PBA Gears "Down" for Plastic Ball Championships

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship March 24-28 at AMF Babylon Lanes in West Babylon, NY, is the one event on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour that turns back the clock on bowling ball technology so that players will have less reliance on today’s high-powered equipment.

This year’s Plastic Ball Championship is named after PBA Hall of Famer and native New Yorker Mark Roth who used plastic ball technology to win most of his 34 Tour titles, which ranks him in a tie for third all-time with fellow Hall of Famer Pete Weber. Roth, who suffered a stroke last May, is planning to attend the event.

Plastic (polyester) balls like the ones that will be used in this tournament are used today almost
exclusively for spare shooting due to the balls’ proclivity to go straight on the majority of today’s lane
conditions. Plastic was the most popular material used in bowling ball construction in the 1970s and
early 80s. Today’s most popular balls are made of a resin material with exotic weight blocks, which
enhance the balls’ ability to hook.

In addition to using equipment that emphasizes a player’s ability to make adjustments without being
able to rely on the technology built into today’s more advanced bowling balls, the Plastic Ball 
Championship equalizes the playing field much like auto racing’s former International Race of 
Champions (IROC) series that required drivers to race the same type of car.

In 2009 Jeff Carter of Springfield, IL, won the GEICO Plastic Ball Championship in Wheat Ridge, CO,
for his first career Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title by defeating Hall of Famer Pete Weber, 235-
213, in the championship match.

“Actually, I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t have a lot of confidence going into the tournament,”
Carter said. “But as the tournament went on I found that a lot of the variables, mainly having to worry
about what equipment to use, were eliminated.  It kept things simple so I could concentrate on making
the right physical adjustments and make good shots.”

The Plastic Ball Championship will require all 64 players to use two identical special Mark Roth
custom-designed bowling balls manufactured by OntheBallBowling.com. These will be the only balls
they will be able to use throughout the tournament.  A limited number of balls also will be available for
sale with a portion of the proceeds going to Roth’s continuing medical expenses.

The tournament is one of the Tour’s four Extreme Swing events.  It will be conducted on the Tour’s
Shark lane conditioning pattern, but with a lower volume of oil applied to the lane surface than normal.

Among the field of 64 players competing will be Australian two-handed star and 2008-09 Rookie of
the Year Jason Belmonte, who made PBA Tour history last season at AMF Babylon Lanes, by
becoming the first two-handed player to win a PBA Tour title, as well as native Long Islander Mike
Fagan of Patchogue, NY, who won his second PBA Tour title at the Dick Weber Open in Orange
County, CA, in January.  Also competing will be Hall of Famer and time 14-time Tour titlist Johnny
Petraglia of Jackson, NJ—a contemporary of Roth’s—who received a commissioner’s exemption for this
event.

As the PBA Tour heads down the homestretch, as the second to last event of the 2009-10 PBA
Tour season, the Plastic Ball Championship could be a determining factor for Player of the Year
honors.

Currently Bill O’Neill of Southamption, PA, leads the Player of the Year race with a four-point lead
over Hall of Famer and all-time PBA win leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. in second and an eight-point
lead over Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, TX, in third.

Scroggins Big Jump Into Player of The Year Race

With his second victory of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season,
Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, has turned the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of
the Year race into a three-man sprint heading into the final three events of the
season.

By picking up 16 points with his win in the Etonic Don Johnson Eliminator in
Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, Scroggins now has 48 points, eight behind leader Bill
O’Neill of Southampton, PA, and four behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala,
FL.

In each of the final three events, the top four players will earn 16, 8, 4 and 2
points, respectively. An additional point will be awarded to fifth-place finishers
in the stepladder finals of the GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship 
March 28 in West Babylon, NY, and the Lumber Liquidators Marathon Open
April 4 in Baltimore. The Go RVing Match Play Championship, which features
a single-elimination match play format, will award points to the top four finishers
only.

