TOKYO, Japan – England’s Dom Barrett defeated Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., 267-204, to win the DHC PBA Japan Invitational, the first tournament of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season, at Tokyo Port Bowl on Sunday.

For Barrett, the title was the sixth of his Professional Bowlers Association career and came on the heels of a less-than-memorable start to his 2018 season while competing in non-PBA events in Europe.

“I just finished bowling in Sweden and Finland,” he said. “I physically felt good but I didn’t get anywhere, so I was looking forward to this week. Japan is very special. You have to qualify to be here and there is a lot of history with this event. I led it two years ago and (PBA Hall of Famer) Amleto (Monacelli) beat me, so it was great to have another go at it.”

Barrett, who earned 5 million Japanese yen (roughly $46,000 US dollars), jumped into the tournament lead with a strong opening eight-game match play round. Troup, trying for his third PBA Tour title, overtook Barrett in the second round of match play, but Barrett defeated Troup in the final position round match to regain the top berth for the stepladder finals where he ran away from the American two-handed player.

Qualifying leader Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, started the stepladder finals with a 248-244 win over Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash. He then eliminated Japanese star Shota Kawazoe, 278-257, before losing to Troup in the semifinal match, 227-180.

The PBA provided live coverage of the DHC PBA Japan Invitational on its video streaming service, Xtra Frame, and will continue its live streaming service when the Tour opens its mainland U.S. schedule with the PBA Tournament of Champions at AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn, Ohio, Feb. 7-11. A Tournament of Champions pre-tournament qualifier precedes the start of the TOC on Feb. 5.

Xtra Frame subscriptions are available in a variety of packages: 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 are automatically entered into PBA’s monthly sweepstakes where they have chances to win a new high-performance bowling ball from Brunswick, DV8 or MOTIV.

DHC PBA JAPAN INVITATIONAL Tokyo Port Bowl, Tokyo, Japan, Sunday

Final Standings 

1, Dom Barrett, England, $46,000. 

2, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., $23,000. 

3, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, $11,500. 

4, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, $9,210. 

5, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., $7,370.

Stepladder Results 

Match One – Simonsen def. Kent, 248-244. 

Match Two – Simonsen def. Kawazoe, 278-257. 

Semifinal Match – Troup def. Simonsen, 227-180. 

Championship – Barrett def. Troup, 267-204.

Final Match Play Standings (after 28 games, including match play bonus pins) 

1, Barrett, 12-4, 6,522. 

2, Troup, 11-5, 6,518. 

3, Kawazoe, Japan, 11-5, 6,453. 

4, Simonsen, 4-12, 6,315. 

5, Kent, 9-7, 6,314. 

6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 9-7, 6,304, $4,235. 

7, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 7-9, 6,261, $4,050. 

8, An Junsang, South Korea, 10-6, 6,258, $3,865. 

9, Rhino Page, Orlando, 7-9, 6,225, $3,685. 

10, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 9-7, 6,213, $3,405. 

11, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 6-10, 6,140, $3,225. 

12, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 8-8, 6,123, $3,040. 

13, Yannaphon Larpapharat, Thailand, 7-8-1, 6,094, $2,855. 

14, Shuichi Heki, Japan, 8-8, 6,016, $2,670. 

15, n-Yuhi Shinbata, Japan, 5-11, 6,004, $2,485. 

16, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 4-11-1, 5,972, $2,300.

n-denotes non-PBA member.

PBA News

Semi-final (five frames)

Match One – Norm Duke/Chris Paul def. EJ Tackett/James Harden, 109-90

Match Two – Bill O’Neill/Mookie Betts def. Pete Weber/Terrell Owens – 130-73

Championship (10 frames)

Duke/Paul def. O’Neill/Betts, 259-226.

FAIRLAWN, Ohio  – Advancing from a pre-tournament qualifier earlier in the week all the way to the title match, four-time Professional Bowlers Association regional tournament winner Matt O’Grady of Rahway, N.J., won the 53rd PBA Tournament of Champions Sunday for his first PBA Tour title.

O’Grady, whose best previous PBA Tour finish was fourth, won three stepladder finals matches at AMF Riviera Lanes before beating top qualifier and 2016 Tournament of Champions winner Jesper Svensson, 207-193, in the title match of the first major of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season.

O’Grady held a three-pin lead over Svensson in the eighth frame but was able to pull away when he struck in the ninth frame and the first shot in the 10th frame. Except for strikes in the second and third frames, Svensson was not able to put another string of strikes together for the rest of the match.

