Australia’s Jason Belmonte ended his nearly three-year quest for his second
Professional Bowlers Association title, stringing eight strikes to run away from
Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL, 268-191, in the finals of the Chameleon Open at
South Point Casino and Hotel.
The Chameleon
Open finals, the second of four PBA “animal pattern” championships contested
during the third annual PBA World Series of Bowling, aired Sunday on
ESPN.
Belmonte, who
came into the Chameleon elimination-format finals as the leading qualifier,
barely survived the first two games before finding his groove in the title
match.
In the opening
game, Belmonte’s two-handed rival, Osku Palermaa of Finland, led the four-man
field with a 213. Rash was second with a 201, and Belmonte nipped Venezuela’s
Ildemaro Ruiz, 189-187, to avoid elimination as low man in the round.
In game two,
Rash led the survivors with a 226 while Belmonte edged Palermaa, 200-190, to
advance to the title match. Belmonte had lost to Palermaa in the only two
previous meetings of the two-handed rivals, and barely escaped a third loss.
After throwing a strike on his first ball in the 10th to take the lead over
Palermaa, Belmonte left the 3-6-9-10 on his next shot to hand a one-pin lead
back to the Finn. But Palermaa then left a 10 pin on his first shot in the 10th
frame and failed to convert the spare to hand the game back to
Belmonte.
In the title
match, the Australian kicked in the afterburners. After converting the 6-10
spare in the first frame, the 2008-09 PBA Rookie of the Year ran off a string of
eight consecutive strikes to run away with the $15,000 first prize and a berth
in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions. Belmonte
won his only previous PBA Tour title in the 2009 Bowling Foundation Long Island
Open.
“This feels a
million times better than my first title,” Belmonte beamed. “I bowled one of the
best games of my life.
“In the second
match, I got very lucky,” he added. “When you get a break like that, you have to
take it, pardon the expression, in both hands and I was able to do
that.”
By winning the
Chameleon Open, Belmonte became the third straight international player to win a
PBA World Series of Bowling title. In two previous events, Palermaa captured the
PBA World Championship and England’s Stuart Williams won the Bayer Viper
Open.
The third
“animal pattern” championship, the Scorpion Open, will be settled next Sunday at
3 p.m. ET on ESPN. The finalists will be England’s Dom Barrett; Dave Wodka of
Henderson, NV; Rash and Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, FL.
PBA CHAMELEON
OPEN
South Point
Exhibition Hall, Las Vegas
Round One
(lowest score eliminated): Osku Palermaa, Finland, 213; Sean Rash, Montgomery,
IL, 201; Jason Belmonte, Australia, 189; Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 187
($4,000).
Round Two
(lowest score eliminated): Rash 226, Belmonte 200, Palermaa 190
($4,500).
Championship:
Belmonte ($15,000) def. Rash ($7,500), 268-191.
