PBA SPARE SHOTS

PBA Spare Shots

 

PBA INTERNATIONAL-WORLD BOWLING TOUR RETURNS TO BANGKOK SEPT. 22-28

The next stop for PBA Tour players who are chasing the top eight places on the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour earnings list for a berth in the end-of-season PBA Clash will be the PBA International-World Bowling Tour Thailand, Sept. 22-28, at Blu-O Rhythm & Bowl Paragon in Bangkok where the tournament’s US$32,250 first prize could play a significant role in the 2018 earnings race.

 

The WBT Thailand format includes three three-game qualifying blocks with nine-game pinfall totals determining the 42 players who will advance to Round Two which involves qualifiers 25-42 bowling six games (all previous pins are dropped). The top 10 from Round Two will join qualifiers 9-24 for another six-game block in Round Three. The top 12 from Round Three will join qualifiers 1-8 for the six-game Round Four.

 

Round Four will decide the seven players who will join the highest-qualifying Thai player for the final round on Friday, Sept. 28, that will be a modified stepladder schedule. Match One will include Finalists 6, 7 and 8. The winner moves on to Match Two along with finalists 4 and 5. That winner bowls Finalist 3 in Match Three. The Match Three winner bowls Finalist 2 in the Semifinal Match. The Semifinal winner advances to the championship match where he/she has to beat Finalist 1 twice in order to win the event.

 

The winner will earn a PBA Tour title if he/she is a PBA member and doesn’t accept handicap pins (like many WBT events, WBT Thailand offers women 8 handicap pins per game.

 

PBA fans can follow the Thailand tournament online through the Asian Bowling Federation’s website: http://www.abf-online.org/results/ttbawbt18.htm. Thailand’s Jojoe Yannaphon, a PBA member, is the defending champion. In 2017, Yannaphon was high qualifier and defeated Sweden’s two-handed star, Jesper Svensson, 212-202, to earn his first PBA Tour title.

 

The WBT Thailand is also a WBT points event. The top three men and top three women in WBT points for the 2018 season will compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the PBA which will be contested at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, for airing on FS1 on Sunday, March 10, at 10 p.m. EST.

 

NEXT UP: XTRA FRAME ON FLOBOWLING VISITS NORTH CAROLINA, CALIFORNIA

Closing out the month, PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling will visit North Carolina and California to cover another weekend doubleheader: the PBA50 Storm Invitational at Planet Fun Bowling and Entertainment Center in Shallotte, N.C., and a PBA Regional event, the PBA Double Decker West/Northwest Open presented by Roto Grip from Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, Calif., Sept. 29-30.

 

The PBA50 Invitational, Saturday and Sunday, Sept.29-30, will involve a field of 14 including 2018 PBA50 Player of the Year Michael Haugen Jr., PBA50 Cup winner Brian Kretzer, PBA60 Player of the Year Ron Mohr, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Norm Duke, Parker Bohn III, Lennie Boresch Jr., Amleto Monacelli, Ryan Shafer, Bob Learn Jr., Pete Weber, Harry Sullins, Brian Voss and Johnny Petraglia.

 

All PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling events are covered live from start to finish. One last reminder: existing Xtra Frame subscribers need to transition their current subscriptions to FloBowling by visiting https://www.flobowling.com/claim-account. New subscribers can enroll at FloBowling.com.

 

PBA REGIONAL UPDATE: ANDY PATTERSON WINS GRAND CASINO INVITATIONAL

Andy Patterson from Tyler, Texas defeated Chris Hibbitts II from Keller, Texas, to win the fifth annual PBA Grand Casino Resort & Hotel Southwest Invitational at FireLake Bowling Center in Shawnee, Okla., Sunday. The entire event was live-streamed by PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling.

 

Patterson, who earned his sixth PBA Regional title, was able to string strikes while Hibbitts had trouble adjusting to the final pair’s conditions, topping him, 220-158, to claim the $4,000 winner’s check.

 

After 12 games of qualifying, both players had long roads to the final match. After qualifying 13th, Patterson started his road to victory by downing Houston PBA50 player David Scardaville, 2-0, in the best-of-three-game Round of 16; David Krol from Nixa, Mo., 2-1, in the Round of 12, and Tyler Albracht of Amarillo, Texas, 2-1 in the Round of 8. In the semifinal round, he eliminated newly-inducted PBA Southwest Hall of Famer Mark Scroggins of Canyon, Texas, 279-243.

       

Hibbitts, who had won two previous PBA Regionals at FireLake, qualified 14th and defeated Sean Lavery-Spahr from Pasadena, Texas, 2-1; Joe Findling from Mesquite, Texas, 2-0; Shawn Maldonado of Houston, 2-1, and Devin Bidwell of Wichita, Kan., 236-160, before Patterson ended his bid for another PBA title.

 

As part of the tournament weekend, Scroggins and Junction City Bowl proprietor and long-time PBA Regional tournament host Joe Ellison from Junction City, Kan., were inducted into the PBA Southwest Region Hall of Fame.

