PBA Spare Shots

NORM DUKE ADVANCES TO SIXTH IN PBA PLAYOFFS POINTS RACE

By earning 5,000 points for his win Sunday in the Tier 2 Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open, Norm Duke advanced from 34th to sixth place in the race to qualify among the top 24 for the inaugural PBA Playoffs.

Indianapolis runner-up Jason Belmonte continued to expand his lead in the 2019 PBA Playoffs points race with 18,550 points, nearly 7,000 points ahead of EJ Tackett. The top eight, with their points totals (and last week’s ranking in parenthesis) are:

1, Jason Belmonte, 18,550 (1); 2, EJ Tackett, 11,590 (2); 3, Sean Rash, 11,210 (3); 4, Jakob Butturff, 10,285 (5); 5, Anthony Simonsen, 10,200 (4); 6, Norm Duke, 8,565 (34); 7, Wes Malott, 8,170 (12); 8, Kyle Troup, 8,150 (6). Marshall Kent retained ninth place with 8,105 points.

The race for the 24th-and-final berth in the PBA Playoffs currently involves Anthony Lavery-Spahr in 24th place with 5,020 points followed by Nick Pate (4,660) and Tom Smallwood (4,620).

Under the new Go Bowling! PBA Tour competition points structure in play this season, a win in a Tier 1 (major championship) event is worth 7,500 points, a Tier 2 (standard PBA Tour tournament) title is worth 5,000 points and a Tier 3 (limited entry and/or modified format tournament) title is worth 2,500 points. There are only five events remaining on the PBA Playoffs schedule after Jonesboro: the Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion Champions (all Tier 3 events) and the PBA World Championship (a Tier 1 event) during the PBA World Series of Bowling X, March 11-21, and the USBC Masters (a Tier 1 event) in Las Vegas, March 26-April 1.

Players finishing in the top eight after the USBC Masters ends on April 1 will earn a first-round bye in the PBA Playoffs. Players finishing in the top 24 qualify for a berth in the Playoffs; finishing in the top 40 is required for eligibility to enter the 2019 PBA League Draft. To follow the points competition as the season progresses, use this link:https://www.pba.com/SeasonStats/PointsList/132?list=1.

The PBA Playoffs begin on Monday, April 8, with live coverage of the opening Round of 24 matches on FS1 at 7 p.m. EDT from Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.

NORM DUKE MOVES UP ON PBA TELEVISION STATS LISTS

With his two match wins in the FS1-televised finals of Sunday’s Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open finals, Norm Duke became the third player in PBA history to record 100 wins in nationally-televised matches. Duke now has 101 wins, trailing Walter Ray Williams Jr.’s 154 and Pete Weber’s 120.

Duke also broke a tie with Parker Bohn III to take sole possession of third place on the television appearances lists with 116. Williams again is the leader with 177 and Weber is second with 137.

Duke also moved into third place in the career television average list for players with at least 10 TV appearances. Duke’s TV average for 116 appearances is 228.97. Ryan Ciminelli is the leader with a 232.05 average for his 19 TV appearances while Roger Bowker is second, averaging 229.17 for his 16 career TV shows.

JASON BELMONTE ON THE BRINK OF JOINING ELITE PBA TOUR 20 TITLES CLUB

With his next Go Bowling! PBA Tour victory, Australia’s Jason Belmonte will become the 15th player in PBA history to win 20 PBA Tour titles. Belmonte will join PBA Hall of Famers Dick Ritger, Wayne Webb and Amleto Monacelli on the 20 titles list.

Belmonte, 35, joined the PBA in 2008 and won his first PBA Tour title in the 2009 Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic, leading to his selection as Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year for the 2008-09 season. He became title-eligible for PBA Hall of Fame consideration when he won the first of his four USBC Masters titles in 2013, but he won’t be eligible for election until the Class of 2028 when he completes his 20th year of PBA membership.

In the meantime, Belmonte continues to add impressive accomplishments to his portfolio. Most recently:

      • He qualified No. 1 in all three Go Bowling! PBA Tour events in February: the PBA Tournament of Champions (which he won); the PBA Players Championship (where he finished second) and the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open (where he also finished second).

      • Belmonte, Marshall Kent and Wes Malott were the only players who qualified for match play rounds in all three of those events. All three bowled 126 games in those three events. Belmonte’s pinfall total, including match play bonus pins, was 30,407. Kent had 28,979 (1,428 behind Belmo) and Malott had a 28,500 total (1,907 behind the Australian star).

      Belmonte’s actual average for those three events was 229.65, almost 10 pins ahead of Kent (219.77) and more than 11 pins ahead of Malott (218.21).

