Team USA Closes out Dominant WMC with 3 Masters Medals

In one of the more dominating performances ever at bowling's Men's World Championships, Team USA, led by DFW resident Chris Barnes, closed out the Masters competition on Saturday with a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal to finish the event with 11 total medals, 8 ahead of the next highest total for another country by Korea.  Team USA finished out with 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze.

Barnes won Masters Gold in a 3-game sweep over teammate Patrick Allen in the finals, after Allen defeated teammate Wes Malott in the semi-finals.  Malott shared Bronze with singles Silver medalist Bok-Eum Choi of Korea.  A 4th member of Team USA also made the Masters competition, which is comprised of the top 16 bowlers after 24 games of competition over the previous 4 events, but O'Neill failed to advance through round 1.

The previous day, Team USA won an exciting team event title match, with a 1073-1057 score over Finland, for the 3rd straight World Championships team Gold medal for the United States.  The U.S. dominated much of the match, but in the latter frames, Finland made a ferocious comeback led by PBA star Mika Koivuniemi and 2-handed phenom Osku Palermaa, but in the end, Tommy Jones finished out strong for the Americans to secure the victory for the "Dream Team".

The Americans also won Gold and Bronze medals in singles by Bill O'Neill and Chris Barnes, respectively, as well as a bronze in doubles by Patrick Allen and Rhino Page.  They also took home trios Gold and Bronze medals with the trio of Malott, Page, and Allen defeating Jones, Barnes and O'Neill in the semi-finals before going on to win Gold.

It goes to show that when the United States puts it best bowlers it has to offer on a team together, there is no other country that can really hang with them, even with all the amazing talent in all the other parts of the world. 

Major Brands in Bowling to be On Hand for Kickoff Classic

On August 28th, in conjunction with the first annual The Bowling News Kickoff Classic bowling tournament, many of the major brands in the bowling industry will be on hand putting on a free demo for bowlers and pro shops to come out and try many of the newest bowling balls on the market, as well as interact with representatives from each company and ask any questions.

For the first time ever, brands from all over the industry will be under one roof for the bowlers allowing them to "test drive" their products, and get a first hand look at what balls might be good for them.  Generally, brands do their own exclusive demos for bowlers coinciding with pro shops, but for this event, it is very different. With this event, the brands will be on hand to help get bowlers ready for the new league season ahead, and give them the opportunity to see what is new on the market.

Brands that will be in attendance will be Ebonite, Hammer, Columbia 300, Track, Storm, Roto Grip and 900 Global.  The demo will begin at 1pm and go until 5pm, with the brands remaining on hand during the tournament, which begins at 7pm.

The Bowling News Kickoff Classic is a 5-person mixed handicap team tournament created and organized by Dino Castillo, and will be held at AMF Showplace Euless Lanes in Euless, TX. Teams will bowl 3 games, much like in regular league play, with standings determined by total pins plus handicap, which will be 90% of the difference between the team average and the 1075 cap.

Each team must have at least 1 male and 1 female bowler, and any combination after that, and must also stay within a 1075 team average cap based on 2009-2010 yearbook averages.  Teams can also have only one PBA member per team.  Entry into the tournament is $400/team.

Entry forms are available in bowling centers throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as online here. Dino can also be contacted to enter the tournament at dino@thebowlingshops.com.  Entries are open until the start of the tournament.

Team USA Trios Team Sets Record on Long Pattern at WMC

Led by Bill O'Neill with a 763 3-game set, United States 2 set a trios 3-game record with a 2195 set at bowling's World Men's Championships, according to USBC's Lucas Wiseman, clearly showing that they like the long pattern that they competed on in day 2 of trios qualifying.

Coming in 8th after the first 3 games of qualifying on the medium oil pattern with an 1885 total, the boys from the U.S. got off to a big start on day 2 with a 727 game comprised of games of 247 from O'Neill, 246 from previously injured Tommy Jones, and a 234 from Chris Barnes.  They only got better from there on the day.

The trio closed with games of 738 and 731 to get to the 2195 total, and a 4081 overall 6-game total, launching themselves up the leader board to the top with a comfortable 242 pin lead over current second place Mexico with 1 squad remaining in trios qualifying, including the top 3 teams after 3 games. 