“I feel like I’m sleepwalking—it’s a dream come true,” said the 31-year-old O’Grady, who won PBA’s signature event which requires a player to be a PBA champion to be eligible to enter. “It just shows you what hard work can do. I’ve been working hard the past year to be able to compete at this level.

“I admit that in the past I haven’t been as disciplined as I should be to be competitive out here on tour,” the former Team USA member added. “I just had to commit to putting my head down, grit my teeth, and do the hard work you have to do.”

For Svensson, a seven-time tour winner at age 22, it was his second consecutive runner-up finish as top qualifier in a major after finishing second in the PBA World Championship, the final major of the 2017 season.

O’Grady, who became the first player since Dave D’Entremont in the 1996 Tournament of Champions to win four stepladder matches for the title, started the championship round with a 219-174 victory over PBA regional winner BJ Moore of Greensburg, Pa., who finished fifth.

In the second match, O’Grady met four-time and reigning PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte of Australia, who was trying for a record-tying 10th major and third Tournament of Champions title. Needing a double in the 10th frame to pull out the win, Belmonte struck on the first ball but left a 10 pin on a pocket hit on the second shot giving O’Grady the 229-225 win.

Belmonte, who was the No. 3 qualifier, made a dramatic run to the finals just barely advancing to match play in the 24th and final position. Had he won, he would have been only the fourth player to win a major from that position.

“That was like climbing the mountain to win that match,” O’Grady said. “Obviously, I still had a lot of work to do but there was a lot of relief after beating Jason, especially with everything he was bowling for.”

Belmonte, who finished fourth, will have another opportunity to win a 10th major when the Barbasol PBA Players Championship is held Feb. 19-25 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus, Ohio.

In the semi-final match, O’Grady beat Andrew Anderson of Holly, Mich., a second-year tour player who owns one regional title as a PBA member, 194-185.

Anderson, making his first TV appearance, and Moore making his third, also had to qualify through the tournament’s pre-tournament qualifier which was for non-tour winners who owned a title in one of PBA’s other divisions.

The 2018 Tournament of Champions marked the return of PBA’s signature tournament to historic AMF Riviera Lanes where it had been conducted from 1966 to 1994.

The PBA Tour moves to Indianapolis for the Go Bowling! 60th Anniversary Classic at Woodland Bowl which begins Tuesday and will conclude with the stepladder finals next Sunday (Feb. 18) at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS AMF Riviera Lanes, Fairlawn, Ohio, Sunday

Final Standings 

1, Matt O’Grady, Rahway, N.J., $50,000. 

2, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, $25,000. 

3, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich. $13,000. 

4, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $11,000. 

5, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., $10,000.

Stepladder Results: 

Match One – O’Grady def. Moore, 219-174 

Match Two – O’Grady def. Belmonte, 229-225. 

Semifinal Match – O’Grady def. Anderson, 194-185. 

Championship – O’Grady def. Svensson, 207-193.

PBA News

INDIANAPOLIS – After leading the Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary Classic almost from the beginning, Jakob Butturff of Tempe, Ariz., finished his business at Woodland Bowl Sunday with a 244-154 victory over Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., to claim his third PBA Tour title.

Butturff, a 23-year-old left-hander, cruised to the $30,000 first prize behind an opening string of three strikes and another string of four late in the game after Kent ran into big trouble early in the game when he left three splits and failed to convert any of them.

It was an especially rewarding win for Butturff after leading the 2017 U.S. Open by a stunning 617 pins, only to lose the title to Rhino Page in the title match.

“This title means the world to me,” Butturff said. “The thought of the U.S. Open was in my mind before practice, but I told myself I was not going to get my nerves get to me this time. When Marshall struggled early in the match, I just put my foot to the metal.

“Redemption was on my mind, but I just wanted to make a better showing than I did in the U.S. Open.”

Kent advanced to the championship match with a 218-210 win over two-handed lefty Keven Williams of Springfield, Mo., who had never finished higher than 34th place in his limited three-year PBA career. Kent jumped into an early lead with four strikes, but left the 2-8-10 split and a five-count “washout,” failing to convert either one to let Williams back into the match. After a strike nine-count in the 10th to give Williams a chance, the 25-year-old two-hander struck on his first shot in the 10th, but then left a 3 pin on his second shot to end his upset bid.

