PBA SOUTHWEST REGION ROOKIE OF THE YEAR PUTS HIS CAREER ON HEROIC HOLD
Thomas (Gid) Rash, the PBA Southwest Region’s 2019 Rookie of the Year, is putting his bowling career on hold while he recovers from surgery to donate a kidney to a friend.
According to a story reported by KLTV’s Jamey Boyum in Longview, Texas, the 35-year-old Rash (no relation to PBA Tour champion Sean) found out a school friend – Clay Copeland of Weatherford, Texas – was in dire straits.
“One of my friends has end-stage renal failure. His kidney function is nine percent, and he’s on dialysis every night,” Rash told Boyum. “He’s got a wife and five kids. I have no kids, and honestly he needs it more than I do. I have had people make it be a big deal, and for me it’s not. It’s just something that I feel like if it were the other way around he’d do the same thing.”
Rash has been bowling for “about 16 years” and finally got to the stage where he felt he could compete at the PBA level. He had dabbled in regional competition in three previous years, but in 2019 bowled in 11 PBA Southwest Region events, cashed in four and had a pair of top five finishes. He was prepared for more. But, as Boyum wrote, Rash had no qualms about postponing his PBA activities.
According to his wife Brianna, the surgery is scheduled for Feb. 12 in Fort Worth. Rash said he thinks it will take about a year to recover and get his bowling back to where it needs to be to compete again. He plans on going back to pro bowling full force in 2021.
To view Boyum’s full account, click here: https://www.kltv.com/2020/01/
OKLAHOMA OPEN WIN HELPS SEAN RASH TAKE PBA PLAYOFFS POINTS LEAD
Sean Rash has jumped into the 2020 PBA Playoffs points lead after winning the PBA Oklahoma Open, a Tier 2 event in the PBA’s competition points structure, Sunday in Shawnee, Okla. Rash earned 5,000 points for his win for a two-tournament total of 5,145 points. He earned his other points in the season-opening PBA Hall of Fame Classic, a Tier 3 (limited entry and/or restricted format) tournament.
Points are awarded to all players in each PBA Tour tournament according to how the event is ranked in a three-tier points structure. The PBA Hall of Fame Classic was a Tier 3 tournament, where first place was worth 2,500 points with each additional place awarded points in a declining manner. Tier 2 tournaments award 5,000 points to the winner and Tier 1 (major championship) tournaments reward winners with 7,500 points. Below are the top 24 standings after two events:
2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour Competition Points Standings
(Top 24 after two events)
2, Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., 3,775
3, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 2,745
4, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, 2,690
5, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 2,590
6, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 2,555
7, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 2,445
8, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 2,025
9, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 1,695
10, Dom Barrett, England, 1,685
11, Mitch Hupé, Canada, 1,630
12, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 1,565
13, Nick Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 1,535
14, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,515
15, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,495
16, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,420
17, Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,250
18, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,240
19, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 1,195
20, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,125
21, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 1,070
22, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 1,045
23, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 1,025
24, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 1,010
SECOND EDITION OF “MILLION DOLLAR 300 BONUS” BEGINS WITH TOC FINALS ON FOX
The second edition of the “$1 Million 300 Game Bonus” incentive begins next week with the live FOX coverage of the PBA Tournament of Champions from AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn, Ohio. Under the incentive program introduced in 2019, a $1 million bonus prize is again being offered to any player bowling a 300 game in the championship match of one of the following PBA on FOX live telecasts: the PBA Tournament of Champions, PBA Players Championship, Go Bowling Indianapolis Open and PBA World Championship, the crown jewel of the PBA World Series of Bowling XI.
Only three perfect games have ever been bowled in the championship match of any nationally-televised PBA Tour event, but no one has been bowled a 300 game in the title match of a PBA major championship. The first two players to take a shot at the bonus will appear in the TOC finals, live on FOX on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 5 p.m. EST.
PBA, BOWLERO CORP CONTRIBUTE $10,000 TO JASON BELMONTE’S AUSTRALIAN FUND
The PBA and its parent company, Bowlero Corp, have each donated $5,000 to Jason Belmonte’s 2HandsHelpingAustralia fundraiser in the wake of the devastating wildfires that have hit the country. The funds will be split evenly between Wires Australian Wildlife Rescue, NSW Rural Fire Services, and the Red Cross AU.
