Page 13 - nov2012

NOVEMBER 2012 -www.bowlingworld.com13
GEICO PBA World Series of
Bowling IV News
Rash Remains High-Average ―Animal Pattern‖ Player In Wsob
Competition
Reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash of Montgomery,
Ill., came into the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling IV as the
highest averaging player on PBA ―animal patterns‖ in three previ-
ous WSOB (224.54 for 162 games), more than two pins ahead of
Chris Barnes, and he easily retained his No. 1 ranking in that
category.
After another 32 games and 7,662 pins on the Cheetah, Viper,
Chameleon and Scorpion patterns – a 239.44 average which
earned him the No. 1 seed for the PBA World Championship
match play finals – Rash improved his four-year animal pattern
average to 226.99.
Some other WSOB IV notes:
● Through the four animal pattern events, Australia’s Jason
Belmonte has taken the lead in ―most World Series‖ television
finals with 12 after qualifying for the Chameleon and Scorpion
finals. Rash is second with 11 after qualifying for the Viper finals.
Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pa., is third, qualifying for his eighth
ESPN final in the Cheetah. All three have a chance to add to their
totals if they can fill any of the five stepladder berths in the PBA
World Championship.
● Speaking of Belmonte, Rash and O’Neill – they are the only
three players who have qualified for at least one television final in
all four World Series.
● For the five WSOB tournaments, 76 players in the 240-
player field – 31.6 percent – cashed in at least one event. Tommy
Jones, Dan MacLelland and Stuart Williams were the only players
to get a check in all five.
Three Players Will Make Espn Television Debuts
Veteran PBA Central Region competitor Jeff Roche of Dear-
born, Mich.; fifth-year PBA Tour competitor Jason Sterner of
McDonough, Ga., and Bahrain’s Fawaz Abdulla will make their
ESPN television debuts in WSOB IV. Roche qualified No. 2 for
the Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship finals. Abdulla
will be the first Middle East player to appear on national television
in the U.S. as the No. 4 qualifier in the Chameleon Championship.
Sterner is the No. 3 qualifier in the Bowlers Journal Scorpion
Championship field.
Those three, along with Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio
( Cheetah) and Tom Daugherty of Wesley Chapel, Fla. (Scorpion),
are trying for their first PBA Tour title.
How The International Field Has Fared In WSOB IV
The field of 66 international players representing a record 17
countries (including the U.S.) acquitted themselves well during
WSOB IV. Here’s how the best from each country finished in the
four animal pattern events:
● Australia: Jason Belmonte, qualified first for Chameleon
finals.
● Bahrain: Fawaz Abdulla, qualified fourth for Chameleon
finals.
● Canada: Dan MacLelland, sixth in Viper.
● Colombia: Andres Gomez, 12th in Scorpion.
● Costa Rica: Alejandro Reyna, 140th in Scorpion.
● Denmark: Mik Stampe, eighth in Chameleon.
● England: Dom Barrett, sixth in Scorpion.
● Finland: Osku Palermaa, qualified first in Scorpion.
● Germany: Manuel Mrosek, Germany, 157th in Scorpion.
● Iceland: Hafthor Hardarson, 80th in Cheetah.
● Korea: Hyun Bum Kim, 57th in Cheetah.
● Mexico: Julio Cesar Blancas, 37th in Cheetah.
● Phillipines: Paolo Joquico, 212th in Viper.
● Saudi Arabia: Ahmed Saad Alhaydan, 80th in Chameleon.
● Sweden: Johan Hellden, 18th in Cheetah.
● Venezuela: Amleto Monacelli, 49th in Viper.
Chameleon Championship Produces Historic Television Finals
Field
The Chameleon Championship, the third of four ―animal pat-
tern‖ events being conducted a central part of the GEICO PBA
World Series of Bowling IV at South Point Bowling Center in Las
Vegas, produced an historic television finals field – including the
first Middle East player to make a PBA TV final – and a truly inter-
national semifinal field.
Six countries were represented in the six-game semifinal round
Monday night: the U.S., Australia, Canada, Denmark, England
and Bahrain. Three of the players who emerged from the 16-
player semifinal field to Sunday’s stepladder finals were no sur-
prise. Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte powered his
way into the No. 1 berth. Ageless Walter Ray Williams Jr., at age
53, qualified No. 2 for his 192nd career television appearance.
Left-handed California attorney Scott Norton, who won his only
PBA Tour title in the Chameleon Championship two years ago in
WSOB II, will be No. 3.
But the surprise was Bahrain’s Fawaz Abdulla, 35, who rolled
games of 249, 235, 278, 258, 234 and 239 in the semifinal round
to advance from 11th to fourth, slipping past PBA stars Tommy
Jones and Norm Duke in the final game while a contingent of
Bahraini teammates celebrated every shot in support.
Abdulla, who bowled in WSOB III as a non-member, finished
18th in the 2011 Scorpion Championship with a 300 game, 44th in
the Chameleon, 125th in the Viper and 162nd in the Shark Cham-
pionship. Teammate Yousif Falah also cashed in 2011, finishing
27th in the Shark Championship. Both are members of the seven-
man Bahrain national team which is coached by long-time interna-
tional competitor Tim Mack of Indianapolis.
Finnish Native Koivuniemi Carries International Hopes In Viper
Championship
Native Finn Mika Koivuniemi, who actually is a dual citizen of
Finland and the United States, will carry international hopes into
the Viper Championship finals as the unofficial ―U.S. vs. the
world‖ competition inside the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowl-
ing continues.
Koivuniemi, a two-time PBA Player of the Year and nine-time
PBA Tour titlist, qualified No. 3 for the Viper Championship finals
– the second of four ―animal pattern‖ championships – during
Sunday’s late semifinal round. He’ll meet Mike Fagan of Dallas in
the opening match of the stepladder finals on Saturday at 4 p.m.
in the special arena setting inside South Point’s Exhibition Hall A.
Rounding out the Viper field will be top qualifier Brad Angelo of
Lockport, N.Y., who won his only PBA Tour title on the Viper
pattern in 2008, and No. 2 Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., who
will make his first TV appearance of the 2012 WSOB. Rash set a
World Series record in 2011 when he qualified for the first five TV
finals, and a total of six TV shows in seven events.