PBA SPARE SHOTS

PBA Spare Shots

TOMMY JONES SAVES BEST FOR LAST TO WIN PBA XTRA FRAME TOUR POINTS BONUS

After finishing second in the bowlingball.com PBA Maine Shootout in April to kick off the PBA Xtra Frame Tour’s winner-take-all points chase, Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., never led until it mattered – at the very end.

Jones, needing a big finish to overtake Xtra Frame Series points leader E.J. Tackett, finished match play in Sunday’s Xtra Frame South Point Las Vegas Open with games of 300, 278 and 290 to qualify third for the stepladder finals. He then lost to Anthony Simonson, 248-191, but his fourth-place finish was good for 17 Xtra Frame Tour points and that gave him a total of 89 points for the year, enough to top Tackett’s 84 and Ryan Ciminelli’s 83. The win earned him a $10,000 bonus.

For the record, Jones finished second in Maine (19 points), won the Greater Jonesboro Open (25 points), finished 19th in Lubbock, Texas (2 points); 11th in Middletown, Del. (10 points), and fifth in Aurora, Ill. (16 points) before the finale in Las Vegas. The seven-tournament Xtra Frame Tour awarded 25 points to each tournament winner, 19 points for second place, 18 for third, etc., declining by one point each place through 20 places, resulting in a close, competitive points race all the way to the end.

APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR 2016 TONY REYES COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

The PBA is now accepting nominations for the 2016 Tony Reyes Community Service award, named in honor of the late PBA Tour player in recognition of his service to the bowling community. The award recognizes a current PBA member who performs extraordinary community service over the course of a PBA Tour season. To be eligible, the nominee must be a PBA member in good standing.

For a nomination form and additional information click on http://www.pba.com/Corporate/Awards. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 19

Reyes, a popular PBA Tour titlist, died in late September 2012 of injuries sustained in a traffic accident near his home in San Bruno, Calif. at the age of 38. Reyes, who competed in 14 seasons on the PBA Tour, won his lone Tour title in dramatic fashion in the 2006 Motor City Classic in Detroit where he bowled the 18th televised 300 game in PBA Tour history in the semi-final match against Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III before going on to defeat Wes Malott in the championship match, 255-238.

Past winners of the award were Parker Bohn III in 2013, Missy Parkin in 2014 and Ed Godbout in 2015.

NEXT UP ON XTRA FRAME: U.S. OPEN TO INCLUDE SPECIAL “XF2” COVERAGE

PBA’s Xtra Frame team will not only provide exclusive live coverage of all qualifying and match play rounds of Bowling’s U.S. Open from South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas, Nov. 4-8, but will continue to provide bonus coverage of featured groups of players on its new “XF2” channel.

During the mid-day (second) qualifying squad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, XF2 – introduced during last week’s PBA Fall Classic – will cover a group of players-to-be-named every game in the mid-day eight-game rounds. The same coverage will apply to Monday’s cashers round. During the three match play rounds Monday evening and Tuesday, XF2 will follow a specific player-to-be-named for each eight-game round. The XF2 coverage will be available simultaneously along with Xtra Frame’s normal coverage as players migrate across the bowling center during each round.

PBA Hall of Famer Marshall Holman will join the team for its coverage of the evening rounds of match play on Nov. 7 and 8, leading into the stepladder finals that will air live on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. ET.

Xtra Frame will feature a Free Trial Day on Nov. 8 and three-day ($3.99), 30-day ($7.99) and Xtra Frame Season Ticket (a full-year’s coverage at an average cost of $1.25 per week) subscriptions are available by visiting “xtraframe.tv” and clicking on the “subscribe now” link. New monthly or Season Ticket subscribers also are automatically entered into monthly sweepstakes where they have chances to win a new high-performance bowling ball from Brunswick, DV8 or MOTIV.

QUBICA AMF PBA REGIONAL UPDATE:  TWO EVENTS OPEN NOVEMBER SCHEDULE

The QubicaAMF PBA Regional Tour schedule for November begins over the Nov. 4-6 weekend with the Pro Bowl West Central/Midwest Classic in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and the PBA50 Dick’s Pro Shop Northwest/West Open presented by Boulder Falls Inn in Lebanon, Ore.

● The QubicaAMF PBA Regional Tour schedule for the Nov. 11-13 weekend includes the PBA50 Victory Lanes Midwest/Central Open in Kankakee, Ill.; the Lubbock Sports Southwest Challenge presented by Ebonite, an event for non-champions, at South Plaines Lanes in Lubbock, Texas, and the East Region’s PBA50 Chuck Pezzano Memorial presented by The Insurance Market at Bryan’s Bowling Center in Laurel, Del.

● The QubicaAMF PBA Regional Tour schedule for the Nov. 18-20 weekend includes the PBA50 Gastonia South Open presented by Brunswick at George Pappas Liberty Lanes in Gastonia, N.C.; the PBA and PBA50 3rd Capital City West/Northwest Open doubleheader, presented by DV8, Genesis and Mongoose, at Strikes Unlimited in Rocklin, Calif., and the La-Z-Boy Central Challenge for non-champions at Monroe Sports Center in Monroe, Mich.

 

● The QubicaAMF PBA Regional Tour’s Thanksgiving weekend schedule begins with the Japan Region’s Phoenix Rays Wolf Open at PBA Fuji Bowl in Iruma, Japan. The only tournament in the U.S. will be the Beaumont Southwest Open at Crossroads Bowling Center in Beaumont, Texas, Nov. 25-27.

 

● Heading into the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII in Reno, the QubicaAMF PBA East Region will host the MJK Pro Shop/Knob Hill Eastern Challenge presented by DV8 for non-champions at Knob Hill Country Lanes in Manalapan, N.J., over the Dec. 2-3 weekend.

● For complete QubicaAMF PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, visit pba.com, open the “schedules” tab and click on QubicaAMF Regional Tours to find the event(s) in your area. For more information about QubicaAMF, visit www.qubicaamf.com or, for social media posts, visit http://bit.ly/QAMFSponsorship1.

QUICK NOTES

● Dean Courtrade, the first bowler to average 200 for an entire season in New Orleans (1958) and the second Louisiana bowler to join the PBA (1960) died on Oct. 22 in New Orleans. He was 88. A former co-owner of Fazzio-Courtade Pro Shop he also owned Sugar Bowl Lanes and Sugar Bowl/Orbit Lanes, and earned induction into the Louisiana USBC Hall of Fame.

● The 12th annual Chris and Lynda Barnes Thanksgiving Classic Scholarship tournament will take place Nov. 25-27 at Super Bowl in Plano, Texas. The tournament, which will include $7,000 in added scholarship money, features scratch, handicap and 12-under divisions. For more information, look for the Barnes Thanksgiving Classic page on Facebook.