Australia’s Jason Belmonte Rolls into Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open Lead

19-time PBA Tour titlist holds 52 pins lead over 2018 Indianapolis winner Jakob Butturff

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 21, 2019) – Australia’s Jason Belmonte has demonstrated time and again that once he figures out how to attack the lanes, other PBA players have a difficult time keeping up. He did it again Thursday when he charged into the lead in the Go Bowling! PBA Indianapolis Open, and held on despite an up-and-down fourth round.

Belmonte, the 35-year-old two-handed player and four-time PBA Player of the Year, averaged 247.8 for his final six qualifying games on the mixed lane conditioning environment at Woodland Bowl Thursday morning to overtake second-round leader BJ Moore of Greensburg, Pa. He then retained his lead in Thursday evening’s first round of match play, winning five of his eight matches and maintaining a 230.6 average for the tournament, finishing a rocky evening round with a 26-game total of 6,146 pins, including match play bonus pins, for a 52-pin lead over defending Indianapolis champion Jakob Butturff of Tempe, Ariz.

All rounds of the tournament are being contested on a mixed lane conditioning environment where the Dick Weber 45 oiling pattern is applied to the left lane and the Mike Aulby 38 oiling pattern is applied to the right lane. The numerical designation refers to the length in feet oil is applied to each lane.

“Pair to pair tonight was night-and-day, especially when you are dealing with a dual oiling pattern,” Belmonte said. “You’re trying to find a way to strike, but you have nothing to guide you because the two lanes are so different. It’ll take your two or three shots on each lane to figure it out, and by then the game’s half over, so you have to take your poison, make your spares and go from there.”

Belmonte won his 19th PBA Tour title two weeks ago when he won the PBA Tournament of Champions in Fairlawn, Ohio, for a record-tying 10th major title, matching Earl Anthony and Pete Weber for the most career PBA major titles. Last week he finished second in the PBA Players Championship, another major, after leading all week. In Indianapolis, he has continued to bowl with a high level of confidence and it’s again producing positive results.

“It’s a culmination of some changes I’ve made in my physical and mental game,” he said. “When you have confidence in your physical game, it helps you mentally, and when your mental game is good, you tend to make better shots. When you put a lot of work in, it really feels good when you’re able to put it all together on the biggest stage.”

Rounding out the top five after four rounds were Moore with 5,965 pins; Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, with a 5,886 total, and Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., with 5,874 pins.

The Indianapolis Open, a Tier 2 PBA Playoffs points event, continues with the final two eight-game match play rounds Friday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The top five players after 42 games will compete in Sunday’s stepladder finals, live on FS1, beginning at 3 p.m. EST.

All qualifying and match play rounds will be live-streamed by PBA’s online streaming partner, FloBowling. For subscription information, visit FloBowling.com.

To follow the tournament as it happens, visit Live Scoring on the pba.com home page.

GO BOWLING! PBA INDIANAPOLIS OPEN

Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis, Thursday

Fourth Round Standings (after 26 games, including match play records; top five after 42 games to Sunday’s live FS1 finals at 3 p.m. EST):

1, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 5-3, 6,146.
2, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 5-3, 6,094.
3, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 2-6, 5,965.
4, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 4-4, 5,886.
5, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 5-3, 5,874.
6, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 6-2, 5,871.
7, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 5-3, 5,865.
8, Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, IL, 6-2, 5,837.
9 (tie), Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 4-3-1, and Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 4-3-1, 5,802.
11, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 4-4, 5,795.
12, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 5-3, 5,772.
13, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 4-4, 5,771.
14 (tie), Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 3-5, and Rhino Page, Orlando, 5-3, 5,762.
16, Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, 5-3, 5,732.
17, Richie Teece, England, 2-6, 5,725.
18, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 3-5, 5,689.
19, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 3-5, 5,683.
20, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 2-6, 5,662.
21, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 4-4, 5,661.
22, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 2-6, 5,613.
23, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 4-4, 5,566.
24, Patrick Girard, Canada, 3-5, 5,558.

