Professional Bowlers Association

The inaugural Elias Cup, awarded to owner Billie Jean King’s New York City WTT KingPins after her team’s victory at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis on March 31, has arrived at its home for the next year – King’s Mylan World Team Tennis offices in New York City. The trophy was presented by the late PBA founder’s daughter Annie Elias, PBA Commissioner Tom Clark, PBA CEO Geoff Reiss and Elias’ wife Peggy.

The traveling trophy will remain in the possession of the winning team’s owner until the next Elias Cup finals. Members of the NYC WTT KingPins team were franchise player Pete Weber, Tommy Jones, Scott Norton, Jack Jurek, John Szczerbinski and Kelly Kulick.

Proving that his passion for bowling extends beyond being one of the first celebrity stars to become a team owner in the PBA League, NFL all-star wide receiver Terrell Owens made his competitive bowling debut in the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in Reno, Nev., Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bowling on the Bowlers Journal International team with PBA Commissioner Tom Clark, Xtra Frame announcers Mike (Mike J. Laneside) Jakubowski and Jason (The Bowling Guy) Thomas, and former USBC employee Ed Baur, Owens posted a 475 series in his USBC Open Championships debut in team event.

"The first game (185) went pretty well," said Owens, the owner of the PBA League’s Dallas Strikers. "I'm still new to this, so when I saw some of the guys switching balls, I felt I should switch, too. (He bowled 129 and 161 in his second and third games). I probably should have stayed with the same ball. I ended up going back to the first ball I used and made some other minor adjustments with my feet and eyes."

Owens then added 503 in doubles (with Clark as his partner) and 530 in singles for a 1,508 all-events total (167.5 average).

"Terrell's a great teammate,” Clark said. “He was totally engaged in the competition and bowled great for it being his first real bowling tournament. He learned a lot, strung some strikes and broke 1,500 in all events, which is a respectable score. He even straightened me out during doubles, telling me to stay down at the line and it helped.

"He's been great to work with the past year in building the PBA League,” Clark added, “and I asked him as a friend if he'd like to bowl with our team and experience the National Bowling Stadium. He jumped at the opportunity. Terrell has a great passion for the game and it will be fun to watch him progress. Everyone who has watched him bowl knows he has a natural talent for the sport."

PBA HALL OF FAMERS COUCH, MCCUNE JOIN USBC HALL OF FAME

PBA Hall of Famers Jason Couch (2012) of Clermont, Fla., and Don McCune of Las Vegas (1991), along with two other players with strong PBA ties, were inducted into the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame as part of the USBC Annual Meeting in Reno, Nev., Thursday.

Also inducted were 1988 PBA Rookie of the Year Rick Steelsmith of Wichita, Kan., and former PBA Women’s Series competitor Lynda Barnes (wife of PBA star Chris Barnes) of Double Oak, Texas.

Couch, a 16-time PBA Tour titlist, made history in 2002 by becoming the only bowler in PBA history to win three consecutive Tournament of Champions titles.

"When you're born into a bowling family, you never think of halls of fame and being a pro on the PBA Tour for 21 years; you dream of being a great bowler like your mother and father," said Couch, who finished in the top 10 in the USBC Masters four times. "I always looked up to my parents in bowling and in life. That's why I'm so proud to thank my parents for giving me my passion for this great game."

McCune had 10 top-10 finishes at the USBC Open Championships, but his biggest impact came on the PBA Tour where he won eight PBA Tour titles, including six in winning PBA Player of the Year honors in 1973.

"I never in my wildest dreams started out thinking I would make it into the Hall of Fame," McCune said. "But people do make it, and when they get here, they are really, really thankful for the opportunity."

A former Team USA member and collegiate champion at Wichita State, Steelsmith was a four-time All-American and won the USBC Masters in 1987 as an amateur. He also won USBC Open Championships All-Events and Team All-Events titles.