Japan’s Shota Kawazoe, in his debut on American television, rallied to defeat Indianapolis’ Matt Sanders in the opening match, 183-160. After starting with back-to-back splits and open frames, Kawazoe struck on four of his next five shots while Sanders, the 24-year-old 2017 PBA Rookie of the Year, was unable to strike until the seventh frame. A pair of splits and opens in the final two frames sealed his fate.

In the second match, Williams started his television debut with four strikes, but Kawazoe again came from behind, throwing four strikes in a row to take the lead into the 10th frame. Needing to convert the 10 pin in the 10th frame, the 16-time Japan PBA champion missed, handing Williams a 229-225 win and a berth in the semifinal match.

The Go Bowling! PBA 60th Anniversary Classic was the third event of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season and was part celebratory week that included the PBA 60th Anniversary Celebration dinner and hall of fame induction ceremonies Saturday. The PBA now heads to Columbus, Ohio, where Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl will host the season’s second major championship, the Barbasol PBA Players Championship, and the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship.

All preliminary rounds of the Players Championship and Roth-Holman Doubles Tuesday through Friday will be live streamed on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame. To sign up, visit xtraframe.tv. The Players Championship finals will air live on ESPN next Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The Roth-Holman Doubles finals will be live streamed on ESPN3 at 5 p.m. and taped for delayed broadcast on ESPN on Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m. All times are Eastern.

GO BOWLING! PBA 60TH ANNIVERSARY CLASSIC Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis, Feb. 18

Final Standings 

1, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., $30,000. 

2, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., $15,000. 

3, Keven Williams, Springfield, Mo., $13,000. 

4, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, $11,000. 

5, Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, $10,000.

Stepladder Results 

Match One – Kawazoe def. Sanders, 183-160. 

Match Two – Williams def. Kawazoe, 229-225. 

Semifinal Match – Kent def. Williams, 218-210. 

Championship – Butturff def. Kent, 244-154.

PBA News

COLUMBUS, Ohio  – Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich., won four consecutive stepladder finals matches, including the title match against defending champion Jason Belmonte of Australia, to win the Barbasol PBA Players Championship at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl Sunday for his second major and third career PBA Tour title.

With a 10-pin lead heading into the final frame, the 40-year-old Smallwood struck on his first ball in the 10th to beat Belmonte, 259-239, in the title match for his first tournament win since the 2013 PBA Scorpion Championship.

The victory thwarted Belmonte’s attempt for a record-tying 10th major and 17th career tour title. Belmonte was the No. 1 qualifier for the finals and as top qualifier needed only to beat Smallwood for the title.

It was an uphill battle for Smallwood for the entire tournament. After finishing 93rd after the first round, he battled back to eventually earn the No. 5 qualifying position for the stepladder finals.

“That’s one of the assets of my game to grind through matches and never quit,” said Smallwood, whose first major came in the 2009 PBA World Championship. “I’m good with the pressure and if I’m not striking a lot I can hang in there to stay in contention. This tournament was a great example of that.”

Smallwood’s stepladder journey to the title started with a 237-206 win over Canadian Patrick Girard, trying for his first tour title, who missed the headpin four times in the first match.

Smallwood then edged out No. 3 qualifier Kris Prather of Plainfield, Ill., who was making his first TV finals appearance, 236-235. With both players working on a string of four strikes and tied heading into the 10th frame, Smallwood was able to take the win with a strike on his first ball and nine on his second shot after Prather struck and then left a seven-count split.

Smallwood then moved on to meet four-time tour winner Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., who was coming off a runner-up finish in last week’s PBA 60th Anniversary Classic. Smallwood again escaped with a one-pin victory, 225-224, when he spared in the 10th frame and threw a nine count on his final ball.

“I just kept telling myself to keep everything slow,” said Smallwood. “It was important to read what the ball was doing going down the lane and not overthink it. I just concentrated on keeping the ball in play.

“You could say there was more pressure on some shots than others, but in reality, there’s pressure on every shot,” Smallwood added. “I’m not complaining, this is what I live for.”

It marked the second consecutive major on the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour that the winner won all four stepladder matches for the title. Matt O’Grady of Rahway, N.J., won the PBA Tournament of Champions on Feb. 11 by sweeping all four finals matches.

BARBASOL PBA PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, Columbus, Ohio, Sunday

Final Standings 

1, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., $40,000. 

2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $20,000. 

3, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., $12,000. 

4, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., $11,000. 

5, Patrick Girard, Canada, $10,000.

Stepladder Results 

Match One – Smallwood def. Girard, 237-206. 