Other Cashers (after 18 games):
25, JR Raymond, Clinton Twp., Mich., 3,902, $1,700.
26, Dom Barrett, England, 3,896, $1,650.
27 (tie), Michael Machuga, Erie, Pa., and Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 3,889, $1,575.
29, Charlie Brown Jr, Grandville, Mich., 3,882, $1,530.
30, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 3,878, $1,500.
Failed to Cash (after 18 games):

31, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 3,877.
32, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 3,872.
33, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 3,857.
34, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 3,827.
35, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 3,825.
36, Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 3,816.
37, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 3,813.
38, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3,801.
39, Kim Bolleby, Sweden, 3,796.
40, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 3,795.
41, Francois Louw, South Africa, 3,792.
42, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, Nev., 3,790.
43, Annop Arromsaranon, Thailand, 3,788.
44, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 3,780.
45, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 3,778.
46, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 3,777.
47, Justin Knowles, Okemos, Mich., 3,753.
48 (tie), Kenneth Ryan, Farmingdale, NJ, and Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 3,751.
50, Kyle Mayberry, Mechanicsburg, Ohio, 3,750.
51, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 3,749.
52, Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 3,737.
53, Greg Ostrander, Brick, N.J., 3,734.
54, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 3,729.
55, Anthony Pepe, East Elmhurst, N.Y., 3,723.
56, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 3,718.
57, Geoffrey Young, Roanoke, Texas, 3,716.
58, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 3,705.
59 (tie), Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, and Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 3,704.
61, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 3,700.
62 (tie), Pontus Andersson, Sweden, and Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 3,697.
64, Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., 3,687.
65, Jean Perez, Puerto Rico, 3,685.
66, Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, 3,683.
67, Sam Cooley, Australia, 3,678.
68, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 3,670.
69, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 3,666.
70 (tie), Gaetan Mouveroux, France, and Zac Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 3,665.
72, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 3,660.
73 (tie), Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., and Dwight Adams, Greensboro, N.C., 3,659.
75, Chris Colella, Indianapolis, Ind., 3,656.
76, David Krol, Nixa, Mo., 3,653.
77, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 3,652.
78, Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, 3,650.
79, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,646.
80 (tie), Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., and Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 3,643.
82, Keven Williams, Springfield, Mo.,, 3,635.
83, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 3,632.
84 (tie), Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., and Matthew Ogle, Louisville, Ky., 3,626.
86, Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 3,622.
87, A.J. Rice, Salem, Ala., 3,609.
88 (tie), Brandon Robertson, Venice, Fla., and Zach Doty, Campbellsville, Ky., 3,607.
90, Jimmy Cook, Indianapolis, 3,605.
91, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 3,604.
92, Stuart Williams, England, 3,593.
93, Matthew Staninger, Centerville, Ohio, 3,590.
94, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 3,583.
95, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 3,578.
96, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 3,563.
97, Kevin Kullman, Lockport, Ill., 3,552.
98, Richard McCormick, Cincinnati, Ohio, 3,544.
99 (tie), Sean Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, and Samuel DeWitt III, Pittsburgh, Pa., 3,539.
101, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 3,538.
102, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 3,536.
103, Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 3,533.
104, Mitch Hupe, Canada, 3,527.
105, John Furey, Howell, N.J., 3,500.
106, Jim Pratt, Avondale, Ariz., 3,496.
107, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 3,491.
108, Jason Sterner, Fayetteville, Ga., 3,477.
109, Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 3,453.
110, Tony Johnson, Canton, Ohio, 3,439.
111, Nate Garcia, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 3,430.
112, Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico, 3,418.
113, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 3,417.
114, Christopher Jones, Edinbugh, Ind., 3,401.
115, Mike Eaton Jr., Wyoming, Mich., 3,397.
116, Michael Baker, Moline, Ill., 3,323.
117, Tristan Butler, Fort Wayne, Ind., 3,178.
118, Justin Wyman, Fairport, N.Y., 3,129.
119, Aaron Lorincz, Center Line, Mich., 2,940

300 Games: none.