Regardless, the trio of right handers put up a number that may be far to much to eclipse even for the top teams, and have now set up a very good chance of both teams earning medals if United States 1 bowls as well as they did on day 1.  The top 4 teams after the 6 games are completed advance to the medal round.

Injury or not, Tommy Jones still has the amazing talent to exploit any pattern at any time, and especially on the long pattern where their higher rev rates become an advantage, Jones, Barnes and O'Neill took full advantage in setting the WMC record.

Credit Lucas Wiseman for the facebook updates on the performance of the American men.

Team USA has 3 Medals through first 2 events

At the Bowling World Men's Championships in Munich, Germany, Team USA is off to a strong start through the first two events, with a Gold and Bronze in singles, and a Bronze in doubles, and currently competing in trios competition aiming to earn 2 more additional medals.

Team USA's Bill O'Neill got things going by the singles event with a 244-202 over Korea's Bok-Eum Choi.  After just squeaking into the finals by 4 pins with a 1372 6-game qualifying score, O'Neill defeated top seed Dominic Barrett of England 187-170 to get the chance for Gold.  Local resident Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas earned a Bronze medal along with Barrett after qualifying 3rd with a 1375 total, but falling in the semi-finals to Choi, 217-191.  Fellow Team USA members Wes Malott, Tommy Jones, Patrick Allen, and Rhino Page failed to qualify for the singles finals.

In doubles competition, Allen and Page advance to the finals after 6 games of qualifying in 4th position with a 2513 total, just 11 pins ahead of teammates O'Neill and Barnes, meaning they were matched up with top qualifiers Mathias Arup and Martin Paulsson of Sweden.  They were defeated 449-373 in the 1-game semi-final match, earning them a share of the Bronze Medal along with Germany's Jens Nickel and Bodo Konieczny, and Team USA's 3rd overall to that point.  Alex Kien Liang Liew and Muhamad Nur Aiman of Malaysia earned the Silver Medal after being defeated by Arup and Paulsson in the finals.

All the bowlers are currently competing in trios competition, with Barnes, O'Neill and Jones teaming up and Allen, Page, and Malott forming the other half of Team USA.  All teams bowl 2 separate 3-game blocks, in which the top 4 teams also cut to the finals, and medals. 

After early competition through 2 of 3 squads, United States 1, with Allen, Page, and Malott are in 3rd with a 1930 total, and United States 2 is currently 8th with an 1885 total, so the 2nd block action is sure to be exciting, with both Team USA teams having a good shot at advancing. 

A side note is that Tommy Jones aggravated a recent hip injury during doubles competition, but is doing all he can to continue competing, and help his team to more medals.

Also going on is the event wide All-Events in which scores from all 4 events, singles, doubles, trios and team are added up to determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.  The top 16 athletes also qualify for the Masters competition.  Through 15 of 24 games of the 3rd, Team USA's Bill O'Neill leads All-Events with a 3291 total, ahead of teammate Chris Barnes with a 3246.  Allen sits 6th with a 3225, Malott 13th with 3162, all in good position to qualify for Masters.

Jones and Page are currently 42nd and 52nd, respectively with totals of 3029, and 3004, both with work to do if they are to advance.

SWPBT results from August 13th

final results... very interesting finish.

1st- brett bolejack +375 $600
2nd- aric alcaraz +339 $350
3rd- matt cannizaro +265 $225
4th- jay nephew +254 $125

rest of top 10

leroy willis +246
clint dacy +245
tim jopson +237
jonathan hooks +215
fig newton +214
james schaffer+207

from paulie.. a thank you for all that bowled, and thanks for all that followed on here tonight

SWPBT start of game 8

they are behind getting scores, so right now i'll just put up the match-up's i see for game 8...

james schaffer vs cannizaro
doug rice vs bobbitt
tim jopson vs jay nephew
yinger vs. fig

next post will have final scores on there. games are getting done at such at different times, so it's tough for apul and kevin to get scores and get them into the computer when they have to go right back out to get other scores.

SWPBT - starting game 7

alright.. some confusion as we start game 7.. got it worked out..

matchups i see are...

doug rice vs james schaffer
cannizaro vs tim jopson
fontenoe vs dustin brock
yinger vs. aric (probably for the title, with how aric only shot 180-ish his last game)
jj keys vs clint dacy


will update after game 6 as soon as they come off the printer