Monday, March 25, 2019


PBA Spare Shots

USBC MASTERS IS LAST CHANCE TO QUALIFY FOR PBA PLAYOFFS
An intense, season-long competition to qualify for the inaugural PBA Playoffs at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, beginning on April 8 will reach its conclusion next week in the United States Bowling Congress Masters, the 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour’s fourth major championship and a Tier 1 points event in the PBA Playoffs scenario.

With 7,500 points awaiting the Masters champion, and significant points at stake throughout the Masters’ final standings, how players perform at the Gold Coast Bowling Center in Las Vegas next week may prove pivotal in not only earning berths in the 24-player PBA Playoffs field, but in other related competitions:

• The top eight in points at the conclusion of the Masters on April 1 will earn byes for the first round of the single-elimination PBA Playoffs match play competition. Australia’s Jason Belmonte has locked up the No. 1 berth, but the next seven positions are still up for grabs.
• The top 24 in points also earn berths in the PBA Playoffs.
• The top 40 in points will be eligible to participate in the 2019 PBA League draft that will take place on April 8 at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine.
• 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour points through the Masters will be combined with 2018 points to determine the eight players who will compete in the Barbasol PBA Tour Finals July 19-21 at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.
• 2019 points will qualify players for priority entries into future PBA Tour events.
• Points status will be an important factor in consideration for 2019 PBA Player and Rookie of the Year voting at the end of the year.

Heading into the Masters, the top 40 in PBA competition points are listed below. A number of additional players could advance based upon how they finish in the Masters. For the complete 2019 points standings, click here: https://www.pba.com/SeasonStats/PointsList/132?list=1.

The USBC Masters will conclude with a live two-hour telecast on FS1 on Sunday, April 1, at 9 p.m. Eastern.

PBA PLAYOFFS POINTS STANDINGS
(As of Thursday, March 21)
1, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 29,210
2, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 17,715
3, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 17,160
4, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 16,960
5, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 15,775
6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 13,450
7, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 13,065
8, Tom Daugherty, Tampa, Fla., 12,885
9, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 12,180
10, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 11,985
11, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 10,640
12, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 10,615
13, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 9,818
14, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 9,658
15, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 9,595
16, Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 9,585
17, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 8,600
18, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 8,508
19, Dom Barrett, England, 8,010
20, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 7,915
21, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 7,420
22, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 7,190
23, Patrick Girard, Canada, 6,870
24, AJ Chapman, Wichita, Kan., 6,865
25, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 6,850
26, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 6,830
27, Darren Tang, San Francisco, 6,685
28, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 6,398
29, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 6,325
30, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 6,225
31, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 5,918
32, Stuart Williams, England, 5,900
33, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 5,873
34, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 5,725
35, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 5,440
36, Matthew McNiel, Minneapolis, Minn., 5,310
37, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 5,273
38, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 5,105
39, Matthew Ogle, Louisville, Ky., ,4955
40, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 4,880
41, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 4,835
42, Richie Teece, England, 4,623
43, Sam Cooley, Australia, 4,608
44, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 4,353
45, Sean Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 4,095
46, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 4,040
47, Mitch Hupe, Canada, 4,038
48, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 3,938
49, Michael Tang, San Francisco, 3,845
50, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 3,660

BAYSIDE BOWL, PORTLAND ARE GETTING READY FOR A BIG YEAR
Bayside Bowl and its rabid fans in Portland, Maine, are getting ready for the biggest year in bowling Maine has ever seen, and the Portland business community is solidly behind the 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour’s invasion.

PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark made a special pre-World Series of Bowling trip to Portland for a special kickoff event for 2019 that include the participation of a host of participating sponsors, including: Maine Beer Company, Port Property Management, bowlingball.com, Dexter, Revision Energy, Hyatt Place, Residence Inn, Local Economy Payroll & Tax, Bernstein Shur, Maine Health, Clark Insurance, State 23 Media, Spectrum, Portland Downtown, City of Portland, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Visit Portland and Buy Local.

Bayside Bowl will be host to the inaugural PBA Playoffs elimination rounds, April 8-10; the PBA League Draft, April 8; the live PBA Playoffs semifinal and final rounds, live on FOX, June 1-2, and the complete PBA League Elias Cup competition, live on FS1, July 16-18.

PBA BOWLING CHALLENGE’S PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SPECIAL EVENT IS UNDERWAY
Competition in the special Concrete Software PBA Bowling Challenge mobile game PBA World Series of Bowling 10th anniversary special event is now underway. Millions of mobile devise users are invited to try to bowl a game higher than PBA World Champion Jason Belmonte’s winning 236 effort that aired live on FS1 on Thursday night.

The special PBA Bowling Challenge “tournament” began Friday and will end on Thursday, March 28. It features a custom WSOB X venue, and the introduction of a special ball that can be used in the competition. Players can enter as often as they wish. All scores that beat Belmonte’s 236 will be entered into a sweepstakes pool with one lucky winner to be selected to win a bowling pin signed by the PBA World Champion plus 5,000 Gold Pins.

To review the official rules, visit: http://bit.ly/PBA_OfficialRules. If you have not already done so, the PBA Bowling Challenge game can be downloaded to your mobile device at no cost. Visit https://concretesoftware.com/games/pba-bowling-challenge/ for details.

Lennie Boresch, Jr. of Kenosha, Wis., defeated Brian Menini of Brookfield, Mo., 258-199, to win the PBA50 Showtime Lanes Midwest/Central Open presented by Radical at Showtime Lanes in Virden, Ill., Sunday.

The title was Boresch’s sixth PBA50 Regional title. He earned $1,500 along with his title.

Boresch defeated Gary Alstott of Washington, Ill., 247-176, and Menini topped Brian Kretzer of Dayton, Ohio, 259-232, in the semifinal round to set up the championship match.

• A busy schedule of PBA Regional 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).

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