PBA SPARE SHOTS

PBA Spare Shots

INTERNATIONAL BOWL EXPO HELPS BOOST PBA XTRA FRAME LUBBOCK SPORTS OPEN FIELD

The PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Open may have received a boost from International Bowl Expo, the annual multi-event bowling industry trade show and educational showcase that is set to get underway in Las Vegas this weekend.

A number of PBA stars, including international stars Dom Barrett (England) and Jason Belmonte (Australia), will compete in the Lubbock Sports Open at South Plains Lanes in Lubbock, Texas, this weekend before heading to Las Vegas to make appearances at the Bowl Expo trade show for the bowling ball companies next week.

Among the early entries in Lubbock are 2013 PBA Rookie of the Year EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., who will try to defend his 2015 title – his first in PBA Tour competition – along with PBA Tour champions Dick Allen, Patrick Allen, Chris Barnes, Tom Daugherty, Gary Faulkner, Tom Hess, Tommy Jones, Marshall Kent, Robert Lawrence, Bill O’Neill, Anthony Pepe, Sean Rash, Ronnie Russell, Ryan Shafer, Kyle Troup, Stuart Williams and Mike Wolfe.

In addition to the $20,000 first prize and a PBA Tour title, at stake in the expanded schedule of 10 Xtra Frame PBA Tour events in 2016 is a $10,000 winner-take-all bonus that will be awarded to the series points leader - who happens to be Tackett after the first three events. Tackett, with 53 points, is nine points ahead of Ryan Ciminelli and Jones, each with 44.

The PBA Lubbock Sports Open will be covered exclusively from start-to-finish by pba.com’s online video service (three-day, monthly and annual subscriptions are available at xtraframe.tv).

During the Bowl Expo trade show June 29-30, a number of PBA as well as a group of PBA50 Tour stars who are in Las Vegas for the USBC Senior Masters will be on hand to sign autographs, and visit with proprietors and industry leaders. Also representing the PBA during the trade show will be PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark, PBA Deputy Commissioner Kirk von Krueger and PBA’s ESPN sideline reporter, former Miss USA Kimberly Pressler.

WEBER TRIES FOR ANOTHER MILESTONE IN USBC SENIOR MASTERS

While defending PBA50 Player of the Year Pete Weber’s streak of four consecutive PBA50 Tour wins ended with his title-match loss to Noel Vazquez in the Northern California Classic, he remains in the hunt to re-write the PBA50 record book.

Weber’s next target is the record for most PBA50 titles in a season which he can break if he wins this week’s USBC Senior Masters for his fifth title in 2016.  Weber, who won the 2013 Senior Masters, is currently tied with Pete Couture (1998), Dale Eagle (1999), Bob Glass (2001), Tom Baker (2006) and Ron Mohr (2011) - all of whom have won four PBA50 tournaments in a season.

If Weber fails to win the USBC Senior Masters, he will still have five additional opportunities before the 2016 PBA50 Tour season concludes Aug. 14-17 with the PBA50 National Championship to benefit Riley Hospital for Children at Signature Lanes in Elkhart, Ind.

THIS WEEK ON XTRA FRAME: XF LUBBOCK SPORTS OPEN, PWBA PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Xtra Frame’s start-to-finish coverage of the PBA Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports Open from South Plains Lanes in Lubbock, Texas, headlines this weekend’s coverage as the PBA Tour returns to action. The fourth of 10 Xtra Frame PBA Tour series events will air live on Xtra Frame Saturday and Sunday, with the five-player stepladder finals scheduled for 5:45 p.m. (CDT) Sunday.

Also on tap this week will be the preliminary rounds of the Go Bowling PWBA Players Championship from Green Bay, Wis., Friday and Saturday. Xtra Frame provides exclusive live coverage of all preliminary rounds to determine PWBA’s CBS Sports Network stepladder finalists.

PBA50 players are competing all this week in the USBC Senior Masters. Coverage, which concludes Saturday, is airing on BowlTV on bowl.com.

Three-day ($3.99), 30-day ($7.99) and full year ($64.99) Xtra Frame subscriptions are available by clicking on the Xtra Frame link on pba.com.

