Saturday, June 29, 2019


FOLLOW PBA SUMMER TOUR, USBC CUP POINTS STANDINGS BEGINNING SUNDAY
https://www.pba.com/SeasonStats/PointsList/132?list=6. The winner of the Lubbock event, a Tier 3 tournament in PBA’s points system, will earn 2,500 points to get the summer points race underway.

In addition to offering PBA Summer Tour competitors a total of $40,000 in bonus prize money based upon how the top five players perform across the 10-event series of tournaments, competition points earned during the summer will qualify eight players to bowl for a $25,000 first prize in the first FloBowling ATX Invite at Dart Bowl in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 21, and the same eight players will earn expenses-paid trips to compete in the inaugural PBA China Tiger Cup Nov. 19-21 which also will offer a $20,000 top prize.

The PBA Summer Tour landing page includes a complete listing of tournament schedules along with competition points values assigned to each event. The points standings will be updated immediately upon the conclusion of each tournament in the summer series.

The entire PBA Summer Tour will be livestreamed exclusively by FloBowling, which also will livestream all remaining PBA50 Tour events in July and August plus the Teen Masters July 1-5. FloBowling is available around the world on a subscription basis. Visit flobowling.com for details and enrollment information. Check the “Xtra Frame on FloBowling” link on pba.com (https://www.pba.com/Live) for a complete schedule of livestreaming times.

While July and August will be packed with PBA and PBA50 Tour action on FloBowling, the PBA Tour’s summer schedule also includes three consecutive nights of PBA League Elias Cup competition July 16, 17 and 18 from Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine, live on FOX Sports’ FS1 channel, and two days of Barbasol PBA Tour Finals coverage, presented by Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa, live on CBS Sports Network, July 20-21, from Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas.

PBA CEO/COMMISSIONER TOM CLARK RECEIVES KEGEL’S JOHN DAVIS AWARD
PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark was the 19th recipient of the John Davis Award, presented by Kegel – the company the late John Davis co-founded – Wednesday at International Bowl Expo in Las Vegas. The award is presented annually to an individual who is actively involved in trying to advance the sport of bowling. A perpetual plaque, bearing each recipient’s name, is permanently displayed in The Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla.

“(Clark) brought the PBA from the doldrums to probably the greatest of all-time,” said PBA Hall of Famer Len Nicholson, the former PBA supervisor of lane maintenance and host of the long-running “The Phantom” internet podcast, as he presented the award.

“I loved John Davis. Any award with his name on it and celebrates what (Kegel CEO) Chris Chartrand and Kegel have done to keep his name alive, is amazing,” Clark said. “To have you guys recognize me is sweet, very nice.

“I used to have conversations with John that would last for hours, and they never got boring,” Clark added. “All John cared about was the sport of bowling, and that’s what I care about, too.”

FLORIDA’S BILL ROGERS WINS PBA BOWLING CHALLENGE “PBA PLAYOFFS” SPECIAL EVENT
Bill Rogers of Rotonda West, Fla., won the “PBA Playoffs Challenge” special event conducted as part of Concrete Software’s PBA Bowling Challenge in early June. The special competition required a contestant to bowl a game higher than the 216 game Kris Prather bowled in his second game in winning the PBA Playoffs on the PBA Bowling Challenge game for mobile devices.

Rogers was among the 22,866 unique players who re-entered the contest an average of 4.5 times, generating a total of 103,513 submissions – a record for the PBA mobile device game. Rogers had 14 submissions and his winning score was selected at random among those who topped Prather’s 216. Numerous players submitted more than 100 game scores.

For his win, Rogers receives a PBA bowling pin autographed by Prather plus 6,000 PBA Bowling Challenge gold pins from Concrete Software.

Sammy Ventura of Norwich, N.Y., a two-time East Region PBA50 Player of the Year, compiled a 5-3 match play record and a 15-game total of 3,598 pins to win the PBA50 Ned Micelli Memorial at Herrill Lanes in New Hyde Park, N.Y., Saturday by a mere six pins over reigning PBA50 East Region Player of the Year Rick Graham of Lancaster, Pa.

Ventura qualified second, 11 pins behind Graham, but quickly assumed the lead, which he held throughout the first seven games of the round robin match play finals. Ventura held a 69-pin lead over Graham going into the final match, but Graham started with four strikes and found himself in position to win before he suffered an open frame in the seventh frame. After Graham failed to strike in the ninth, Ventura had the title clinched despite an open in the final frame.

Ventura won $1,500 along with his ninth overall PBA Regional title while Graham earned $800.

