Belmonte Wins Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship

Australia’s Jason Belmonte won his third Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour title of the 2011-12 season, and the fourth of his career, when he defeated Mike DeVaney of Murrieta, CA, 255-238, to win the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship at South Point Casino and Hotel.

The finals of the eighth and final event in the PBA World Series of Bowling aired Sunday on ESPN.

The victory tied Belmonte with PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke for current season titles as the PBA Tour heads into its final event of the 2011-12 season, the PBA Tournament of Champions, which gets underway Monday at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. The TOC, the fourth major championship of the season, offers an $80,000 first prize. The finals will air live on ESPN Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

Belmonte, whose only PBA Tour title prior to this season was in the 2009 Bowling Foundation Long Island Open, wrapped up a stunning PBA World Series of Bowling performance with his Elite Players Championship. He won titles in three of his six WSOB television finals, plus he had a third-place finish in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the PBA which kicked off the World Series.

As he had done in previous World Series eliminator-format events, the Australian two-handed star got off to a modest start in the Elite Players Championship. DeVaney, a two-time PBA Tour title winner, led the four-player opening match with a 257 game. Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, was second with a 247. Belmonte was third with a 237. Duke’s hopes for his 38th career title, and fourth of the 2011-12 season, ended when he left a 7-10 split followed by a “big four” 4-6-7-10 split in the eighth and ninth frames, respectively, bowing out of the competition with a 222.

DeVaney again led the three survivors in game two with a 234. After finishing with a 205, Belmonte got a break when Scroggins, needing a strike in the 10th frame to advance, left the 4-6-7-8-10 “Greek Church” and opened for a 190.

If there was one player in the field who wasn’t concerned about Belmonte’s dominating performance in the World Series, it was DeVaney.

"I won't be watching Belmo. (His two-handed technique) doesn’t impress me,” DeVaney said before the match. “I’m not interested. I don't care. I throw it the right way. I put my thumb in there the way I was taught and how everybody should throw it."

In a classic title-match battle, Belmonte and DeVaney both pounded the pocket, but DeVaney left an 8 pin in the fifth frame, a 9 pin in the seventh and a 10 pin on his first ball in the 10th, and Belmonte capitalized with a late string of five strikes to take charge of the contest.

“Anyone who wins has a little luck go their way,” Belmonte said, “but to win three times during the World Series, I had a lot of luck go my way. Osku (Palermaa) missed a 10 pin (allowing Belmonte to reach the Chameleon Open title match)…Chris Barnes shooting 300 (in the second game, not the title match of the GEICO Shark Open)…Scroggins opening in the 10th…a lot of things really fell into place.

“I’m just overwhelmed right now."

“That second game might be the best 205 game I ever bowled,” he continued, referring to seven single pins he left standing during that game. “The pins were brutal to knock over. I didn’t know how I was going to double. But in the final game, I got the pins to fall.

“My expectation coming into the World Series was just to bowl well, and if I bowled great, to make a TV show,” Belmonte added. “To come home with a title was the ultimate dream, but to have exceeded that three times over? There’s no way I would have predicted it. I’m seriously overwhelmed.”

Competition in the Tournament of Champions gets underway with Champions Field qualifying on Monday. Xtra Frame, the PBA’s online bowling channel, will webcast all of the preliminary qualifying and match play rounds beginning with the Champions Field and continuing through Friday night’s Round of 36 match play finals when the four stepladder finalists will be decided. To subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

PEPSI PBA ELITE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

South Point Exhibition Hall, Las Vegas, April 8

Round One (lowest score eliminated): Mike DeVaney, Murrieta, Calif., 257; Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 247; Jason Belmonte, Australia, 237; Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 222 ($10,000).

Round Two (lowest score eliminated): DeVaney 234, Belmonte 205, Scroggins 190 ($11,000).

Championship: Belmonte ($35,000) def. DeVaney ($18,000), 255-238.

Latest PBA News

Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, FL, will have an opportunity to move into a tie for third place on the all-time PBA titles list  after advancing to the finals of the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship Wednesday at South Point Bowling Center.

Duke, currently tied with fellow hall of famer Mark Roth for fourth place on the PBA career titles list with 34, eliminated Bill O’Neill of Southampton, PA; Andres Gomez of Colombia, and Dan MacLelland of Windsor, Ontario, in the Elite Players Eliminator Round to reach the finals. Roth was in the crowd, watching as Duke defeat O’Neill, 484-438, in their two-game finale.

Pete Weber of St. Ann, MO, who was eliminated in his final match Wednesday by Mike DeVaney of Murrieta, CA, is third on the PBA titles list with 35, trailing leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. (47) and Earl Anthony (43). DeVaney knocked Weber out of the event, 473-425, to win his group’s berth in the finals.

“Bowling in the Elite Players Championship was like bowling three different formats in one, so you can imagine what that can do with your mind,” Duke said about surviving 30 qualifying games just to reach the Eliminator Round. “The physical part of the game is demanding enough, but mentally it’s even more tiring. You start to space out after a while and lose track of the little things like where you’re standing, how fast should I be throwing it, what ball you’re using. The one thing that helps is you’re not alone. I say to myself, look at the rest of the field – they’re going through the same thing.”

