Properties, and the final major championship of the PBA’s 2017 season. WSOB IX is also a part of the 2017-18 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

Svensson, already a six-time PBA Tour winner, will be trying for his second PBA major title after winning the 2016 PBA Tournament of Champions, while Belmonte, a 15-time Tour winner, will be trying for his ninth major, which would put him alone in third place among the PBA’s all-time major title winners. Neither player has won the PBA World Championship.

Belmonte will also be trying for his third major title of the season winning the Barbasol PBA Players Championship and USBC Masters earlier this year.

“This win would be important for a number of reasons,” said Belmonte, a three-time PBA Player of the Year. “It would be a major title I haven’t won and it would go a long way to securing another Player of the Year honor.”

Finishing third for the finals was seven-time Tour winner Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y., who is also trying for his second major, after winning the 2015 U.S. Open. Ciminelli posted a 14,031 pinfall.

Two-time Tour winner Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., another two-hander, earned the fourth qualifying position finishing with a 13,931 pinfall and PBA Rookie of the Year contender Matt Sanders of Evansville, Ind., bowled a 268 in the final game of the round to secure the fifth qualifying position for the finals with a 13,830 pinfall. Sanders won his first PBA Tour title earlier this season in the Xtra Frame Billy Hardwick Memorial Open.

World Championship qualifying and cashers’ rounds were conducted on the 39-foot Chameleon, 45-foot Shark, 33-foot Cheetah and 42-foot Scorpion PBA lane conditioning patterns.

World Series of Bowling action continues Wednesday with PBA Chameleon presented by Reno Tahoe and Shark Championship presented by Xtra Frame elimination rounds beginning at 11 a.m. PST. Fans can catch all the action on PBA’s online bowling channel Xtra Frame.

Liz Johnson Among Four Players Advancing to PBA Chameleon Championship Finals

by JSchneider  |  Wednesday, November 15, 3:43 PM

RENO, Nev. -- Liz Johnson, Wes Malott, Anthony Pepe and Tom Smallwood swept their respective best-of-three Round of 8 matches to advance to Saturday’s finals of the PBA Chameleon Championship presented by Reno Tahoe Wednesday afternoon that will be taped by ESPN at noon PST and streamed live on ESPN3.

The finals telecasts will use a format where the four finalists simultaneously bowl one game on the same pair of lanes with the top two scorers advancing to a head-to-head final match. The Chameleon finals will air on ESPN Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. ET.

The Chameleon Championship is part of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX, presented by Eldorado Reno Resorts Properties and the 2017-18 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

Johnson, a USBC Hall of Famer and three-time reigning Professional Women’s Bowling Association Player of the Year, beat Josh Blanchard of Mesa, Ariz. 2-0 (239-224, 228-214) to advance to the finals.

Johnson, a native of western New York who now lives in Palatine, Ill., is a two-time PBA regional champion and has a best PBA Tour finish of second which came in the 2005 Banquet Open. She also owns a record 10 PWBA Tour major titles. She will be hoping to join Kelly Kulick, the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions winner, as the only women to win a PBA Tour title.

Malott, of Pflugerville, Texas, a 10-time Tour winner, made his first TV final at the National Bowling Stadium by beating Swedish two-hander and PBA World Championship top qualifier Jesper Svensson 2-0 (279-258, 255-214).

Pepe, of Elmhurst, N.Y., whose first PBA Tour title came in the 2014 Cheetah Championship, will be trying for his second PBA Tour title advancing to the finals by beating Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., 2-0 (202-202 won roll-off 20-19, 279-233).

Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich., advanced to the finals with a 2-0 (249-178, 231-225) win over Thailand’s Yannaphon Larpapharat. Smallwood, the 2009 PBA World Championship winner, will be trying for his third PBA Tour title.

Elimination rounds for the Shark Championship presented by Xtra Frame continue this afternoon beginning at 3:30 p.m. PT. All competition will be covered by PBA’s online bowling channel Xtra Frame.

Two Tour Winners and Two Players Making Their First PBA Tour Telecast Advance to PBA Shark Championship Final

by JSchneider  |  Wednesday, November 15, 9:04 PM

RENO, Nev. – Two PBA Tour champions and two players making their first PBA Tour telecasts won best-of-three Round of 8 matches Wednesday evening to advance to the PBA Shark Championship presented by Xtra Frame finals which will be taped Saturday by ESPN at 2:30 p.m. PST and live streamed on ESPN3.

Four-time PBA Tour winner Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., and two-time winner Tom Daugherty of Riverview, Fla., both swept their best-of-three matches. Kent defeated PBA World Championship top qualifier Jesper Svensson of Sweden, 2-0 (233-215, 248-226), while Daugherty beat Thomas Larsen of Denmark, 2-0 (234-225, 216-215).



Charlie Brown Jr., a 36-year-old rookie bowling in his first PBA Tour event, swept Shota Kawazoe of Japan, 2-0, to make his first PBA Tour telecast. Brown, of Grandville, Mich., had to win a three-frame roll-off, 29-27, in the first game after a 257-257 tie and then in the second game narrowly beat Kawazoe 248-244.

Bowling in his fourth World Series of Bowling, England’s Richie Teece finally broke through to make his first Tour telecast by beating Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich., 2-1 (212-243, 257-215, 226-212).

The finals telecasts will use a format where the four finalists simultaneously bowl one game on the same pair of lanes with the top two scorers advancing to a head-to-head final match. The Shark finals will air on ESPN Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. ET.

The Shark Championship is part of the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IX, presented by Eldorado Reno Resorts Properties and the 2017-18 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule.

Kent, the 2014 PBA Rookie of the Year, will be trying for his third win of the season having won the Oklahoma Open and Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Open last summer.

Daugherty, who will be trying for his first win of the season, has a seventh and three ninth-place finishes this season. His last PBA Tour win came in the 2016 Wolf Open.

Elimination Rounds for the PBA Cheetah Championship presented by PBA Challenge Mobile Game and Pepsi PBA Scorpion Championship presented by Go Bowling! continue Thursday beginning at 11 a.m. PST. All competition will be covered by PBA’s online bowling channel Xtra Frame.

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