Professional Bowlers Association

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. -- Throwing his traditional rocket to the pocket, Eugene McCune of Munster, Ind., successfully defended his PBA Cheetah Open presented by Ebonite title Sunday at Fountain Bowl.

McCune, who was the top qualifier for the stepladder finals, defeated PBA Hall of Famer and 35-time Tour titlist Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., 245-229, in the championship match for his third career win.

“Anytime I can play outside on the lane and throw it hard it plays in my favor,” said McCune who estimated he was throwing the ball at a little over 20 miles per hour. “It’s old school and that’s where I feel most comfortable.”

McCune won his second career title last season when, as tournament leader, he defeated Norm Duke, 238-237, to win the Cheetah Championship. It was during the match play round of that event that McCune broke the PBA nine-game scoring record with a 2,468 pinfall (274.22 average). In this year’s Cheetah Open, conducted on PBA’s Cheetah lane conditioning pattern, he averaged 253 for the tournament.

“When I bowl on this condition there’s a little pressure because I know I need to take advantage of it,” he added. “I was a little worried after the first two frames of the tournament when I had open frames but I went to a different ball and made a couple of other adjustments and got back on track.”

McCune was the first player to successfully defend a Tour title since Chris Barnes won back-to-back events in Columbus, Ohio, in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

The landmark Cheetah Open was the first PBA Tour event streamed live exclusively on PBA’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel. Three more Xtra Frame events are scheduled during the remainder of the season.

“It was going to be a good match because he’s one of the best on this pattern and I match up real well in this house,” said Weber, who was trying for his 36^th Tour title. “It was a good match for a while until I had a couple bad shots.”

Weber defeated fellow Hall of Famer Duke in the opening stepladder match, 237-226, to advance to the semi-final against Josh Blanchard of Gilbert, Ariz., who was rebounding after his fall on the approach during the PBA World Championship Mike Aulby Division Final telecast on ESPN two weeks ago. Weber defeated Blanchard in the semifinal 248-165.

PBA CHEETAH OPEN PRESENTED BY EBONITE

Fountain Bowl, Fountain Valley, Calif., Sunday

FINAL STANDINGS:

1, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., one game, 245 pins, $10,000

2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., three games, 714 pins, $5,000

3, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., one game, 165 pins, $3,000

4, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., one game, 226, $2,500

PLAYOFF RESULTS:

Match One – Weber def. Duke, 237-226

Semifinal match – Weber def. Blanchard, 248-165

Championship match – McCune def. Weber, 245-229

MATCH PLAY RESULTS

After 22 games, including match play records and bonus pins. Top four advanced to stepladder finals

1, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 8-5, 5,814.
2, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 10-3, 5,809.
3, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 7-6, 5,806.
4, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 7-6, 5,692.
5, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 9-4, 5,684, $2,300.
6, Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, Ariz., 6-7, 5,651, $2,100.
7, Bill O'Neill, Southampton, Pa., 6-7, 5,641, $2,100.
8, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 7-6, 5,620, $1,800.
9, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 6-7, 5,606, $1,750.
10, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 8-5, 5,602, $1,800.
11, Stuart Williams, England, 8-5, 5,596, $1,650.
12, Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, 8-5, 5,592, $1,800.
13, PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif., 5-8, 5,554, $1,550.
14, Jesse Buss, Wichita, Kan., 3-10, 5,535, $1,700.
15, a-Shigeo Saitoh, Japan, 8-5, 5,515, $1,450.
16, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 5-8, 5,475, $1,600.
17, John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., 6-7, 5,424, $1,550.
18, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 8-5, 5,417, $1,300.
19, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 4-9, 5,364, $1,275.
20, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 5-8, 5,338, $1,238.
20, a-Lowell Huber, Westminster, CA, 7-6, 5,338, $1,238.
22, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 6-7, 5,313, $1,300.
23, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 6-7, 5,259, $1,175.
24, a-Takashi Kudoh, Japan, 3-10, 5,147, $1,150.

a = amateur

300 games

Danny Wiseman (2), Bill O’Neill (2), Jesse Buss (2), Norm Duke, Michael Haugen Jr., Martin Larsen

Story courtesy USBC Communications, Lucas Wiseman

ARLINGTON, Texas - After an emotional victory at the 2011 United States Bowling Congress Masters, Tom Hess of Urbandale, Iowa, thinks the key to his chances of successfully defending his title is keeping those emotions in check.