"I think the greatest reward that comes with this induction is the gift of reflection that this night brings with it," Steelsmith said. "Being a recipient of an award of this magnitude forces you to reflect on what led to this night."

Barnes won USBC Queens titles in 1998 and 2008, had six top-five finishes in the U.S. Women's Open and has won dozens of international medals as a Team USA member, including the 2005 QubicaAMF World Cup.

"I have often wondered what it would feel like to be inducted, and now that it is here it's very hard for me to put into words what is in my heart," Barnes said. "It's truly an honor to be a part of this amazing class of inductees."

Comments were published in a news release by USBC’s communications staff.

XTRA FRAME TO COVER PBA50 TOUR EVENTS IN MOORESVILLE

PBA50 Tour fans will be able to follow all of the action, start to finish in the PBA50 Tour Miller High Life Classic presented by Columbia 300, followed by the PBA50 Classic presented by Roto-Grip, as the spring segment of the 2013 PBA50 Tour schedule winds down.

Live online coverage of the Miller High Life Classic, hosted by George Pappas’ Victory Lanes in Mooresville, N.C., will include qualifying rounds Monday-Tuesday, May 6-7, followed by complete coverage of the match play elimination rounds on Wednesday. Xtra Frame coverage begins at 11 a.m. ET on Monday.

Xtra Frame coverage of the PBA50 Tour will continue in June when the senior players visit Las Vegas for the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open at Suncoast Bowling Center, June 2-7, followed by the USBC Senior Masters at South Point Bowling Center June 9-14.

To subscribe to Xtra Frame, the PBA’s exclusive online bowling channel, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

PBA REGIONAL ROUNDUP: CIMINELLI WINS IN INDIANA

● Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y., defeated Dave Traber of Hebron, Ill., 238-175, to win the PBA Country Club Lanes Central Open in Elkhart, Ind., Sunday. Along with his first PBA Regional win of the 2013 season, and the ninth of his career, Ciminelli collected a $4,000 first prize.

● In between PBA50 Tour stops in Florida and Alabama, Ron Mohr of Eagle River, Alaska, defeated Hugh Miller of Mercer Island, Wash., 226-206, 247-202, in the best-of-three-game finale of the PBA50 Canton (Ga.) Southern Open at Cherokee Lanes Sunday. Mohr earned $2,300.

● Tommy Gollick of Oberlin, Pa. defeated Vinny D’Ambrosio III of Staten Island, N.Y., 215-206, in the PBA Rockaway Eastern Open presented by Storm at Rockaway (N.J.) Lanes Sunday. Gollick went through the stepladder field, defeating James Wallace of Hicksville, N.Y., 227-192, and Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., 257-209, to claim his third PBA East Region title and the $2,500 first prize.

● PBA Regional players will continue to compile qualifying points for their respective Regional Players Championship tournaments, which will be held later in the summer, during a busy schedule in May.

The May 3-5 weekend will include the joint PBA Junction City Bowl Southwest/Midwest Open in Junction City, Kan., and the PBA Battle at Black Oak Casino West Open in Tuolumne, Calif.

Between the PBA50 Tour stops in Trussville, Ala., and Mooresville, N.C., Riverside Lanes in Danville, Va., will host the PBA50 Danville South Open May 9-11.

A pair of “reduced entry fee” tournaments is scheduled for May 11 (PBA50 Columbus (Ohio) Central Open at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl) and May 11-12 (PBA Midcontinent Communications Midwest Open at Empire Bowl in Sioux Falls, S.D.).

The May 17-19 schedule includes the PBA Fort Sill Southwest Open at Twin Oak Lanes in Fort Sill, Okla.; the PBA U.S. Foods Northwest Open presented by Boger Construction and the PBA50 Daffodil Bowl Northwest Open presented by Sunset Chevrolet at Daffodil Bowl in Puyallup, Wash., and the PBA and PBA50 Baldo Campana Central Opens benefitting the Lorain County Kids Fund at Rebman Recreation in Lorain, Ohio.