      • Because Belmonte bypassed the Jonesboro Open in order to spend a week at home in Australia with his family before the PBA World Series of Bowling X, he’ll not be able to break his record-tying streak of being top qualifier for three consecutive television finals.

PBA PLAYERS HAVE ONE MORE SHOT AT $1 MILLION 300 GAME BONUS

The $1 million bonus offered for a 300 game bowled in the title match of four select Go Bowling! PBA Tour events thus far in 2019 has gone unclaimed, but players will have one more chance: in the PBA World Championship telecast on Thursday, March 21, at 8 p.m. EDT on FS1.

And because no one has bowled a perfect game in any nationally-televised PBA Tour finals this season, the new Go Bowling Free America promotion also is still unredeemed. The Go Bowling Free America offer will kick in if any player bowls a nationally-televised 300 game, but fans must pre-register at www.gobowling.com/BowlFreeAmerica to be eligible to download a free game of bowling coupon.

PBA REGIONAL UPDATE: KOELTZOW WINS FIRST PBA REGIONAL TITLE IN LAS VEGAS

Non-PBA members Bryanna Cote of Red Rock, Ariz. and Bryan VanSickle of Tucson, Ariz. teamed up to win Sunday’s South Point Member/Non-Member Doubles title at South Point Bowling Plaza after Kris Koeltzow of Wheat Ridge, Colo., won his first PBA Regional title in the South Point West Challenge portion of the PBA West Region doubleheader on Friday.

In the preliminary singles event, Koeltzow defeated Cerell Cardines of Las Vegas, 265-237, to earn the $1,800 first prize. In the semifinal round, Koeltzow defeated VanSickle, 214-203, while Cardines eliminated Steve Kloempken of Pleasant View, Utah, 235-204, to set up the championship match. All but Koeltzow were non-members.

In Sunday’s title match, Cote and VanSickle defeated Kloempken and David Haynes of Las Vegas, 485-472, to claim the $4,000 first prize.

Cote and VanSickle advanced to the title match by eliminating non-member Kendle Miles of Daytona Beach, Fla. and Raymond Lussier of San Jose, Calif., 455-371, while Kloempken and Haynes ousted non-members Steve Smith of San Diego, Calif. and Barefoot Jr. of Las Vegas. 506-463, in the other semifinal match. Kloempken and Haynes split $2,000 for second place.

• Brian Kretzer of Dayton, Ohio defeated William Peters, also from Dayton, by 163 pins to win the PBA50 Plaza Lanes Central/Midwest Open at Plaza Lanes in Crawfordsville, Ind., Sunday.

Kretzer finished with an 11-1 match play record and a total of 5,174 pins for 20 games, including match play bonus pins, to win his second PBA50 title of the year in the PBA Central Region and his 11th career PBA50 Regional title. He also earned $1,500.

• The March schedule of PBA Regionals begins over the March 1-3 weekend with the PBA50 Strike Zone Central Classic presented by Radical at Strike Zone Lanes in Canton, Ohio; the Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort Championship presented by DV8 at Gold Country Lanes in Sutter Creek, Calif., and the Aikyo House Cup-Chris Paul Japan Open at Aikyo Bowl in Chiba, Japan.

• PBA’s March 8-10 regional tournament schedule includes the PBA50 Fayetteville South Open at Lafayette Lanes in Fayetteville, N.C., and the PBA50 Showtime Lanes Midwest/Central Open presented by Radical in Virden, Ill.

• There are no tournaments on the March 15-17 calendar, but activity resumes over the March 22-24 weekend with the PBA50 Rossi Lanes East Open in Elmira, N.Y.;  the Hubbard Central Open presented by Brunswick at Bell-Wick Bowl in Hubbard, Ohio; the PBA50 Allstate Monte Skeets Midwest/Central Open presented by Ebonite at Liberty Lanes in Carpentersville, Ill.; the PBA50 Ultra Star Multi-Tainment Center South Open at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Cherokee, N.C., and the Caveman Bowl Northwest/West Open presented by DV8 in Grants Pass, Ore.

• 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 and Android device users using the PBA app).

QUICK NOTES:

• The PBA got some quality news media coverage over the past week from some unusual sources. Here are links to the following. Fans can review additional coverages of the PBA by clicking on “In The News” on the PBA.com home page:

      Forbes, Tim Casey: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2019/02/27/how-nba-star-chris-pauls-love-of-bowling-helped-the-pba-reach-a-new-audience/#620c77c21aeb;

      Washington Post, Norman Chad: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/america-embrace-jason-belmonte-with-two-hands/2019/02/24/38587654-36fb-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?utm_term=.abc5b10f3944;

      Daily Racing Form, Derick Giwner: https://classic.drf.com/news/harness-rolling-sport-future?fbclid=IwAR3mPXtKxH-AekdomDH-2dh5HvohhckNdlBCYXYDpvPeP4gP5GRRb5wiBkU.