In every other major statistical race other than Player of the Year points,
Williams – at age 50 – is the front-runner. The 47-time PBA Tour champion leads
O’Neill by $95 in earnings with $135,770, holds a 1.7-pin lead over Wes Malott
in the George Young Memorial High Average race with a 221.91 for 465 games, and
tops the Harry Smith Point Leader chase with 193,121 points, more than 12,000
ahead of O’Neill.

Smallwood Featured

The March 15 issue of Sports Illustrated, now on sale at newsstands across
America, includes “The Remarkable Story of Tom Smallwood,” a four-page feature
by Michael Farber.  On Wednesday – the same day “SI” arrived in most American
mailboxes, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric also aired a closing segment on
Smallwood’s all-American success story, rising from unemployed auto worker to
PBA World Champion.

Injury list Grew at Don Johnson Eliminator

John Nolen of Waterford, MI, remained on the sidelines after an emergency
appendectomy following the USBC Masters, and he had company during the Etonic 
Don Johnson Eliminator when Australia’s Jason Belmonte and veterans Pete Weber
of St. Ann, MO, and Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, FL, bowed out due to health
issues.

Belmonte returned home to Australia to nurse a hamstring injury sustained in the
final round of match play in the U.S. Open. Weber hurt his back during practice
prior to the start of the Eliminator, and Allen withdrew due to a knee injury
after four games. Robert Smith, who currently calls Columbus, Ohio, home, also
withdrew during the second round due to a sudden illness.

Johnson Makes PBA Tour Exempt Field For Ninth Time

Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, NY, finished eighth in the Etonic Don Johnson Eliminator Tour Qualifying
Round (TQR) to advance to the Field of 64 for the ninth time in her career, by far the most successful
TQR record for women. Since the PBA opened competition opportunities to women in 2004, Johnson has
bowled against PBA Exempt Tour fields 44 times, including “open field” events where TQR qualifying is
not required.

Kelly Kulick Invited To The White House

The last thing Kelly Kulick could have imagined as she rolled her way to victory in
the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tournament of Champions in
January was that her historic victory would lead to a visit to the White House.

And beyond simply acknowledging her as the first woman to win a Lumber 
Liquidators PBA Tour title, Kulick found herself being honored as an American
pioneer who had carved out a unique place in the nation’s history as the first
woman to win a major championship in a male-dominated professional sport.

Kulick was invited to attend the International Women’s Day reception held in the
East Room of the White House on Monday in celebration of Women’s History 
Month. Hosted by President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, approximately
250 women attended the event which honored contributions of women in history
and contemporary society.

The event began approximately 5 p.m. Eastern with a speech by Mrs. Obama who
recognized all those in attendance.

“Today all of you are joining the long list of incredible women who have graced
these halls both as visitors and as residents, from admirals and actresses to
civil rights pioneers,” Mrs. Obama told the group. “We’re here today not just to
pay tribute to leaders and icons and household names. During Women’s History 
Month, we’re also here to honor the quiet heroes who’ve shaped this country…We
honor the women who traveled those lonely roads to be the first in those
courtrooms, to be the first ones in those boardrooms, to be the first ones on
those playing fields… We honor women who refused to listen to those who would
say that you couldn’t or shouldn’t pursue your dreams.”

President Obama then spoke of the roles of women in building America, the
women he has appointed to positions of influence within his administration, and
his hopes for gender equality in the future.

Kulick said there was no formal receiving line or photo opportunities, but after
the speeches by President and Mrs. Obama, there was a short reception where
she did get to meet very briefly with President Obama.

“I was really just taking it all in and I was looking to see who I might
recognize,” Kulick said. “They might have been there, but I didn’t notice any
other sports figures.

“I didn’t have a chance to speak at length with the president or first lady, but
I did get to meet the president and shake his hand, which was certainly a great
honor.

Kulick said it was a simple and moving ceremony.

“The president’s speech was very moving and paid tribute to the accomplishments
of women who have been pioneers in all walks of life and as role models we are
setting the example for the generations that will follow us,” Kulick added.

Murphy New BPAA Director of Youth

Columbia 300 Brand manager Chad Murphy will assume the post of the new Director of Youth at the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA) in April.