Match Two – Smallwood def. Prather, 236-235. 

Semifinal Match – Smallwood def. Kent, 225-224. 

Championship – Smallwood def. Belmonte, 259-239.

PBA News

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After fourth-place finishes as partners in three previous Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championships, Australia’s Jason Belmonte and his “best mate,” Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., finally won in their fourth try.

With the tournament’s namesake PBA Hall of Fame partners in the crowd for the finals of the event that was presented by BowlerX.com, Belmonte and O’Neill defeated brothers Darren and Michael Tang of San Francisco, 205-185, at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl. The finals of the fourth event of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season aired Sunday on ESPN.

After a dominating performance in the preliminary qualifying rounds where they averaged a combined 238.31 for 76 games, earning the top berth in the finals by 327 pins, Belmonte and O’Neill finished in convincing style. The win was the 17th of Belmonte’s career and the ninth for O’Neill.

The championship came down to age-and-experience out-matching the youthful exuberance of third-year PBA member Darren Tang, 24, and his 22-year-old brother Michael, a PBA Tour rookie. O’Neill and Belmonte threw only four strikes in the title match – including one double – and converted six single-pin spares. It was enough to stave off the Tangs, who had won three consecutive matches to reach the title contest, but were unable to put together back-to-back strikes in the final match. And one missed 10 pin spare by Darren Tang in the eighth frame was a setback that proved costly.

“The lanes transitioned in a way I didn’t see coming, but during the semifinal match you could see they weren’t right,” O’Neill said. “Marshall (Kent) isn’t going to bowl a game like he did very often. We decided we’d be content to hit the pocket and if (the pins) fell, they fell. We were hoping we could get it done with a 2-oh game, and fortunately that’s what we did.”

“It wasn’t playing defense; it was more that we were playing safe,” Belmonte said of the team’s conservative approach. “The adjustment either one of us could have made to be more aggressive was a risk, so if (the Tangs) couldn’t show us they were going to put together a string of strikes, there was no reason to take that risk.

“We bowled amazing all week,” Belmonte continued. “Winning was kind of getting the monkey off our back. We’ve been there three other times when we didn’t perform amazingly and today we didn’t have to perform amazingly, but we did exactly what we needed to do.”

In the alternate-frame format, where each teammate bowled five frames on one lane, the Tang brothers came out of the gate on fire, putting together a string of six strikes early on their way to a 223-203 win over Texans Shawn Maldonado and DJ Archer in game one. Splits and open frames in the final two frames by the Tangs were the only flaws that kept the score close in the end.

In game two, Brandon Novak of Chillicothe, Ohio, and Kris Prather of Plainfield, Ill., looked like they were going to eliminate the brother team when they put together a string of five early strikes. But the Tangs started with three strikes, converted two single-pin spares and combined for three strikes to take the see-saw battle into the 10th frame where Michael Tang doubled and Prather, after a strike on his first ball, left a 10 pin on his second. The Tangs escaped with a 243-235 decision.

The semifinal contest against two of the PBA’s top high-rev power players, Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., and EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., was a struggle for both teams as they quickly degraded an oil pattern that had already undergone the wear-and-tear of two earlier matches. Kent was especially vulnerable, throwing three consecutive splits he was unable to convert. Michael Tang also failed to convert a split, but otherwise the brothers left single pins they were able to spare in posting a 172-151 win to advance to the title match.

PBA players now head to Syracuse, N.Y., where the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour continues with the United States Bowling Congress Masters. As defending champion, Belmonte is automatically seeded into the 64-player three-game total pinfall double-elimination match play finals field and will try for an unprecedented fifth Masters title. If successful, he’ll also tie for the PBA record for major championships won with 10, joining the late Earl Anthony and PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber in that elite group.

All qualifying and match play rounds of the USBC Masters in the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, Tuesday, April 10 through Saturday, April 14, will be live streamed on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame. To sign up, visit xtraframe.tv. The stepladder finals will air live on ESPN on Sunday, April 15, at 1 p.m. ET.

MARK ROTH-MARSHALL HOLMAN PBA DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPpresented by BowlerX.com

Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 20-25 (aired on ESPN, March 25)

Final Standings:

1, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa./Jason Belmonte, Australia, $24,000.

2, Darren Tang/Michael Tang, San Francisco, $12,000.

3, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind./Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., $10,000.

4, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio/Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., $9,000.

5, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, Texas/DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas, $8,000.