• Ranking in the 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour competition points race will be part of the consideration in the 2019 Bowl4life PBA Rookie Watch because the 2019 PBA Rookie of the Year will receive a $2,500 bonus from Chuck Gardner’s Bowl4Life Foundation and the foundation will donate an additional $2,500 to a youth bowler scholarship in the ROY’s name. After the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open, the three top rookies on the PBA Playoffs points list remain unchanged: Jake Rollins of Glen Rock, N.J.; AJ Rice of Salem, Ala., and Patrick Hanrahan of Wichita, Kan.

• This week’s unofficial FloBowling PBA Power Rankings top 10 following the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open includes: Jason Belmonte (retaining his No. 1 ranking from the previous two weeks); 2, EJ Tackett (2); 3, Jakob Butturff (4); 4, Sean Rash (3); 5, Dom Barrett (5); 6, Rhino Page (9); 7, Jesper Svensson (6); 8, Kyle Troup (7); 9, Wes Malott (14): 10, Tom Daugherty (12). Visit FloBowling.com for a complete list along with Flo’s rationale for its rankings.

• PBA50 Tour competitor Bob Learn Jr., a five-time PBA Tour titlist, three-time PBA50 Tour winner, and head bowling coach at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tenn., has been named Mid-South Conference Brandon Burns Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 season. The school also has announced that PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli has joined Learn’s staff as assistant coach.

IOWA BOWLER OLDEST TO ROLL 800 SERIES

ARLINGTON, Texas - Jim Novak of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, begins each day with a simple at-home exercise routine, but his fitness regimen doesn't end there.

He also participates in three senior bowling leagues each week at his home away from home, May City Bowl, where he consistently averages above 200, and recently made his way into the United States Bowling Congress record book as the oldest bowler to roll an 800 series.

At 91 years, 2 months and 21 days old, Novak put together games of 279, 256 and 268 for an 803 series during Monday's Young at Heart league. He topped the previous mark of 85 years and 9 days, set by William Lautenschlager of Stockton, California, in 2016.

Novak's score is pending formal approval from USBC and would be the 21st certified 800 of his 65-year bowling career. He last eclipsed the 800 mark in March 2010.

"Honestly, I'd given up on having another day like that, because an 800 series really is hard to come by," said Novak, who also owns 35 USBC-certified perfect games. "A 300 is one thing, but putting three games together is so tough. This came as a total surprise, especially on that pair of lanes."

May City Bowl is a 32-lane, independently owned center that offers Novak and his fellow competitors a clean and fun environment in a family atmosphere. But, lanes 17 and 18 had been a little less welcoming than the friendly staff - until this week.

Novak hit the lanes knowing that one lane on that pair hooks more than the other, and he'd have to be wary and careful if he was going to find any success.

Even as the strikes added up, the atmosphere was relaxed and low-key, which helped Novak stay calm in the moment.

He knew he was flirting with 800, but he actually wasn't sure how close he was. His main focus was on throwing strikes in his final frame to help his team win the game.

After tossing a double, he turned around to ask if the 800 was possible. One person said no. Another said he needed seven pins. He added one more strike to secure the 800, the record and the game - by six pins.

"Everyone just goes about their business, and you don't often have anyone spying on you, so the whole thing was a pretty low-key good time with friends," Novak said. "There wasn't a lot of pressure, and we're not there for the money. We're there for the exercise and because we love bowling. It was just a nice afternoon."

Novak didn't start bowling until his late 20s, and his career as an auto mechanic who owned his own specialty shop limited the amount of time he spent on the lanes. After the business was established and doing well, there was more help and more time to bowl.

His first USBC-certified 300 game came in 1988 when he was 60 years old, and his first 800 came almost seven years later.

Recently, Novak and his timing were affected by illness, but continuing to work out at home, along with the addition of a new bowling ball, have him back in bowling shape with his legs properly under him.

"I just can't get over it," said Novak, who lifts weights for his arms, walks on a treadmill and rides a bike as part of his morning routine. "It feels so good to hold the record. I couldn't have asked for a better day."

For more information on the USBC record book, visit BOWL.com/Records.

United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress serves as the national governing body of bowling as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). USBC conducts championship events nationwide including the largest participation sporting events in the world - the USBC Open and Women's Championships - and professional events such as the USBC Masters and USBC Queens.