The May 24-25 schedule includes two one-day joint PBA50 regionals for Midwest and Central Region players, sponsored by Allstate Insurance, at Poplar Creek Bowl in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Closing out the month will be a pair of mid-week PBA50 West Regional events: the fourth annual PBA50 Long King Saguaro West Open at Johnson Lanes in Sun City West, Ariz., May 27-29, followed by the PBA50 Miller High Life West Open at Starlite Lanes in Flagstaff, Ariz., May 29-31.

For complete PBA regional schedule and entry information, visit pba.com and click on “Regional Tours” under the Schedules tab.

QUICK NOTES:

● The United States Bowling Congress announcement on a long-term tournament agreement with South Point Casino, Hotel and Bowling Center, and its Las Vegas business partners has no immediate impact on the PBA, but PBA leadership was pleased with the news that construction on a new 60-lane South Point Bowling Arena will begin immediately, with plans to open in 2015.

"We congratulate the USBC and Las Vegas on the new partnership with South Point,” PBA Commissioner Tom Clark said. “South Point has been a great host for PBA's World Series of Bowling the past three years, and will be again this October for WSOB V. The WSOB has grown into being the best professional bowling extravaganza worldwide and South Point has played a huge role in that. The bowling industry is thankful for its commitment to the sport."

● PBA members Mike Fagan of Dallas and Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., will try to win the first World Games gold medals for the United States in Cali, Colombia, in July. Fagan and Kulick, who were selected by Team USA, will bowl men’s and women’s singles, and mixed doubles. The World Games involves 36 sports that are not included in the Olympic Games. The U.S. has won two silver and three bronze medals since the inception of the World Games in 1981, but never a gold medal.

● Mike Fagan of Dallas and Missy Parkin of Lake Forest, Calif., have been selected as Male and Female Bowlers of the Year for calendar year 2012 by the International Bowling Media Association (formerly the Bowling Writers Association of America).

Three of the PBA League’s “supplemental” players got an opportunity to perform during the inaugural Elias Cup finals in Indianapolis, and all three made the most of their chances.

DJ Archer of Friendswood, Texas – who wasn’t even drafted for PBA League competition - joined the Motown Muscle roster for the qualifying rounds during the PBA Detroit Winter Swing when Brad Angelo of Lockport, N.Y., was forced to withdraw due to a lingering injury. When a painful battle with plantar faciitis, affecting his right foot, forced Motown’s Mike Scroggins out of the lineup, Archer stepped in and helped the Muscle defeat the Dallas Strikers to advance to the Elias Cup title match. In six frames in three games, Archer had four spares, one strike and one unconverted split.

BROOKLYN STyLES supplemental player Tom Hess of Urbandale, Iowa, got the call when STyLES anchor bowler Sean Rash left the 2-4-8-10 split in the 10th frame of the opening match against the Dallas Strikers. While the outcome of the match was already decided in Dallas’ favor, Hess came off the bench cold and converted the challenging split.

In the title match, after anchor Pete Weber locked up the title for the New York City WTT KingPins with a strike on his first shot in the 10th frame, he called in supplemental pick Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., – the only woman on a PBA League team roster – to finish off the game. Kulick flushed two strikes in two attempts.

ELIAS CUP TRAVELING TROPHY HEADED TO NEW YORK CITY

The PBA League Elias Cup traveling trophy will soon be on its way to the New York City offices of Mylan World Team Tennis, co-founded by New York City WTT KingPins owner Billie Jean King. The trophy, bearing the names of team members Pete Weber, Tommy Jones, Jack Jurek, John Szczerbinski, Scott Norton and Kelly Kulick, along with King as owner, will remain in the care of Mylan WTT CEO and Commissioner Ilana Kloss until the next Elias Cup Finals.

