Friday, June 7, 2019

PBA Spare Shots

With his surprising victory in the inaugural PBA Playoffs, previously-under estimated Kris Prather got some respect from the unofficial pollsters who compile the FloBowling “power ranking” list, moving up from seventh to third on the most current list.

Prather, who defeated Bill O’Neill in the “race to two points” championship match, won $100,000 by outlasting a field of 23 of the world’s premier players in 2019. Heading into the start of the summer season June 29 in Lubbock, Texas, FloBowling’s top 10 are as follows with the player’s previous ranking in parenthesis. To review the rationale behind FloBowling’s ratings of players, visit FloBowling.com:

1, Jason Belmonte (previous ranking: 1);

2, Jakob Butturff (2);

3, Kris Prather (7);

4, EJ Tackett (3);

5, Bill O’Neill (6);

6, Dom Barrett (4);

7, Kyle Sherman (5);

8, Anthony Simonsen (8);

9, Sean Rash (14);

10, Rhino Page (10).


PBA ADDS $10,500 TO SUNCOAST PBA SENIOR U.S. OPEN PRIZE FUND
With the addition of $10,500 to the prize fund for the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open prize fund, first place in the 2019 season’s final major championship for players ages 50 and older has been increased to $15,000 and prize money for the other top five finishers also has been increased.

The Senior U.S. Open, presented by Storm, is open to non-members as well as PBA50 members. The PBA50 Tour’s most challenging tournament begins Monday, June 10, and concludes on Friday, June 14, at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas with FloBowling’s livestreaming coverage of the stepladder finals at 7:15 p.m. EDT (4:15 Pacific). PBA Hall of Famer Mika Koivuniemi is defending champion.

For FloBowling subscription information, visit flobowling.com.

PBA’s Regional program moves into the summer with a trio of tournaments over the June 8-9 weekend including the Elkhart Central/Midwest Open presented by 900 Global at Country Club Lanes in Elkhart, Ind., and a pair of one-day events in Minnesota: the River City Extreme Midwest Open presented by Hammer on June 8 in Monticello followed by the Mermaid Lanes Midwest Open presented by Columbia 300 in Moundsview on Sunday.

• The June 14-16 weekend schedule of PBA Regional activity features the Homefield Bowl Eastern Open presented by MOTIV in Yonkers, N.Y., and the Timmy See Memorial Tavares South Open at Break Point Alley in Tavares, Fla.

• PBA Regional tournaments on tap for the June 21-23 weekend include the PBA50 Ned Micelli Memorial presented by Ebonite at Herrill Lanes in New Hyde Park, N.Y.; the Pro Bowl West Central/Midwest Challenge presented by Ebonite for non-title winners in Fort Wayne, Ind.; the PBA50 Sand Hills South Open at Sand Hills Bowling Center in Aberdeen, N.C., and the PBA/PBA50 Epicenter Northwest/West Open doubleheader in Klamath Falls, Ore.
•  Closing out the June PBA Regional calendar 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.

• Reminder: Fans have until 1 a.m. EDT on June 10 to enter the special PBA Playoffs tournament on Concrete Software’s PBA Bowling Challenge mobile device players. Each score you bowl that beats the 216 posted by Kris Prather in winning the PBA Playoffs will count as an entry. One entry will be randomly selected as the winner and will receive a bowling pin signed by the PBA Playoffs champion plus 6,000 Gold Pins. To play PBA Bowling Challenge, visit: http://bit.ly/Download-PBAFor the official rules, visit: http://bit.ly/PBA_OfficialRules.

• The Weber Cup, in cooperation with Storm, has launched a ‘Weber Cup Golden Ticket’ competition on its Facebook page, offering fans the chance to win an expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas for the Weber Cup June 18-21, including round-trip airfare, accommodation, event tickets, merchandise and a meet & greet with players. To enter, visit Weber Cup on Facebook and post the name of the team (USA or Europe) that you think will win this year's Weber Cup. Entries close 11 a.m. ET on Friday, June 7.

 The two most recent PBA Playoffs In Brief episodes covering last weekend’s semifinal and finals telecasts are now available at the following links: https://youtu.be/BrSS8jeKOhI andhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BeyaRjF-I

• Reminder: Applications for the 2019 PBA Billy Welu Scholarship Award, recognizing exemplary qualities in male or female college students who excel in academics as well as in the sport of bowling, are being accepted through June 21. The winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship. To be eligible candidates must be amateur bowlers who are currently in college (preceding the application date) and maintaining at least a 2.5/4.0 GPA or equivalent. The two-part application can be retrieved by downloading the files from this link http://www.pba.com/Corporate/Scholarships.

 Reminder: The 10th annual Rhino Page Lace Up to Strike Out Crohn’s and Colitis fundraiser is set for Saturday, June 15, at South Levittown Lanes in Levittown, N.Y. Since its inception, the Tyler Cacioppo family event has raised more than $300,000 to fight the debilitating gastrointestinal diseases. For more information about the event, visit: www.strikeoutcrohns.com.


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