Hess was tearful and exuberant after defeating Jack Jurek of Lackawanna, N.Y., 225-214, to win last year's title at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. When the 2012 Masters begins Tuesday at Sunset Station's Strike Zone Bowling Center in suburban Las Vegas, Hess will have around 300 bowlers looking to dethrone him.

"I'm ready to try and defend, and hopefully I can find the same kind of magic that I found last year," said Hess, whose victory last year was his first title on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. "The key is to keep my emotions a little more level. I don't want to have the big peaks and valleys in the short matches."

Though his goal is to keep his emotions in check, Hess knows that when they announce him as the reigning champion before his first squad that he's likely to get a little teary-eyed once again.

"I can imagine when they go through and announce the previous winners of the Masters at the start of the first squad, that is going to be a pretty emotional moment and take me back to the day when I won last year," Hess said. "It was a childhood dream of mine to win on the PBA Tour. I never thought it would take until I was 41 to get that done, and to win was an amazing accomplishment."

It has been more than four decades since anyone has repeated as champion at the Masters. It's only been done twice and Billy Welu was the last to do it in 1965. So Hess knows history won't be on his side as he takes to the lanes next week.

"Do I think I can do it? Absolutely," Hess said. "But that stat right there just goes to show how hard it is to win back-to-back. If I go out and perform like I know I can perform, I like my chances."

All participants will bowl two five-game blocks of qualifying Jan. 24 and 25 before the first cut is made to the top 25 percent of the field. After another five games the morning of Jan. 26, the top 63 bowlers will join Hess in match play, which continues until the top four bowlers are determined for the TV finals. The stepladder finals will take place at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Jan. 29 and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

The Masters, which is one of four majors on the PBA Tour, also is a part of the World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association. For more information on the Masters, visit BOWL.com/masters.

Rookie Josh Blanchard’s hard fall in last week’s PBA World Championship Mike Aulby Division Final seen on ESPN has attracted a lot of national media attention. He has been featured on ESPN SportsCenter, ESPN Around the Horn, ESPN Pardon the Interruption, ESPNews, LIVE with Kelly Ripa, the Howard Stern Show and numerous other local sportscasts. His misfortune has also become a YouTube hit, among other internet blog sites, with hundreds of thousands of views.

PTI's Tony Kornheiser accepted a challenge from Blanchard and as a result plans are in the works to schedule a match at Tony's hometown lanes Strike Bethesda (Md.) sometime in the future.

“I would have never dreamed in a million years that it would have gotten this much attention,” said the former Wichita State bowler. “Everything happens for a reason and I’m actually having a lot of fun with it. I’m looking at it as an opportunity to turn it into a positive for the sport.”

"Josh is a future star of the sport and we know one day soon he will be able to turn his rough debut on TV into a great story of perseverance,” added PBA Commissioner Tom Clark.

Jason Belmonte won the Mike Aulby final with a 300 game during the show. He will be featured with Osku Palermaa, Sean Rash and Ryan Shafer in the PBA World Championship final Sunday on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET.

SEAN RASH TO FULFILL “WISH” FOR YOUNG CANCER VICTIM

Sean Rash will fulfill the “wish” of 16-year-old Benjamin Doyle of Casper, Wyo., providing the young cancer victim with a personal visit and a bowling lesson during the Alka-Seltzer Plus Liquid Gels USBC Masters.