Founded in 1895, today USBC and its 1,638 state and local associations proudly serve more than a million members. USBC is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, working toward a future for the sport. The online home for USBC is BOWL.com.

Norm Duke Wins Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open for 39th Title

PBA Hall of Famer upsets top qualifier Jason Belmonte, 237-219, for first singles title since 2012

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 24, 2019) – A month shy of his 55th birthday, PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., defeated top qualifier Jason Belmonte of Australia, 237-219, to win his 39th PBA Tour title in the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open Sunday at Woodland Bowl.

Duke, who is third on the all-time PBA Tour titles list behind Walter Ray Williams Jr.’s 47 and Earl Anthony’s 43, never trailed after starting the title match with three strikes and then converting the 4-9 split. Belmonte, who entered the finals as the top qualifier for a record-tying third consecutive tournament, kept the match close throughout, but when the Australian two-handed player left the 3-10 split on his first shot of the 10th frame, all Duke needed to clinch was seven pins in his 10th frame.

Duke immediately turned to Belmonte, who led the stepladder qualifiers by nearly 400 pins, and said, “We’ve been watching you dominate us, and we know it hurts to lose. We’ve all been through it enough, but I’ll never forget this as long as I live.”

Duke, who hadn’t won a singles title since the 2012 PBA Dick Weber Playoffs – also at Woodland Bowl – said he knew he’d win again. His doubles win with Malott in 2015 also was at Woodland, where he now has had more success than any other PBA player.

”I was in control,” Duke said. “I’ve been there before. I knew what to do. It was hard, but the shot was there and the stepladder format gives you a chance to win, so I’m grateful for that chance.

“I always believed I’d win again,” he said. “The first game I ever bowled on television was against Earl Anthony, and I won. In my mind, Jason’s the best ever, in spades. I feel for him, because I’ve been there, but for me, I get to say I bowled Earl, and Walter, and Pete, and I beat ‘em all.”

Belmonte said, “Today I watched my idol (Duke) bowl the most impressive game against me. I tried my best to keep up, but a few stubborn corner pins…ended my chances. Norm’s a treasure.”

Duke earned his trip to the title match with a 214-195 victory over his two-time Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship partner, Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, when Malott left a solid 10 pin on his first shot in the 10th frame. Duke’s early turkey gave his an 18-pin lead in the fourth frame, but Malott then doubled and chipped away as Duke failed to carry key pocket hits. When Duke left a 10 pin on his last shot in the 10th frame, Malott had a chance to strike out to win by a pin, but failed to carry his first attempt in the 10th.

In the first match, after leaving a 2-8-10 split and failing to convert in the opening frame, Malott reeled off a string of seven strikes and cruised past Rhino Page of Orlando, Fla., 242-192. Malott then rallied to eliminate Tom Daugherty of Riverview, Fla., 174-170, by throwing four strikes in a row to end a match that saw Daugherty leave three splits and Malott four. The difference was Malott’s conversion of the 3-4-6-7-10 split in his sixth frame.

All rounds of the Indianapolis Open, a Tier 2 event in the 2019 PBA Playoffs points competition, were contested on a mixed lane conditioning environment where the 45-foot Dick Weber 45 oiling pattern was applied to the left lane and the Mike Aulby 38 pattern was applied to the right lane.

The Go Bowling! PBA Tour’s next event will be the PBA Jonesboro Open, a PBA Tier 3 points event, at Hijinx Family Entertainment Center in Jonesboro, Ark. Andrew Anderson of Holly, Mich., won the 2018 Jonesboro Open on his way to being selected Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year. Qualifying begins Wednesday with half of the field bowling its first seven-game round at 11 a.m. and the other half of the field bowling at 6 p.m. EST.

FloBowling will live-stream all qualifying and match play rounds Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (visit FloBowling.com for subscription information). For results as they happen, visit Live Scoring on PBA.com. For a roster of competitors, visit: https://www.pba.com/Rosters/Details/2764.

The Jonesboro Open will be a mixed pattern event with the Shark 45 and Viper 36 patterns applied to the left and right lanes, respectively, throughout the event. The Jonesboro finals will air live on FS1 on Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern.

GO BOWLING! PBA INDIANAPOLIS OPEN

Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis, Sunday

Final Standings

1, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., $30,000.
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $15,000.
3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, $10,000.
4, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., $8,000.
5, Rhino Page, Orlando, $7,000.

Playoff Results:

Match One: Malott def. Page, 242-192.

Match Two: Malott def. Daugherty, 174-170.

Semifinal: Duke def. Malott, 214-195.

Championship: Duke def. Belmonte, 237-219.