 

● Steve Lickliter of Beckley, W.Va., won the PBA60 Wilson & Sons Pest Control Open title in Mooresville, N.C.; Stoney Baker of Canton, Ga., notched his 31st PBA regional win in the PBA50 Samuel Adams Mooresville South Open presented by Columbia 300, and Bill Peters of Dayton, Ohio, won his first PBA title in the PBA60 Kingsport Southern Open presented by Storm to complete the PBA South Region’s annual extended Labor Day “tripleheader” at Warpath Lanes in Kingsport, Tenn.

 

Lickliter kicked off the series by defeating Sam Ventura of Syracuse, N.Y., 214-207, in the final of the PBA60 Wilson & Sons event at Victory Lanes in Mooresville, N.C., on Sept. 1. Two days later, Stoney Baker came out striking with the front five to defeat PBA Hall of Famer and defending champion Tom Baker (no relation) of King, N.C., 258-220, in the PBA50 event, also at Victory Lanes in Mooresville.

 

Along with his 15th regional title, Lickliter earned $2,200. Stoney Baker earned $2,300 in the PBA50 event.

 

The South Region players then traveled to Tennessee where Peters was the top qualifier. A recent “super senior” after turning 60 on Dec. 27, Peters defeated no. 2 qualifier Sammy Ventura of Syracuse, N.Y., 259-181, to win the PBA60 title and $1,600 in Kingsport.

 

● Also in the PBA South Region, Brandon Curtis of Manson, N.C. won his first PBA title Sunday, defeating Matt Martin of Axton, Va., 278-246, to win the 15th annual PBA Fayetteville South Open at Lafayette Lanes in Fayetteville, N.C.

 

Curtis, who qualified in the fourth-and-final position for the four-man stepladder finals with a 17-game total of 4,199 pins – one pin ahead of PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. – disposed of Mike Coffey of Melbourne, Fla., in opening match, 268-245, and easily defeated Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., 265-226, in the semifinal contest to advance to the championship match.

 

In the title match Curtis started with nine strikes to grab a healthy lead while Martin fumbled early. Despite a six-strike rally from the fourth frame to the 10th, it wasn’t enough to catch Curtis who earned $2,400 along with his title.

 

● Rick Graham of Lancaster, Pa. compiled a 6-1-1 match play record on his way to a 69-pin victory over tournament sponsor Brian LeClair of Albany, N.Y. in the PBA50 Brian LeClair’s Revolutions Pro Shop Eastern Open at Boulevard Bowl in Schenectady, N.Y., Sunday.

 

Graham, who finished second in last year’s event, survived a 178 final game in qualifying to advance to the semifinal round. He then led the semifinal round to advance to the round robin finals, where he retained the lead to the end, posting a total of 2,083 pins for the eight-game final round, including match play bonus pins, to out-distance LeClair’s 2,014 total.

 

The win was Graham’s fourth in PBA Regional competition, but his first in PBA50 competition. He earned $1,500 for the win while LeClair, who rolled a 279 in the position round to move into second place, earned $900.

● John Dudak of Orland Park, Ill., defeated Brian Menini of Brookfield, Mo., 254-163, to win the PBA50 Diamond Jo Casino Midwest Open at Cherry Lanes in Dubuque, Iowa, Sunday, for his first PBA title after competing in more than 200 events as a “senior” bowler.

 

The 64-year-old Dudak, a veteran of 103 PBA50 Tour and 115 PBA50 regional events, earned a $1,600 prize. He defeated Menini after Menini eliminated Jon Schure of Ripon, Wis,. 259-223, in the first match and Dean Mueller of Arlington Heights, Ill., 222-180, in the semifinal contest.

 

● PBA Regional events on the Sept. 14-16 weekend schedule include the Sturgis Central/Midwest Open at Sturgis Bowl in Sturgis, Mich., and the Liberal Kansas Southwest Open at Ayr Lanes.

 

● September’s PBA Regional calendar continues over the Sept. 21-23 weekend with the PBA/PBA50 Millsboro Lanes Eastern Doubles in Millsboro, Del.; the one-day Florence Bowling Center Central Open in Florence, Ky.; the PBA50 Cherokee Lanes South Open presented by Roto Grip in Canton, Ga.; the Lubbock Sports Southwest Challenge at South Plains Lanes in Lubbock, Texas, the one-day Mockingbird Lanes PBA and PBA50 Midwest Open doubleheader presented by Hammer in Omaha, Neb., and a Northwest/West tripleheader at Paradise Lanes in Tacoma, Wash., including the Always Painting Northwest/West Open presented by Vac-Tec; the Gary Mage PBA50 Northwest/West Open presented by Great American Casino, and the Jeanne Naccarato Women’s Open.

 

● The September PBA Regional schedule concludes over the Sept. 28-30 weekend with the Bluffton Central/Midwest Open at EZ Bowl in Bluffton, Ind.; the PBA50 J&L Sports South Open at Paradise Lanes in Spartanburg, S.C., and the Double Decker West/Northwest Open presented by Roto Grip in Rohnert Park, Calif. The Double Decker event will be live-streamed by PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling.

 

● For complete PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, visit pba.com, open the “schedules” tab and click on PBA Regional Tours to find the event(s) in your area…and remember, you can follow “live scoring” for all PBA Regional events on pba.com (easily accessible for Apple device users using the PBA app).