Rash will meet with Doyle, who is suffering from brain cancer, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Strike Zone inside Sunset Station Hotel/Casino in Henderson, Nev., in response to a request from the Make A Wish Foundation. Doyle and his family also will be invited to attend the live ESPN coverage of the USBC Masters finals on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. PT as guests of the PBA and USBC.

REGIONAL UPDATE: Thanks to an 8-0 match play record, Dale Traber of Cedarburg, Wis., won the T-Byrd Lanes Senior Open regional in Rochelle, Ill., Jan. 8 for his ninth Senior regional title to go along with his 38 regular regional titles.

In the title match, he defeated Robert Flaws of Chicago Ridge, Ill., 226-179 to take home the $1,500 first prize

PBA Regional activity continues for Midwest and Central senior players with the Lynwood Bowl Senior Open in Lynwood, Ill., Jan. 20-22, and the Sparetime Lanes Senior Open, Feb. 3-5, in Decatur, Ill. Both events are sponsored by Allstate Insurance.

The PBA Central Region also will conduct the Legend Lanes Regular/Senior Doubles Classic in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Jan. 27-29.

February’s highlight for non-senior players include the new Regional Players Doubles Championship presented by Hammer Feb. 10-12 at The Orleans in Las Vegas. For complete Regional tournament schedules and entry information, visit pba.com and click on “Regional Tour” under the “Schedules” drop-down tab.

XTRA FRAME FREE PRE-GAME SHOW PREVIEWS PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

Xtra Frame, PBA’s official online bowling channel, continues its free pre- and post-game shows this week with the PBA World Championship finals, beginning with a pre-game introduction that is currently available on pba.com. Sunday’s ESPN telecast of the 2011-12 season’s first major championship will be a contest between international two-handed stars Osku Palermaa of Finland and Jason Belmonte of Australia along with American veterans Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill.

At stake is a $50,000 first prize, a major title and an automatic berth in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions.

Pre-game shows for all PBA Tour events debut on Wednesday afternoon preceding each Sunday telecast. A post-game show, featuring an interview with the tournament champion and a discussion of equipment used during the finals, will be posted immediately after the telecast.

Xtra Frame subscribers also can access the archives within Xtra Frame for a recap of all tournaments previously aired on ESPN. For information on how to subscribe to Xtra Frame, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATE

After a grueling final day of competition, 13-time PBA Tour winner and 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes topped 18-year-old and hometown favorite Magnus Johnson Jr. to win the 32nd AIK International Tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.

With a 70-pin lead heading into the final game, Barnes held off a challenge from Johnson to win the event by 15 pins, finishing with a 4,794 20-game pinfall with bonus to Johnson’s 4,779.

Several other PBA Tour players are competing in the Brunswick Ballmaster Open in Helsinki, Finland this week including Tommy Jones and PBA World Championship finalists Sean Rash and Osku Palermaa.

LAS VEGAS – A pair of international two-handed bowling stars will meet a pair of title-hungry American veterans in the finals of the Professional Bowlers Association World Championship Sunday on ESPN. The first major championship of the 2011-12 PBA season will air in high-definition at 1 p.m. ET.

Finland’s Osku Palermaa and Australia’s Jason Belmonte, two-handed players of almost the same age who developed their unique styles half a world apart, will join 25-year PBA Tour veteran Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and 29-year-old Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., in the battle for the $50,000 first prize and a major title all four players covet.

Palermaa, 28, won his only PBA Tour title in the GEICO Shark Championship during the 2010 PBA World Series of Bowling at South Point Casino and Hotel, host of the World Championship. Palermaa, who defeated Stuart Williams, Dom Barrett and Jack Jurek to win the Don Carter Division berth, is trying for his first major title.

Belmonte, 28, hasn’t won a title since his first PBA Tour victory in the 2009 Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic. He also is looking for his first major title after rolling a 300 game on his way to winning the Mike Aulby Division over Brian Kretzer, Josh Blanchard and Mike Fagan.