"It will be displayed proudly," said Kloss, who attended the Elias Cup finals along with King.

Mylan WTT presented by GEICO has its headquarters on Broadway in New York City.

PBA TO UNVEIL THREE NEW “ANIMAL PATTERNS” DURING GEICO PBA SUMMER SWING

In its first appearance in Milwaukee since the 2007 USBC Masters, the PBA Tour will return to Wisconsin with a series of unique events:

● The GEICO PBA Summer Swing, set for May 20-June 2, will be contested at three different bowling centers – a first in PBA history.

● The tournament series will introduce three new “animal” lane conditioning patterns, expanding the original group of Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion, Shark and Viper animal patterns for the first time since the “named” lane conditioning pattern system was introduced in 2008. The new patterns will be named the Badger, Wolf and Bear.

● CBS Sports Network will make its debut as the PBA Tour’s Summer Swing network. CBSSN will air five two-hour telecasts on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET, beginning June 11. In addition to the Badger, Wolf and Bear Open finals, the CBSSN series will include the Milwaukee Open finals and a GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event.

The GEICO PBA Summer Swing will be limited to a field of 176 players (PBA members and non-members). Entries are being accepted on a first-come basis. The entry fee package for all four tournaments will be $600 for PBA members and $750 for non-members. The tournament field will be limited to 176 entrants. The three “animal pattern” events will each offer a $50,000 prize fund. The Milwaukee Open will pay $100,000 in prize money. All four tournaments also will award berths in the 2014 PBA Tournament of Champions, statics and titles in support of PBA Player of the Year consideration, and qualifying points for the 2013 Japan Cup.

Players who may not be able to bowl in all of the Summer Swing events will be allowed to enter the first three tournaments individually ($225 for members and $285 for non-members for the Badger, Wolf and Bear Opens).

For entry information, visit pba.com and click on the “Schedule” tab for PBA Tour information, or click on this link for the entry form: http://www.pba.com/Content/files/membership/PBA_Summer_Swing_2013_B.pdf

XTRA FRAME SET TO COVER START OF 2013 PBA50 TOUR SEASON

PBA’s Xtra Frame crew is set to launch its exclusive online coverage of the PBA50 Tour with the Pasco County Suncoast Open benefitting Wounded Warriors Project in New Port Richey, Fla., followed by the

PBA50 Sun Bowl in The Villages, Fla.

Xtra Frame will provide start-to-finish coverage of the New Port Richey tournament April 15-17 and The Villages event April 21-23. Bowling fans can watch both events for a modest monthly subscription fee of $7.99, or catch a full year of PBA coverage plus many other exclusive features for $64.99. To enroll, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

During the first two Florida events, Gianmarc Manzione, who recently authored a widely-praised feature story on “action bowling” in the New York area that was published in the New York Times, will visit the Xtra Frame booth.

PBA REGIONAL ROUNDUP: BAKER, GOEBEL, PARKS WIN IN PBA50 “TUNEUP” EVENTS

As PBA50 Tour players fine-tune their games in anticipation of the start of the 2013 season April 14-17 in New Port Richey, Fla., PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker of King, N.C.; PBA Tour titlist Bryan Goebel of Shawnee, Kan., and 2008 USBC Senior Masters champion Kenny Parks of Hammond, Ind., earned titles in PBA Regional competition over the April 6-7 weekend.

● Baker went 6-4 in match play and finished with a 18-game total of 4,041 pins to win the $1,500 first prize in the PBA50 North Fort Myers (Fla.) South Open at All Star Lanes Sunday by 65 pins over Dave Sill of Titusville, Fla. Baker successfully defended his 2012 North Fort Myers title and earned back-to-back titles after winning the South Region event in Fayetteville, N.C., two weeks earlier to end a year-long winless spell. He clinched the title with a 227-183 win over Sill in their position round match.