QUBICA AMF PBA REGIONAL UPDATE: HOHLBEIN, RICE, ESKEW WIN IN NW TRIPLEHEADER

Erik Hohlbein of Renton, Wash.; Rob Rice of Sunnyside, Wash., and non-member Lori Eskew of Hillsboro, Ore., were victorious in the PBA Secoma Lanes Northwest tripleheader in Federal Way, Wash., Sunday.

In the Northwest Region standard event, Hohlbein and Sam Cooley of Australia were tied after 20 games, forcing a one-ball sudden-death roll-off which Hohlbein won, 10-9, for his sixth regional title and the $2,000 first prize.

Rice won the PBA50 portion of the tripleheader, recording an 11-1 match play record and 5,056 total pins for 20 games to beat David Williams Jr. of Omaha, Neb., by 140 pins for the $1,500 first prize and his eighth regional title.

In the PWBA-PBA Women’s Regional event, Eskew had a 4-2 match play record and knocked down 2,809 total pins for 13 games to top non-member Courtney Couch of Puyallup, Wash., for the win and a $800 prize. Couch had 2,667 pins. Because Eskew is not a member she did not receive credit for a title nor did she earn points toward the end-of-season PWBA-PBA Women’s Regional Challenge during PBA World Series of Bowling VIII.

● Anthony Colosimo of Pembroke Pines, Fla., won his first QubicaAMF PBA Regional title Sunday at Nassau Bowling Center in Yulee, Fla., by defeating match play leader Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., 234-180, to win the PBA Timmy See Memorial South Open.

Colosimo earned $2,600 and became eligible to enter the 2017 PBA Tournament of Champions after winning his first PBA title. After leading qualifying on Saturday, Colosimo lost the lead to Troup going into the stepladder finals. Colosimo eliminated non-member Sean Connolly of Apopka, Fla., in the stepladder semifinal match, 197-168, before out-striking Troup to run away with the title.

In the first stepladder match Connolly, a home school bowler competing for money for his SMART scholarship fund, disposed of Darin Hays from Wesley Chapel, Fla., 215-185.

● Isaac Kim of Lebanon, Pa., defeated Michael Houtz of Myerstown, Pa., 230-190, to win the PBA Rackbusters Pro Shops Eastern Challenge at Bowlerama in New Castle, Del. on Saturday.  PBA Challenge events are open to any member or non-member who has never won a PBA event.

Kim, who was the runner-up in the PBA East Region standard event in Yonkers, N.Y. the weekend before, went undefeated in elimination match play rounds after qualifying 12th in the field of 76. Kim’s opponent for the title ended up being Houtz, his long-time friend and mentor. Kim overcame a missed single pin spare early in the match while Houtz suffered through severe cramps in his bowling hand throughout the semifinal and championship matches.

Kim earned $1,800 for the win and became eligible to enter the 2017 PBA Tournament of Champions with his first title.

● Ryan Lakota of Shorewood, Ill., defeated Zach Singer of Buffalo Grove, Ill., 244-168, in a battle of amateur players to win the PBA Strike N Spare II Adrenaline Midwest Challenge at Strike N Spare II in Lockport, Ill., Saturday.

The win was Lakota’s first and he earned $1,300 but he does not credit for a PBA title because he is not a PBA member.

Lakota defeated Eric Tackett of Huntington, Ind., 199-175, in the semifinal round, while Singer edged Brian Traber of Waterford, Wis., 189-173, to set up the championship match.

● Closing out the June schedule of QubicaAMF PBA Regional events over the June 24-26 weekend will be the Battle at Black Oak Casino West Open at Black Oak Lanes in Tuolumne, Calif.; the Pro Bowl West Center/Midwest Challenge presented by Columbia 300 in Fort Wayne, Ind., and the PBA/PBA50 AMF Fredericksburg Over/Under 50 Doubles presented by Radical in Fredericksburg, Va. The June 24-26 weekend also will include the Xtra Frame Lubbock Sports PBA Open in Lubbock, Texas.

● For complete QubicaAMF PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, visit pba.com, open the “schedules” tab and click on QubicaAMF Regional Tours to find the event(s) in your area. For more information about QubicaAMF, visit www.qubicaamf.com or, for social media posts, visit http://bit.ly/QAMFSponsorship1.