Regarding his quest to break his titles tie with Roth and catch Weber, the 47-year-old Duke said, “I look at everything I do now as to how will it round out my career. How much longer do I have? To be tied with Roth and have the chance to tie Weber, how great is that?”

In Wednesday’s Eliminator Round, 16 players were divided into four groups for two-game elimination rounds. After each round, the lowest scoring player was eliminated. In addition to Duke and DeVaney, the other two players advancing to the Elite Players Championship finals were Australia’s Jason Belmonte and Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas.

Belmonte defeated Mike Fagan of Dallas, 473-407, to qualify for his fifth World Series television final, tying a World Series record for TV appearances set earlier in the event by Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL. Scroggins eliminated Jason Couch of Clermont, FL, 460-417, in their group’s final game.

The 16 Eliminator Round qualifiers will also 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.

Ronnie Russell of Marion, IN, the top qualifier going into the Eliminator Round, was eliminated in the first game in Group A, but he will be the first player to select a doubles partner from among the remaining 15 during a special doubles selection session Thursday afternoon. After Russell selects his partner, the next highest qualifier will select a partner. That process will continue until the field of eight doubles teams has been determined. The doubles competition will be conducted Sunday afternoon as part of the World Series of Bowling’s weekend television package.

                

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 Exhibit Hall A. Admission is free for all of the shows.

PEPSI PBA ELITE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

South Point Bowling Center, Las Vegas, Nov. 16

ELIMINATOR ROUND (Two games, lowest scoring player eliminated; group winners advance to ESPN finals)

GROUP A

            Round One: Pete Weber 472, Mike DeVaney 463, Sean Rash 444, Ronnie Russell 378 (Russell eliminated, earned $3,000).

            Round Two: DeVaney 457, Weber 416, Rash 401 (Rash eliminated, earned $3,500).

            Round Three: DeVaney 473, Weber 425 (Weber eliminated, earned $5,000).

GROUP B

            Round One: Jason Couch 441, Mike Scroggins 439, Ryan Ciminelli 436, Wes Malott 410 (Malott eliminated, earned $3,000).

            Round Two: Scroggins 484, Couch 419, Ciminelli 400 (Ciminelli eliminated, earned $3,500).

            Round Three: Scroggins 460, Couch 417 (Couch eliminated, earned $5,000).

GROUP C

            Round One: Andres Gomez 531, Norm Duke 487, Bill O’Neill 479, Dan MacLelland 445 (MacLelland eliminated, earned $3,000).

            Round Two: O’Neill 495, Duke 458, Gomez 427 (Gomez eliminated, earned $3,500).

            Round Three: Duke 484, O’Neill 438 (O’Neill eliminated, earned $5,000).

GROUP D

            Round One: Mike Fagan 495, Jason Belmonte 482, Martin Larsen 381, Dick Allen 335 (Allen eliminated, earned $3,000).

            Round Two: Belmonte 494, Fagan 411, Larsen 410 (Larsen eliminated, earned $3,500).

            Round Three: Belmonte 473, Fagan 407 (Fagan eliminated, earned $5,000).

Final Qualifying Standings (after 30 games; top 16 advanced to Eliminator Round and to Lumber Liquidators Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship)

1, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 7,294.
2, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 7,150.
3, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 7,134.
4, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 7,069.
5, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 7,039.
6, Bill O'Neill, Southampton, Pa., 6,976.
7, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 6,942.
8, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 6,917.
9, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 6,903.
10, Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., 6,896.
11, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 6,889.
12, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 6,863.
13, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 6,829.
14, Dan MacLelland, Saginaw, Mich., 6,796.
15, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 6,776.
16, Mike DeVaney, Murrieta, Calif., 6,760.

Did not advance:17 (tie), Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., and Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 6,759, $2,490.
19, Patrick Allen, Baltimore, 6,756, $2,460.
20, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 6,746, $2,440.
21, Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, Ariz., 6,745, $2,420.
22, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 6,727, $2,400.
23, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 6,719, $2,390.
24, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 6,717, $2,380.
25, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 6,688, $2,370.
26, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 6,671, $2,360.
27, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 6,655, $2,350.
28, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 6,631, $2,340.
29, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 6,616, $2,330.
30, Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., 6,605, $2,320.
31, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 6,550, $2,410.
32, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 6,483, $2,300.

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.

PBA World Series of Bowling Events Roll On

Live coverage of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) World Series of Bowling competition on Xtra Frame revs up Monday with qualifying rounds for the Carmen Salvino Classic. The six-game Round of 16, which will decide the four ESPN finalists, will dominate pba.com’s online bowling channel Monday evening, starting at 8 p.m. PT.

Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship six-game qualifying rounds (also airing on Xtra Frame)  are set for 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday. Those 12 games, combined with the first 12 games from the Salvino Classic, will determine the top 32 who will bowl a fifth six-game qualifying round Wednesday at 9 a.m.

After 30 games, things really get interesting. Not only will the Elite Players field be cut to the top 16, but those 16 players also will become the field for the new Lumber Liquidators Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship. Teams will be decided during a draft whereby the top qualifier will be first to select a partner. The No. 2 qualifier will then select his partner and so on until all eight teams are determined.

To subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com. Special one-day rates are available exclusively during the WSOB for $3.99. A full-year subscription to Xtra Frame is also available for $64.99.

PBA fans also can follow the action from the World Series of Bowling on PBA's Facebook page and through Twitter.