In the only previous meeting of the two-handed rivals on a PBA Tour telecast, Palermaa defeated Belmonte, 182-176, in the semifinal round of the 2010 Shark Championship.

Shafer, 45, is a four-time PBA Tour title winner who wants to end his record streak of 12 consecutive top five finishes in PBA majors without a title. Shafer eliminated Andres Gomez, Ildemaro Ruiz and Tom Smallwood in the Billy Hardwick Division.

Rash, 29, also wants to banish a personal demon. He is the only finalist who has won a major (the 2007 United States Bowling Congress Masters), but he hasn’t won a title in eight television appearances since then. Rash dominated the 40 qualifying games leading into the World Championship elimination rounds, averaging 234 on five different PBA lane conditions. As the top qualifier in the finals field, he has selected the Scorpion lane oiling pattern, the same pattern he selected for the Johnny Petraglia Division when he eliminated Pete Weber, Ryan Ciminelli and Nathan Bohr.

Along with the first title to be decided during the 2011-12 season, the winner will receive a berth in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions which will be contested April 8-15 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas.

A preview of the World Championship finals will be webcast on pba.com’s Xtra Frame beginning Wednesday, and a post-game show will be presented on Xtra Frame immediately following Sunday’s ESPN finals.

The fourth and final spot for the PBA World Championship finals will be determined this Sunday when the PBA World Championship Mike Aulby Division Final, airs at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN from the South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas. The field of 16 finalists will be down to the final four for the Sunday, Jan. 15 battle for the $50,000 first prize, the Earl Anthony Trophy and the PBA Tour’s first major title of the 2011-12 season.

Australia’s two-handed star, Jason Belmonte, leads the field of four players in Sunday’s Mike Aulby Division finals. He will be joined in the Aulby elimination round by Brian Kretzer of Dayton, Ohio; rookie Josh Blanchard of Gilbert, Ariz., and Mike Fagan of Dallas.

Belmonte hasn’t won a title since his first PBA Tour victory in the 2009 Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic propelled him to 2009-09 PBA Rookie of the Year honors. Kretzer won his only PBA Tour title in the 2010 Go RVing Match Play Championship. Fagan is a two-time title winner. His most recent victory was in the 2010 One A Day Dick Weber Open. Blanchard, a former Wichita State University star, joined the PBA in October and won a PBA West Region Non-Champions tournament in Reno, Nev., in his first appearance as a member. Sunday’s telecast will be his PBA Tour television debut.

The Aulby Division winner will join Finland’s Osku Palermaa, Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., in the World Championship finals on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.

In Sunday’s division finals, all four players will bowl a one-game match. The player with the lowest score will be eliminated. The three survivors will bowl another game, with the low man knocked out. The two finalists will bowl a final game, with the survivor advancing to the World Championship finals.

The Mike Aulby finals is named after the PBA Hall of Famer, 29-time PBA Tour champion and winner of the 1979 and 1985 PBA National Championships.

Three easy steps to enhance your PBA World Championship telecast experience:

1. Free Xtra Frame Mike Aulby finals preview show (now available on pba.com’s Xtra Frame) - Tune into pba.com’s Xtra Frame for interviews with the finalists as they give their insight into strategy and equipment selection. All World Championship preview shows on Xtra Frame are available the Wednesday before each Sunday ESPN telecast for free.

2. Sunday, 1 p.m. ET – ESPN telecast of the Mike Aulby Division final from South Point in Las Vegas.

3. Sunday 2:30 p.m. ET – Xtra Frame post-tournament show interviews the winning player and provides in-depth ball rep analysis of the winner’s equipment selection and ball preparation. (Xtra subscription information is available on the pba.com Xtra Frame page.)

Bowling fans can provide their feedback on World Championship telecasts through PBA’s social networking platforms on Facebook and Twitter.