● Goebel and Parks won one-day PBA50 Midwest titles in Milan, Ill. Goebel defeated Mike Mineman of St. Louis, 197-145, to win the PBA50 Derek Newton Allstate Midwest/Central Open I on Saturday and Parks defeated Mineman, 197-188, in Sunday’s Derek Newton Allstate Midwest/Central Open II for his 15th PBA Regional title. Both winners earned $1,500 prizes.

● The April 12-14 PBA Regional schedule includes the Firelake/Flintco Southwest Open presented by Brunswick at Firelake Bowling Center in Shawnee, Okla.; the Earl Anthony and PBA50 Earl Anthony West/Northwest Memorial Classics at Earl Anthony’s Dublin (Calif.) Bowl, and the PBA50 Victory Lanes Central Open presented by Brunswick in Galion, Ohio.

The PBA West/Northwest Regions head to Hawaii April 18-23, starting with the John Gonsalves Memorial West/Northwest Open presented by Storm at Schofield Barracks on April 18, followed by the Naval Station West/Northwest Open at Pearl Harbor over the weekend. The Hawaii tour wraps up with the Kona West/Northwest Open at KB Xtreme Lanes in Kailua April 22-23.

Also on the April 19-21 schedule are the Debbie and Leo Nunan Memorial Central Open presented by Track at AMF Stardust Lanes in Grove City, Ohio; the Rocky Mount South Open at The Bowling Center in Rocky Mount, N.C.; and a one-day “reduced entry fee” Midwest Region event at Bowl-A-Vard Lanes in Madison, Wis.

Closing out the month will be the PBA50 Cherokee Lanes South Open presented by Motiv in Canton, Ga., over the April 25-27 weekend along with the Rockaway Lanes Eastern Open presented by Storm in Rockaway, N.J., and the Country Club Lanes Central Open in Elkhart, Ind.

For complete PBA regional schedule and entry information, visit pba.com and click on “Regional Tours” under the Schedules tab.

QUICK NOTES:

● Anthony (Nin) Angelo, father of two-time PBA Tour champion Brad Angelo of Lockport, N.Y., died on April 4 at age 85. Nin Angelo was a bowling legend in the Buffalo area as one of the sport’s first great left-handed players. He rose to stardom during the 1960-61 season when he appeared on Buffalo’s “Beat the Champ” television show for 19 consecutive weeks, defeating future hall of famers Ed Lubanski, Bill Bunetta, Billy Golembiewski and Carmen Salvino during his streak. He is a member of the Lockport, Buffalo and New York State Bowling Halls of Fame, and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Visitation was held Wednesday in Lockport. A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in All Saints Parish Oratory, 391 Market St., Lockport.

● Reminder: the one-of-a-kind competition jersey Chris Barnes designed for his close friend Mika Koivuniemi and worn by Koivuniemi during the 2013 USBC Masters telecast, will be sold during an online auction to raise money for Strike Out Diabetes, a charity Barnes and his wife Lynda have created in cooperation with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Dallas. The Strike Out Diabetes event will be held April 27 in Lewisville, Texas. For more information, visit: http://www.jdrfdallas.org/events/strike-out-diabetes/. To bid on the Koivuniemi jersey, send an email to auctions@pba.com including your name, contact telephone number and bid amount. The deadline for all bids is April 15.

INDIANAPOLIS – With owner Billie Jean King on the bench cheering every shot, the New York City WTT KingPins presented by GEICO finished the inaugural Professional Bowlers Association League championship match with a string of seven consecutive strikes to defeat the Motown Muscle, 440-407, and claim the Elias Cup at Woodland Bowl.

The PBA League Elias Cup finals aired Sunday on ESPN.

The KingPins, the top qualifiers among eight teams that competed in five preliminary rounds earlier in the season in Detroit, put together a string of five strikes to take a 202-181 lead after the first game of the two-game, total pinfall championship match. But the Motown Muscle, owned by former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis, rallied to tie the match after five frames of game two.