The new PBA East Region event was organized by PBA member Glenn Smith to honor the late Ned Micelli, a long-time fellow competitor. Micelli, who died in July 2017, competed well into his 80s throughout the Long Island area.

• Greg Thomas of Irmo, S.C., defeated red-hot Stoney Baker of Canton, Ga., 233-166, to win the PBA50 Aberdeen South Open at SandHills Bowling Center in Aberdeen, N.C., Sunday.

Thomas won $2,600 along with his fifth overall PBA Regional title. He started the championship game with five strikes and that was all he needed in running away with the win after Baker ran into trouble early and couldn’t recover.

In the semifinal round, Thomas defeated Brian Kretzer of Dayton, Ohio, 179-165, while Baker disposed of PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Oxford, Fla., 249-227, in the other semifinal round match.

• Myles Duty of Modesto, Calif. posted a 6-4 match play record and knocked down 4,543 pins Sunday to win his second PBA Regional title in the PBA Epi Center Northwest/West Open in Klamath Falls, Ore.

Duty, who earned $2,000, defeated non-PBA member Anthony Thompson of Redding, Calif., by 21 pins for the title. Thompson had an 8-2 match play record and 4,522 total pins for his 18 games including match play bonus pins.

In the companion PBA50 Open, John Gould of Yuba City, Calif., went 6-2 and knocked down 3,944 total pins to top Bob Rosenau of Redding, Calif., for his first PBA50 Regional title and third title overall. Rosenau had a 3-5 match play record and a total of 3,745 pins.


• Non-PBA member Cory Hines of Jackson, Mich. defeated Chandler Stevens of Archbold, Ohio, 276-193, to win the PBA Pro Bowl West Central/Midwest Challenge presented by Ebonite at Pro Bowl West in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Saturday.

Challenge events are open to PBA members without a PBA title or non-members who have never won a PBA event. Hines earned $1,500 for the win, but since he is not a PBA member, he does not receive credit for a PBA regional title.

Hines downed Charlie Brown Jr. of Granville, Mich., 248-203 while Stevens edged Michael Bankert of Indianapolis, 267-255, in semifinal round matches to set up the championship match.

•  Closing out the June PBA Regional calendar this weekend will be the PBA-PBA50 John Kontos Memorial Midwest/Central Doubles Open at Town & Country Lanes in Joliet, Ill., and the Century Lanes Hampton South Open in Hampton, Va.

• Heading into the 4th of July weekend, Bowl 10 Fairborn will host the PBA50 Fairborn Central Classic presented by Roto Grip Monday-Wednesday, July 1-3, in Fairborn, Ohio. Closing the extended holiday weekend July 5-7 will be the PBA50 Greater Freeport Midwest/Central Open at 4 Seasons Bowl in Freeport, Ill.; the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort Southwest Doubles presented by DV8 at FireLake Bowling Center in Shawnee, Okla., and the PBA/PBA50 Vanessa Brown Homes West Open doubleheader presented by Track at Yosemite Lanes in Modesto, Calif.


• Long-time PBA member Lee Vanderhoef of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., became the third bowler in the 116-year history of the USBC Open Championships to bowl three perfect games in the tournament when he rolled his most recent 300 during his team event on June 20 at the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas. Vanderhoef, 40, rolled his first 300 in the 2009 USBC Open Championships, also in Las Vegas, and he joined the list of 31 other bowlers with multiple 300s when he recorded No. 2 during the 2013 tournament in Reno.

 You still have time to help select the winner if the 2019 ESPY “best bowler” award by voting online at ESPN.com/ESPYS and social media platforms: https://www.espn.com/espys/story/_/page/voting48/best-athlete-sport. ESPN’s candidates are Jason BelmonteNorm DukeJakob Butturff and Anthony Simonsen. The winner will be announced during the ESPYs telecast on ABC-TV on Wednesday, July 10, at 8 p.m. Eastern.

• Reminder: Tickets to watch the 2019 Barbasol PBA Tour Finals presented by Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa are still available. For tickets for the July 20-21 battle between the PBA’s elite eight players based upon total points earned during the 2018 and 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour seasons, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/barbasol-pba-tour-finals-presented-by-red-rock-casino-resort-spa-tickets-57610119418. The field of eight will include Jason Belmonte, Jakob Butturff, Anthony Simonsen, EJ Tackett, Marshall Kent, Bill O’Neill, Andrew Anderson and Kris Prather. The Barbasol PBA Tour Finals will be televised live by CBS Sports Network over a span five shows (two on Saturday, July 20 and three on Sunday, July 21).


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