Stepladder Results:

Match One – D. Tang/M. Tang def. Maldonado/Archer, 223-203.

Match Two – D. Tang/M. Tang def. Novak/Prather, 243-235.

Semifinal Match – D. Tang/M. Tang def. Tackett/Kent, 172-151.

Championship – O’Neill/Belmonte def. D. Tang/M. Tang, 205-185.

PBA News

By Aaron Smith, USBC Communications

Andrew Anderson completed his schooling of the 360-player field at the 2018 USBC Masters by capturing his first career PBA Tour title on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Team USA member from Holly, Michigan, went undefeated in match play at the Oncenter Convention Center this week and held off Alex Hoskins of Brigham City, Utah, in the championship match, 213-199, to win the coveted title and $30,000 top prize. Hoskins claimed $25,000 for the runner-up finish.

The USBC Masters is a major on the PBA Tour schedule, and Sunday’s championship round was broadcast live on ESPN.

“This is surreal,” said Anderson, who is working toward a degree in elementary education. “You think about it all the time, how cool it would be to hold up that trophy, and it’s unbelievable. I can’t believe that just happened.”

Anderson and Hoskins were even early in the title tilt, before Anderson surged into the lead with four consecutive strikes starting in the fourth frame. He opened the door for Hoskins by chopping the 6-10 combination in the eighth frame, but Hoskins was unable to take advantage, recording an open of his own in the eighth frame.

Anderson finished the match first and had the opportunity to lock out Hoskins with a strike on the first delivery of his 10th frame, but he left a 4 pin. After converting the spare, Anderson left another 4 pin on his fill ball to give Hoskins a chance to throw three strikes for a one-pin victory.

“The shot in the eighth was just a bad, bad shot,” Anderson said. “I threw the shots in the ninth and 10th really well, and I would throw those over and over again. A couple of 4 pins gave him an opportunity.”

Hoskins recorded the first strike, but he left a 3-6-10 combination on his second shot to fall short.

Anderson has had a memorable 2018, which also includes earning a spot on Team USA and a third-place finish at the PBA Tournament of Champions. Sunday marked the second TV appearance of his professional career, and he was able to put his experience to work as his game plan came together.

“It really gave me so much more confidence,” Anderson said. “I knew what to look for and was ready and more prepared. The game plan was always to be farther left than everybody, and the three right-handers ahead of me made a little more hook to the right for me, so that helped me feel comfortable going in.”

Hoskins was making his second consecutive trip to the stepladder finals at the Masters. He finished third in his tournament debut last year in Las Vegas. Sunday, he again was looking to become the first amateur to win the Masters since Arizona’s Brett Wolfe won the 2002 event.

“I surprisingly wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be in that moment,” Hoskins said of his final frame. “I was pretty calm and threw the first one really well. I think with how I saw the ball go through the pins, I felt like I needed to hit it a little harder on the second shot, and I got a little slow. It wasn’t my best shot, and that’s what it comes down to. He made better shots than I did, and that’s why he’s the winner.”

Hoskins’ start to his semifinal match against USBC Hall of Famer and co-worker at Storm, Steve Kloempken of Pleasant View, Utah, didn’t bode well for a trip to the championship match as he opened in three of his first four frames.

After discussing what he was seeing on the lanes with his ball representatives, the 25-year-old right-hander made a move and fired six consecutive strikes, including one in a must-strike situation to start the 10th frame, to record the win and advance to face Anderson, 213-197.

Kloempken survived a back-and-forth match with Joe Paluszek of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, to advance to the semifinal, 189-188. With Paluszek finishing first, Kloempken converted a 10 pin after a strike in the 10th frame to secure the win.

In Sunday’s opening match, Kloempken rebounded from an early open frame to deliver seven consecutive strikes on his way to a 243-211 victory over 2017 U.S. Open champion Rhino Page of Orlando, Florida.

Competitors in the sold-out field this week bowled 15 games of qualifying, before a cut was made to the top 63, who joined defending champion Jason Belmonte of Australia in the double-elimination match-play bracket. Belmonte finished tied for 25th place.

2018 USBC MASTERS At Oncenter Convention Center Syracuse, N.Y. 

Sunday’s Results Final standings 

1, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 213 (one game), $30,000. 

2, Alex Hoskins (a), Brigham City, Utah, 412 (two games), $25,000. 

3, Steve Kloempken (a), Pleasant View, Utah, 629 (three games), $15,000. 

4, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 188 (one game), $10,000. 

5, Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 211 (one game), $8,000. 

