Matt O'grady Defeats Jesper Svensson to Win 53Rd PBA
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VOLUME 50 ● ISSUE 5 ● FEBRUARY 2018 COVERING THE WORLD OF BOWLING Matt O’Grady Defeats Jesper Svensson to Win 53rd PBA Tournament of Champions February 2018 - www.bowlingworld.com 1 2 www.bowlingworld.com - February 2018 bowlingworld.com TOURNAMENTS R F Matt O’Grady Defeats Holly, Mich., a second-year tour player who owns one re- S U gional title, 194-185. Jesper Svensson to Win 53rd PBA Anderson making his first tour television appearances, and Tournament of Champions Moore his third, had to qualify for the tournament field Four-time PBA regional winner also beats BJ Moore, Jason through the pre-tournament qualifier which was for non-tour 4thstreetbowl.com Belmonte and Andrew Anderson to his first PBA Tour title winners who owned a title in one of PBA’s other divisions. abtbowling.com The 2018 Tournament of Champions marked the return of By Jerry Schneider PBA’s signature tournament to historic AMF Riviera Lanes belmateobowl.com where it had been conducted from 1966 to 1994. bowl.com FAIRLAWN, Ohio – Advancing from a pre-tournament PBA TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS qualifier earlier in the week all the way to the title match, bowlgoldcountrylanes.com AMF Riviera Lanes, Fairlawn, Ohio, Sunday four-time Professional Bowlers Association regional tourna- Final Standings calbowlingwriters.com ment winner Matt O’Grady of Rahway, N.J., won the 53rd 1, Matt O’Grady, Rahway, N.J., $50,000. PBA Tournament of Champions Sunday for his first PBA californiaproshop.com 2, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, $25,000. Tour title. 3, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich. $13,000. calusbc.com O’Grady, whose best previous PBA Tour finish was fourth, 4, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $11,000. classicbowling.com and best major finish was 13th, won three stepladder finals 5, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., $10,000. matches at AMF Riviera Lanes before beating top qualifier Stepladder Results: cloverleafbowl.com and 2016 Tournament of Champions winner Jesper Svens- Match One – O’Grady def. Moore, 219-174. son, 207-193, in the title match of the first major of the 2018 Match Two – O’Grady def. Belmonte, 229-225. doubledeckerlanes.com Go Bowling! PBA Tour season. Semifinal Match – O’Grady def. Anderson, 194-185. earlanthonysdublinbowl.com Championship – O’Grady def. Svensson, 207-193. O’Grady held a three-pin lead over Svensson in the eighth gobowlreno.com frame but was able to pull away when he struck in the ninth Third Round Standings (after 18 games. Top 24 advance to frame and the first shot in the 10th. Except for strikes in the Thursday evening’s first match play round) granadabowl.com second and third frames, Svensson was not able to put an- 1, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 4,166. other string of strikes together for the rest of the match. hammerpins.net 2, Matt O'Grady, Rahway, N.J., 4,091. ―I feel like I’m sleepwalking—it’s a dream come true,‖ said 3, Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 4,081. high-roller.com the 31-year-old O’Grady, who won PBA’s signature event 4, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 4,065. that requires a player to be a PBA champion to be eligible to 5, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 4,060. mchenrybowl.com 6, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 4,054. enter. ―It just shows you what hard work can do. I’ve been 7, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 4,053. modestousbc.com working hard the past year to be able to compete at this 8, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 4,049. level. 9, (tie) BJ Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., and morganhillbowl.com Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 4,000. ―I admit that in the past I haven’t been as disciplined as I 11, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 3,984. nugenerationlanes.com should be to be competitive out here on tour,‖ O’Grady 12, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 3,967. offthesheetproshop.com added. ―I just had to commit to putting my head down, grit 13, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, Texas, 3,965. 14, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 3,964. my teeth, and do the hard work you have to do.‖ pacificbowl.com 15, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 3,963. For Svensson, it was his second consecutive runner-up 16, Matthew Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 3,948. paddockbowl.com finish in a major after finishing second in the PBA World 17, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 3,947. 18, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 3,943. Championship, the final major of the 2017 season. pba.com 19, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3,939. O’Grady, who became the first player since Dave D’Entre- 20, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 3,930. presidiobowl.com mont in the 1996 Tournament of Champions to win four 21, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 3,929. stepladder matches for the title, started the championship 22, Kurt Pilon, Warren, Mich., 3,927. renojradult.net 23, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 3,925. round with a 219-174 victory over PBA regional winner BJ 24, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,920. shirts4bowling.com Moore of Greensburg, Pa., who finished fifth. Failed to advance: In the second match, O’Grady met four-time and reigning skatebowl.com 25, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 3,913, $3,000. PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte of Australia, who southpointcasino.com 26, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 3,906. was trying for a record-tying 10th major and third Tourna- 27, Yannaphon Larpapharat, Thailand, 3,899. stationcasinoslanes.com ment of Champions title. Needing a double in the 10th 28, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 3,897. 29, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 3,887. frame to pull out the win, Belmonte struck on the first ball stevecooksfiresidelanes.com 30, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 3,883. but left a 10 pin on a pocket hit on the second shot giving 31, Jason Sterner, Rockledge, Fla., 3,882. stormbowling.com O’Grady the 229-225 win. 32, Dom Barrett, England, 3,881. 33, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 3,880. thealbanybowl.com ―That was like climbing the mountain to win that match,‖ 34, Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., 3,878. O’Grady said. ―Obviously, I still had a lot of work to do but 35, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 3,871. tymetobowl.com there was a lot of relief after beating Jason, especially with 36, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 3,868. everything he was bowling for.‖ 37, Rhino Page, Orlando, 3,848. valleycenterbowl.com 38, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 3,846. Belmonte, who was the No. 3 qualifier, made a dramatic 39, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 3,845. westlanebowl.com 40, Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, 3,835. run to the finals just barely advancing to match play in the westvalleybowl.com 24th and final position. Had he won, he would have been 41, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 3,829. 42, Stuart Williams, England, 3,822. only the fourth player to win a major from that position. 43, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,820. yosemitelanes.com Belmonte finished fourth but will have another opportunity to 44, (tie) Chris Arcaro, Carolina Beach, N.C., win a 10th major when the Barbasol PBA Players Champi- and Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 3,817. 46, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 3,816. onship is held Feb. 19-25 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl 47, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 3,811. in Columbus, Ohio. 48, Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 3,810. In the semi-final match, O’Grady beat Andrew Anderson of 49, Darren Tang, San Francisco, 3,808. February 2018 - www.bowlingworld.com 3 Features: Peninsula .................................................... 13 PBA Tournament of Champions ............................... 3 BOWLING WORLD (Bel Mateo Bowl) ―Striking Partners‖ ..................................................... 6 Alameda County .................................... 14-15 Volume 50, Issue 5 , February 2018 BPAA...................................................................... 6-7 (Albany Bowl, Granada Bowl, E.A. Dublin Bowl, USBC To Reclassify .................................................. 7 Gene’s Pro Shop) Publisher Donna Hazel Tyler Wright ............................................................... 7 Founder Red Pfeiffer USBC Partners .......................................................... 8 Santa Clara…………………. .................. 16-17 Helen Duval .............................................................. 8 (4th Street Bowl, Morgan Hill Bowl) Photographer Kimberly Power PBA Schedule ........................................................... 8 Diablo .......................................................... 18 Chloe Kim .................................................................. 8 (Paddock Bowl) Graphic Designer GE ABT Bay .................................................................... 9 Sonoma Country ........................................ 19 Staff Writers 9-Tap Tour .............................................................. 10 (Double Decker Lanes) PBA Western Region Events ................................... 10 San Francisco ............................................. 20 Helen Duval Chuck Pezzano Top Women’s Story ................................................. 10 Presidio Bowling Center, Yerba Buena) Western Regional Awards ....................................... 11 (Classic Bowling Center) Contributing Writers PBA Player of The Year .......................................... 12 Sacramento ................................................. 21 Mary Lynly Brian Lim Erin Vosburgh League Draft ........................................................... 13 (Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes) Jim Goodwin Fred Eisenhammer Robert Silk PWBA...................................................................... 19 Stockton ................................................ 22-23 Chuck Holland Bob Korth Joe Dailey (Pacific Avenue Bowl, West Lane Bowl) Terry Bigham Bill Vint