In the Baker format contest, where each of the five team member bowls two frames to complete a game, the tide turned when the two teams switched lanes after five frames. After struggling to strike on the right lane, the KingPins didn’t miss in their final five frames on the left lane. Consecutive strikes by Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C.; Jack Jurek of Lackawanna, N.Y.; John Szczerbinski of North Tonawanda, N.Y.; Scott Norton of Mission Viejo, Calif., and newly-crown Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., locked up the title for King’s team.

After throwing the decisive strike in the 10th frame, Weber benched himself and brought in KingPins’ supplemental draft pick Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., to finish off the match. The only woman in the PBA League field threw two more strikes to conclude the contest.

“We knew the Muscle had to come back on the right lane after five frames and they hadn’t bowled on that lane in 10 frames,” Weber said. “We ate up some oil and they just didn’t make the adjustments.

“My team is the best team. I knew from the start we were going to be hard to beat,” he added. “We started communicating in Detroit and I knew at that point we were going to be something special.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to have Billie Jean King as our team owner,” Weber continued, “and it’s an honor and a privilege to give her the first Elias Cup trophy.”

King, who admitted she doesn’t know a great deal about bowling, was an avid cheerleader for her team.

“I was so calm playing tennis, but I was not so calm watching today,” she said. “I was dying. The match was so close.

“I loved my team right from the start,” King added. “I watched them on ESPN; I even watched one match on a Jet Blue flight, but I could tell they worked together great. I was very happy to be here for the finals.

“I love it; it’s exactly what I believe in. If you watch a World Team Tennis match, you’ll see my philosophy on life: it’s men and women working together, because we’re in this world together and we have to help each other.”

In the opening match of the finals, Terrell Owens watched his Dallas Strikers (Bryon Smith of Roseburg, Ore.; Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela; Rhino Page of Dade City, Fla.; Mike Machuga of Erie, Pa., and Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla.) strike on five of their final six shots to defeat actor Jesse Williams’ BROOKLYN STyLES (Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla.; Jason Sterner of McDonough, Ga.; Ryan Ciminelli of Cheektowaga, N.Y.; Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill.), 217-172.

Motown (DJ Archer of Friendswood, Texas; Jesse Buss of Belvidere, Ill.; Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich.; Ronnie Russell of Indianapolis, and Mike Fagan of Dallas) then eliminated the Strikers, 216-190. Fagan threw three strikes in the 10th frame to force the Strikers’ Duke to throw two strikes in his 10th frame, but the PBA Hall of Famer left a 4-6-7 split on his first shot to give Motown the win.

The Elias Cup was named in honor of the PBA’s founder and long-time leader, Eddie Elias. Elias’ wife, Peggy, and daughter Annie Elias made the trophy presentation in Indianapolis. The winners shared a $75,000 team prize.

PBA League competition will resume during the 2013 PBA World Series of Bowling V at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas Oct. 25-Nov. 3.

The PBA Tour will return to action in the GEICO PBA Summer Swing May 20-June 2 in a four-tournament event hosted by three Milwaukee area bowling centers: AMF West, AMF Waukesha and AMF Bowlero in suburban Wauwatosa, Wis. The finals of the Badger, Wolf, Bear and Milwaukee Open tournaments – along with a GEICO Summer King of the Swing special event – will be televised by CBS Sports Network.

PBA LEAGUE ELIAS CUP FINALS
Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis, March 31 (aired April 7)

Final Standings:
1, NYC WTT KingPins presented by GEICO (Tommy Jones, Jack Jurek, John Szczerbinski, Scott Norton, Pete Weber, Kelly Kulick), $75,000.
2, Motown Muscle (DJ Archer, Jesse Buss, Tom Smallwood, Ronnie Russell, Mike Fagan, Mike Scroggins), $30,000.
3, Dallas Strikers (Bryon Smith, Amleto Monacelli, Rhino Page, Mike Machuga, Norm Duke, Mike Wolfe), $20,000.
4, BROOKLYN STyLES (Walter Ray Williams Jr., Jason Sterner, Ryan Ciminelli, Ryan Shafer, Sean Rash, Tom Hess), $10,000.