Stepladder results 

Match One – Kloempken def. Page, 243-211. 

Match Two – Kloempken def. Paluszek, 189-188. 

Semifinal – Hoskins def. Kloempken, 213-197. 

Championship – Anderson def. Hoskins, 213-199.

a-denotes amateur

PBA News

PORTLAND, Maine – Dick Allen of Columbia, S.C., a 39-year-old 18-year Professional Bowlers Association touring player, captured his fifth career title in the Port Property Management Xtra Frame Maine Shootout at Bayside Bowl Wednesday.

Allen, who is known as a free spirit, embraced the equally free-spirited Bayside Bowl crowd in defeating journeyman John Furey of Howell, N.J., 269-226, 247-235, to sweep the best-of-three-game title match and end Furey’s bid for his first PBA Tour title.

“I don’t know what it is,” Allen said. “I love this place. I always bowl well here. It’s the fans, the atmosphere, everything about it. I love it here.”

Allen had a split and open in his first frame, but then ran off a string of strikes to take the lead into the final two frames where single-pin spares gave Furey a chance to throw two strikes and good count in his 10th frame to win. But Furey, the 2012 PBA East Region Player of the Year, left the 3-6-10 on his first shot in the 10th.

Allen earned his berth in the title match by denying 58-year-old PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. a chance to win a record 48th PBA Tour title, eliminating the PBA’s all-time winningest bowler, 2-1, in the semifinal round while Furey pulled off the upset of the tournament, sweeping Australia’s Jason Belmonte, 254-248, 244-226, in the other semifinal match.

Allen lost the first game to Williams, 258-226, but won a one-ball, two-shot sudden-death roll-off after they tied at 258 in game two to avoid elimination. Both players struck on their first roll-off shots, but Williams left a 10 pin on his second and Allen struck again to force a third game which Allen won, 279-247.

The Maine Shootout was the first of eight PBA Tour Xtra Frame events scheduled for 2018. Xtra Frame’s next event will be live coverage of the OceanView at Falmouth PBA League seeding tournament from Bayside Bowl Friday at 7 p.m. EDT. For subscription information, visit xtraframe.tv.

PORT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PBA XTRA FRAME MAINE SHOOTOUT Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine, April 18 (all matches are best of three games)

Championship: 

Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C. ($10,000) def. John Furey, Howell, N.J. ($6,000), 269-226, 247-235.

Semifinal round (losers earned $4,000): 

Furey def. Jason Belmonte, Australia, 2-0 (254-248, 244-226). 

Allen def. Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 1-1 (226-258, 258-258, 10-10, 10-9 in one-ball sudden death roll-off; 279-247).

Round of 8 (losers earned $2,500): 

Williams def. Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 2-1 (258-225, 199-277, 259-226). Allen def. Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 2-1 (194-223, 276-238, 265-182). 

Belmonte def. Francois Louw, South Africa, 2-1 (249-182, 226-247, 279-214). 

Furey def. Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 2-0 (189-186, 217-191).

Round of 16 (losers earned $1,500): 

O’Neill def. Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 2-1 (238-216, 184-191, 255-193). 

Larsen def. Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 2-1 (258-200, 249-256, 257-212). 

Shoemaker def. Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, 2-0 (235-226, 232-213). 

Louw def. Anthony Pepe, Elmhurst, N.Y., 2-1 (214-236, 237-212, 258-227). 

Williams def. Osku Palermaa, Finland, 2-0 (247-200, 290-277). 

Furey def. Patrick Girard, Canada, 2-1 (201-278, 267-191, 225-217). 

Belmonte def. Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 2-0 (265-210, 249-212). 

Allen def. Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 2-0 (243-190, 199-191).

PBA News

PORTLAND, Maine – The Go Bowling! Silver Lake Atom Splitters became the first team to win three OceanView at Falmouth PBA League Elias Cup championships, winning in a dominant performance over the Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen at Bayside Bowl.

The two match, best-of-two-game finals, part of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour schedule, aired Sunday as the PBA Tour’s final telecast on ESPN after 38 consecutive years of coverage.

Silver Lake, the winner of back-to-back Elias Cups in 2014 and ’15, ended a two-year dry spell in a sweep over the Hitmen, who had never bowled in the Elias Cup finals. After a dominant semifinal round win over the Barbasol Motown Muscle, the Atom Splitters’ Jesper Svensson, Dick Allen, AJ Johnson, Tom Daugherty and Chris Barnes had only one close call in a four-game sweep.

