6
- October 2017
SERVING THE BOWLING INDUSTRY SINCE 1967
U.S. OPEN Direct Qualifiers Introduced,
Site Set For 2018
By Matt Cattizzaro
ARLINGTON, Texas -
The United States Bowling Congress and the Bowling Proprie-
tors' Association of America will introduce a special direct-qualifier program for the 2018
U.S. Open, which will be held at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kansas, the organizations
announced Thursday.
The operation of the U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Open is a collaborative effort by
USBC and BPAA and jointly funded by the two organizations. The 2018 U.S. Open will
take place Oct. 24-31.
The direct-entry program for the 2018 tournament will give 10 BPAA bowling centers
across the country the opportunity to host a qualifying event, from which one bowler can
earn a spot in the U.S. Open field.
The centers will be able to determine the format, provided it includes at least nine games
and is contested on a Sport Bowling-compliant lane condition. Direct qualifiers for the
2018 U.S. Open must be held between Nov. 1, 2017 and May 1, 2018.
The host centers for the direct qualifiers for the 2018 event will be:
* Lucky Strike Lanes, Malone, N.Y.
* Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, Mich.
* Buffaloe Lanes Mebane, Mebane, N.C.
* Gaudé Lanes Bowling Center, Biloxi, Miss.
* Sparetime Lanes, Decatur, Ill.
* May City Bowl, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
* International Training and Research Center, Arlington, Texas
* Golden Pin Lanes, Tucson, Ariz.
Please contact the centers directly for additional information. Two additional centers will
be announced at a later date.
"We're looking forward to getting some of our centers involved in the U.S. Open and the
new format, which we feel really has added even more prestige to a great event," BPAA
President Nancy Schenk said. "Bowlers at the grassroots level from coast to coast will
have a chance to join the select field, and we can't wait to see the response to these
qualifiers."
The U.S. Open is a premier event for 144 of the best bowlers in the world, and Northrock
Lanes already has been the backdrop for many great moments in recent bowling history.
In recent years, the center has been home to the Intercollegiate Team and Intercolle-
giate Singles Championships and welcomed the PWBA. It also is scheduled to host the
USBC Women's Championships in 2019.
"Wichita has a great local bowling community that will be excited and very welcoming to
the competitors," said United States Bowling Congress President Frank Wilkinson. "As we
build on the tradition of the U.S. Open, we're thankful to have Northrock Lanes and the
Wichita community continue to play a vital role in professional bowling."
The 2017 U.S. Open, which introduces the new invitation-only format, is set for Oct. 25-
Nov. 1 at the 40-lane Flamingo Bowl in Liverpool, New York.
The U.S. Open is revered for its challenging lane conditions and long format that in-
cludes 24 games of qualifying, an eight-game cashers' round and 24 games of round-
robin match play, before the field is cut to the top five for the traditional stepladder finals.
The invitation-only field brings together the money leaders from the Professional Bowlers
Association Tour and the top performers at a variety of USBC and international events,
including the World Bowling Tour, Masters, USBC Open Championships, ISC sectional
qualifiers and Junior Gold Championships.
Additional spots are awarded to the Team USA men and Junior Team USA boys, past
U.S. Open winners and PBA regional leaders. An on-site qualifier (PTQ) each year will
help complete the field.
For more information on the U.S. Open, visit BOWL.com/USOpen.
Please see page 8 for more information of the 2018 U.S. Open this issue.
The 53rd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Will
Welcome Some Veritable Stars Of The Sport To The
Bol 300 Arena In Hermosillo In November
By Judy Howlett
Jenny Wegner from Sweden will be back to try to become the 4
th
woman to
win back to back titles following her victory in Shanghai last year. There she
qualified for the arena finals in fourth place, but beat the leader, Bernice Lim
of Singapore, in the semi final and went on the beat USA player Danielle
McEwan in the final.
Jenny will face tough competition from Aumi Guerra from the Dominican
Republic, herself a two-time champion (2010 in Toulon, 2011 in Johannes-
burg). No woman has yet won the title three times: could it be this year for
Aumi?
Siu Hong Wu, our champion two years ago in Las Vegas, will be making a
welcome return. He was the first player from Hong Kong to claim the title,
when he beat Jaris Goh of Singapore in the semi final then Francois Louw
of South Africa in the final, and would clearly like to repeat that feat.
Joint third place finisher from last year, Anze Grabijan of Slovenia, will be
returning as well. His third place was the highest ever in the Bowling World
Cup for a player from Slovenia.
Family connections run deep at the World Cup. This time we have two
mother and son combinations: Sue Abela and Justin Scicluna, representing
Malta and Shagdar and Odkhuu Narantuya representing Mongolia . Sue will
actually be competing for the 13
th
time in the event, while Justin has com-
peted once before, in 2011. It is a first time appearance for both Mongolian
players.
Then there is the father and daughter team of Valentin and Laura Piros
from Romania,both of whom will be competing for the first time.
The husband and wife team of Khaled and Hela Meziou will be the com-
petitors for Tunisia, for the 8
th
time, while Dhruv Sarda will be emulating his
father yet again by representing India. Harsh Vardan Sarda played in the
event in 1999 and 2004. They are believed to be the only father and son
combination ever to compete in the Bowling World Cup. Watching her son,
Ryan, participate for Canada will be Miriam Reid who played in 1978 when
the event was in Bogota, Colombia.
Both Mexican players will be taking part for the first time: Arturo Estrada
and Maribel Orozco. Two Mexicans have won the title: the first was Irma
Urrea who won in 1972 in Hamburg, Germany, the first time women com-
peted, and Alfonso Rodriguez who took the title in 1985 in Seoul, South
Korea.
The event is coming to Hermosillo for the third time and no city has hosted
the tournament more. The winners here have been Tore Torgerson of Nor-
way and Anne Jacobs of South Africa in 1994, and Derek Eoff of the USA
and Jasmine Yeong-Nathan of Singapore in 2008. Hermosillo also holds
another Bowling World Cup claim to fame as it was here that we saw the
first ever perfect game, from Jack Guay of Canada. That was in 1994 and
Jack was there again in 2008 when he presented the ball he had used for
that notable 300 to Fernando Gutierrez, owner of the bowling centers.
In addition to the competition on the lanes, the players also look to win the
Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Tournament awards. The awards are
named after great supporters of the World Cup, Jacky Felsenstein and
Barry James, respectively. Jacky was a doyenne of the bowling scene in
Belgium and highly regarded by all. Barry James was a British journalist
who covered the World Cup for Reuters and published the World Cup Re-
view for many, many years. Two players competing this year have been
honored in this way in the past: Sue Abela (1991) and Paolo Lopez of Por-
tugal who was chosen in 2015.