Stepladder Finals (Baker format):
Match One – Dallas Strikers def. BROOKLYN STyLES, 217-172.
Semifinal Match - Motown Muscle def. Dallas Strikers, 216-190.
Championship (two games, total pinfall - New York City WTT KingPins (202-238) def. Motown Muscle (181-226), 440-407.

INDIANAPOLIS – Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., wrote another chapter in bowling history Sunday when he defeated Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte, 224-179, to win the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions at Woodland Bowl.

The victory made Weber the first player to complete the PBA Triple Crown for a second time and tied bowling legend Earl Anthony for most major PBA titles with 10.

Weber, who was considered one of the professional tour’s power players when he won his first PBA Tournament of Champions with his unique high back swing back in 1978, is now 50 – the oldest player ever to win the Tournament of Champions – and affectionately called “Gramps” by his younger opponents.

He won his second TOC title to go along with five U.S. Open titles and two PBA World Championships to complete the PBA’s Triple Crown a second time, a feat no other bowler has accomplished. He also owns a PBA Touring Players Championship for his other major. His win Sunday was his 37th, tying him for third place on the PBA all-time titles list with Norm Duke, behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. (47) and Anthony (43).

“I don’t know what it is,” Weber said. “I get up for the majors, but there’s one eluding me and the Weber family – the USBC Masters. I really want that one, and I’m not done yet. I’m not slowing down. I have no plans to retire.”

Weber won Sunday with three doubles, four spares and help from Belmonte, who left the 4-10 split three times – failing to convert it twice.

“I woke up today and said my dream would be to bowl Pete and win by a pin,” Belmonte said. “I got half of it right. I bowled Pete, but I lost by 60.

“Pete is the most talented bowler the world has ever seen, and may ever see,” Belmonte added. “To bowl him in the finals and see him break records like he has broken is really special. If I could achieve half of what he has done by the time my career is over, I’ll be ecstatic.”

Belmonte eliminated defending champion Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., 229-171, in the semifinal match. Belmonte started with five strikes while Rash threw only one strike in his first six frames. When Belmonte left the 1-2-4-6-10 in the eighth frame and failed to convert, he gave Rash a glimmer of hope, but Rash was unable to close the gap.

In the second match, Rash followed a first-frame spare with five strikes to build a 34-pin lead over Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., after Jones left and failed to convert the 3-4-6-7-10 split in his second frame. Despite striking on eight of his last nine shot, Jones was unable to overcome his early mistake against Rash’s error-free game.

Jones started the stepladder finals with a 217-189 victory over Finland’s two-handed star, Osku Palermaa. Jones had a double in the second and third frames which gave him the lead and Palermaa, unable to double the entire game, couldn’t catch up.

The PBA Tour’s winter season ends next Sunday (April 7) when the finals of the Elias Cup, the concluding event of the inaugural PBA League season, airs on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET. The New York City WTT KingPins, owned by women’s sports legend Billie Jean King, is the top-qualifying team for the finals. Other finalists include the Motown Muscle, owned by former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis; the BROOKLYN STyLES, owned by Grey’s Anatomy actor Jesse Williams, and the Dallas Strikers, owned by former NFL great Terrell Owens.

BARBASOL PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis, Sunday

Final Standings
1, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., $50,000.
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $25,000.
3, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., $15,000.
4, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., $12,000.
5, Osku Palermaa, Finland, $10,000.

Stepladder Results
Match One: Jones def. Palermaa, 217-189.
Match Two: Rash def. Jones, 247-233.
Semifinal Match: Belmonte def. Rash, 229-171.
Championship: Weber def. Belmonte, 224-179.