“The situation in Australia is terrifying and our thoughts go out to all of the country’s residents and especially to the victims of these catastrophic wildfires,” said Colie Edison, Chief Customer Officer for Bowlero Corp and Chief Executive Officer of the PBA. “With this donation, we hope to support affected members of the community, help with the rescue of the area’s endangered wildlife, and provide some measure of relief to a region that’s experiencing unimaginable devastation.”
Belmonte also has personally pledged a donation of $50 for each strike he throws when he appears in a 2020 television final, increased to $100 per strike thrown in championship matches.
FLOBOWLING TO LIVESTREAM “BATTLE OF THE GOATS”
FloBowling will livestream a special “Battle of the GOATs” presented by Granville Financial on May 7 at 3 p.m. EDT from Sandhills Bowling Center in Pinehurst, N.C., a made-for-FloBowling competition involving the three living “Greatest of All-Time” bowlers – PBA Hall of Famers Walter Ray Williams Jr., Norm Duke and Pete Weber.
Williams, owner of a record 47 PBA Tour titles; Duke, a 40-time winner in PBA Tour competition, and Weber, a 37-time champion, are ranked first, third and fourth on the all-time PBA Tour titles list. They will compete for $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 prizes in the Battle of the GOATs, the brainchild of long-time bowler and PBA fan Blanchard Granville who also is funding the event through his financial firm.
“I have been following these bowlers their whole careers,” Granville said. “As I was watching bowling on tv, I started noticing how Walter Ray, Pete and Norm still showed up from time to time – and of course to the enjoyment of all who watched. It amazed me along with everyone else how they were still winning after all these years.”
So Granville came up with a showcase event that will involve a three-game qualifying round to determine seeding positions for a stepladder final. The entire competition will be streamed live, exclusively on FloBowling.
PBA PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE: JASON BELMONTE DISCUSSES HIS 2019 TOC VICTORY
As Australia’s Jason Belmonte launches his bid for a 12th career PBA major championship, the PBA’s continuing series of Player’s Perspectives on YouTube takes you back a year to hear Belmonte discuss his historic victory in the 2019 PBA Tournament of Champions. That episode will debut on the PBA’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Future Player’s Perspectives on the schedule for introduction on Tuesdays include:
• Feb. 11 - Anthony Simonsen providing insights into his win in the 2019 PBA Players Championship.
• Feb. 18 - Norm Duke talks about winning his 39th career title in the 2019 Go Bowling Indianapolis Open.
• Feb. 25 - Jason Belmonte and Bill O’Neill share insider thoughts about winning the 2018 Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship.
To view the entire series of PBA Player’s Perspective episodes, visit the PBA’s YouTube channel and click on the PBA Player’s Perspective play list. A wide range of Player’s Perspectives currently reside in the archives on YouTube. Among the most recent are:
• Jakob Butturff’s 2019 USBC Masters win (https://www.youtube.com/
• EJ Tackett’s 2017 DHC PBA Japan Invitational victory. (https://www.youtube.com/
• Kris Prather’s 2019 PBA Scorpion Championship win (https://www.youtube.com/
• Bill O’Neill’s 2019 PBA Hall of Fame Classic victory that made him title-eligible for future PBA HOF consideration (https://www.youtube.com/
• Jakob Butturff’s 2019 PBA Oklahoma Open win (https://www.youtube.com/
• Sean Rash’s 2012 PBA TOC victory (https://www.youtube.com/
Fans can follow all of the latest video clips and more by enrolling as a subscriber to PBA’s YouTube channel. It’s easy and it’s free. Visit YouTube.com/PBABowling and click on the “subscribe” button.
PBA Regional competition begins to heat up in February, beginning with the PBA-PBA50 Don Vay Memorial Central Doubles Classic at Legend Lanes in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, this weekend.
• The Feb. 7-9 PBA Regional weekend schedule includes two Break Point Alley Challenge events for non-title winners in Tavares, Fla., a PBA South Region doubleheader that will include separate tournaments for standard players and a PBA50 Challenge for “senior” players.
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