After winning the opening game, 248-189, on the strength of seven strikes in the first eight frames, game two came down to a 10th frame showdown where Atom Splitters’ anchor Barnes threw three strikes to force Matt Sanders to match the effort to force a roll-off. Sanders ran the Hitmen’s string of strikes five, but on his final ball in the 10^th frame, Sanders left a 9 pin and Silver Lake claimed a 216-215 decision.

With match one secured, and Philadelphia running into spare-shooting difficulties, Silver Lake easily won game three, 202-163. The Atom Splitters completed the sweep by throwing the first six strikes in game four, winning again, 246-192.

“We went undefeated, but on every shot, you do the math in your head and take it one shot at a time,” Silver Lake manager Mark Baker said. “My guys really bowled well. Really well. We played the lanes a little differently than everyone else, and our shot wasn’t going away. Jesper was Jesper. Dick Allen bowls great in this place. Daugherty, except for the solid 8, struck on about every ball. Putting Chris (Barnes) last relaxed (Dick) and I think that was the big difference.

“This is so much fun,” Baker continued. “It’s hard to explain to anyone who has never been here what the atmosphere is like. The first shot thrown (in the final round) gave me goosebumps. I don’t bowl any more. It wasn’t even my team, but that’s how electrifying it is here.”

While the entire Atom Splitters team bowled well, the decision to award the Mark Roth PBA League Most Valuable Player Award came down to Chris Barnes’ three-strike, 10th frame performance in game two of the Elias Cup finals. Barnes also won the inaugural Roth MVP award in 2014, making him the first two-time winner.

“That’s pretty cool, but I look at it as more of a team thing,” Barnes said. “We all struck a lot. We only had a couple of close games. I struck out to win one. It was a big one to win, but if it hadn’t been for a stone 8 (by Daugherty), we wouldn’t have been in a position where I needed to do that.

“Our guys were really clicking for the most part. We never had more than one person in between strikes and even then, we were all lined up,” he added. “(Philadelphia) just couldn’t get all of its guys going at the same time, and that’s always the issue here.”

At the conclusion of the event, PBA CEO and Commissioner Tom Clark announced the PBA League will return to Bayside Bowl in 2019 as part of the PBA’s new television package with FOX Sports. Details will be announced later.

OCEANVIEW AT FALMOUTH PBA LEAGUE

Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine (aired Sunday on ESPN)

Elias Cup Championship (two best-of-two-game Baker format matches): Go Bowling!

Silver Lake Atom Splitters (Jesper Svensson, Dick Allen, AJ Johnson, Tom Daugherty, Chris Barnes) def. Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen (Ronnie Russell, Chris Loschetter, Tom Smallwood, Dom Barrett, Matt Sanders), 2-0 (248-189 and 216-215; 202-163 and 246-192).

2018 PBA LEAGUE FINAL STANDINGS

(Final position based on match play records followed by total pinfall)

1, Go Bowling! Silver Lake Atom Splitters (Jesper Svensson, Dick Allen, AJ Johnson, Tom Daugherty, Chris Barnes; manager Mark Baker), $60,000.

2, Sysco Philadelphia Hitmen (Ronnie Russell, Chris Loschetter, Tom Smallwood, Dom Barrett, Matt Sanders; manager Jason Couch), $50,000.

3, Shipyard Dallas Strikers (Bill O’Neill, player-manager Norm Duke, Kyle Sherman, Tommy Jones, Rhino Page), $35,000.

4, Barbasol Motown Muscle (Josh Blanchard, Shota Kawazoe, Francois Lavoie, Anthony Simonsen, EJ Tackett; manager Del Ballard Jr.), $35,000.

5, GEICO NYC WTT KingPins (Sam Cooley, Anthony Pepe, Pete Weber, BJ Moore, Marshall Kent; manager Carolyn Dorin-Ballard), $25,000.

6, OceanView at Falmouth Brooklyn Styles (Walter Ray Williams Jr., Parker Bohn III, Jason Sterner, Sean Rash, Matt O’Grady; manager Johnny Petraglia), $25,000.

7, bowlingball.com L.A. X (Stuart Williams, Martin Larsen, Osku Palermaa, Jason Belmonte, Jakob Butturff; manager Andrew Cain), $25,000.

8, Port Property Management Portland Lumberjacks (Ryan Ciminelli, Jojoe Yannaphon, DJ Archer, Kyle Troup, Wes Malott; manager Tim Mack), $25,000.

PBA News

ALLEN PARK, Mich. – In a hotly-contested rematch between the last two Professional Bowlers Association Players of the Year, Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte defeated defending champion EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., in a two-frame roll-off to win the 2018 PBA Tour Finals, earning his 18th career Go Bowling! PBA Tour title.

The finale was telecast Tuesday on the CBS Sports Network from suburban Detroit’s famous Thunderbowl Lanes.

Bowling on the 45-foot Dick Weber lane condition chosen by Belmonte, the 2017 PBA Tour Finals runner-up held the upper hand in the best-of-two-game match after defeating Tackett in the first game, 239-205. But Tackett, the 2017 PBA Tour Finals winner, rebounded to win game two, 219-170, to force the 9th and 10th frame roll-off for the title.

“I didn’t know what to do,” said Belmonte after appearing to be lost following his 170 game. “I tried playing outside and then I went back to playing inside. I think I probably was overplaying my adjustments and making too radical of changes, so I went back to my original ball and started playing in the middle of what I was trying to do earlier in the game.”

In the roll-off, Belmonte started with a strike and finished with a spare/strike in his 10th frame while Tackett, who was trying for his 10th career title, spared in his ninth but left the 2-8-10 split on his first ball of his 10th frame, resulting in a 40-26 loss and giving the title to Belmonte.

Belmonte stressed the importance of his strike on his fill ball in the 10th frame of the second game leading into the roll-off.

“That (final ball) in the 10th was huge because that was the only indicator I had that I could find some kind of shot going into the playoff.”

The PBA Tour Finals was draining for Belmonte because it followed an especially grueling travel schedule for him just prior to the event.

After competing in the Oceanview at Falmouth PBA League in Portland and then traveling to Florida to visit with Hannah Carbocci, a member of Stoneman Douglas’ high school bowling team, he returned home to Australia for a short four-day break before flying all the way back to Detroit for the PBA Tour Finals.

“I’m exhausted, but I wouldn’t miss this event in this historic venue and the great Detroit bowling fans,” Belmonte said. “This is a great event that I believe really puts a spotlight on our top players so I really enjoy competing in it.  Plus, I had some unfinished business after last year’s runner-up finish (when he lost to Tackett).”

The PBA Tour Finals featured an elite field of the top eight players in combined PBA earnings from the 2016, 2017 and first four months of 2018. Competition consisted of four games of total pinfall positioning round competition on four different lane conditions, followed by a semifinal stepladder round for each four-man group. Belmonte won Group 1 over Anthony Simonsen, Dom Barrett and Sean Rash while Tackett topped Group 2, topping Jesper Svensson, Marshall Kent and Tommy Jones.

As the high average leader heading into the title match, Belmonte got to select the lane conditioning pattern out of the four patterns used in the event: Johnny Petraglia 36, Mark Roth 42, Don Carter 39 or Dick Weber 45 (the numerical distinction behind each pattern name refers to the distance in feet oil is applied to the lanes). Coincidentally, Tackett also favored the Weber pattern.

Preceding the title match, a match to decide third- and fourth-place featured the No. 2 qualifiers from each semifinal round. Sweden’s Svensson, a left-handed two-hander, defeated Simonsen, a right-handed two-hander from Austin, Texas, in another best-of-two-game match that also resulted in a 9th and 10th frame roll-off. Svensson won game one, 248-204. After Simonsen came back to win the second, 229-201, Svensson won the roll-off, 49-39, to finish third.

For Belmonte, the title was his second of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season after a win with partner Bill O’Neill in the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship in February. Belmonte is trying to defend his 2017 PBA Player of the Year title and win PBA’s most prized individual honor for the fifth time in six years. Tackett disrupted Belmonte’s reign when he won the 2016 PBA Player of the Year award.

PBA TOUR FINALS

Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, Mich. (finals aired June 19 on CBS Sports Network)

Championship (best of two games; 9th and 10th frame roll-off to break tie)

Game 1 – Jason Belmonte, Australia def. EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 239-205.

Game 2 – Tackett def. Belmonte, 219-170.

Roll-off – Belmonte ($30,000) def. Tackett ($18,000), 40-26.

Third-Place Match  (best of two games; 9th and 10th frame roll-off to break tie)

Game 1 – Jesper Svensson, Sweden def. Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 248-204.

Game 2 – Simonsen def. Svensson, 229-201.

Roll-off – Svensson ($10,000) def. Simonsen ($5,000), 49-39.

PBA News