Red Rock Lanes, Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. (Jan. 19-24, 2010)
Averaging 225.3 and compiling a 13-3 record after two rounds of match play, 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes (l.) of Double Oak, Texas, vaulted into the lead in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions Friday at Red Rock Lanes. Barnes, the 2006 Tournament of Champions winner, has a 9,403 40-game overall total and holds a 30-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer and 1987 Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber (right) who is in second heading into Friday evening's final eight-game match play round.
Two more eight-game match play rounds Friday before the cut to top 4
Tony Reyes (l.) of San Bruno, Calif. averaged 225.5 in the first round of match play to take the lead in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions Thursday at Red Rock Lanes. Reyes finished the fourth round with a 32-game total of 7,483 and a 5-3 match play record to hold an 11-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber in second, and a 32-pin lead over reigning Player of the Year Wes Malott in third. Rhino Page, who led the first three rounds, went 3-5 in match play and trails by 52 pins in fourth.
Rhino Page maintains pole position as field is cut to top 24
Averaging 229 after three rounds of qualifying, Kelly Kulick (l.) is making her presence felt as the only woman competing in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes. Kulick, who became the first woman ever to earn a berth in the ToC by winning the PBA Women's World Championship, is currently in a tie for fourth place with a 5,496 24-game pinfall. Rhino Page (r.) maintained his lead heading into the match play portion of the tournament.
Red Rock Lanes, Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. (Jan. 19-24, 2010)
Rhino Page (l.) of Dade City, Fla., added an 1846 8-game series to his 1885 from Round 1 to hold on to the lead in the Professional Bowlers Association Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Wednesday. Page, a three-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, had a 3,731 pinfall (233.19 avg.) to hold a four-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer and 1987 Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber (r.), who had the field-best 1912 series in Round 2.
Red Rock Lanes, Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. (Jan. 19-24, 2010)
Rhino Page (l.) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., averaged 235.6 for eight games to take the first round lead in the PBA Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Wednesday. Page, a three-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, had a 1,885 pinfall to hold a 43-pin lead over Mike Fagan in second with 1,842. Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte (1,840) is mere three pins behind in third place with Sean Rash (1,833) in fourth and Tommy Jones (1,825) in fifth.
PBA Tour's signature event webcast to fans from Las Vegas Jan. 20-24
With the second half of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour underway, bowling fans who subscribe to PBA.com's Xtra Frame video service are getting unprecedented Tour coverage. Fans can get a front row seat to the most prestigious tournament in
professional bowling--The PBA Tournament of Champions--taking place
this week at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. Competition begins Wednesday with qualifying and wraps up with the live
ESPN-televised finals on Sunday (Jan. 24) at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Clutch 10th-frame strikes help both champions overcome demanding lane conditions
Anthony LaCaze (l.), a 27-year-old rookie from Melrose Park, Ill., won his first Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title Sunday, throwing three clutch strikes in the ninth and 10th frames to defeat Michael Machuga, 214-206, in the title match of the Earl Anthony Memorial at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. Stefanie Nation (r.) of Grand Prairie, Texas, virtually matched LaCaze, throwing three strikes in her 10th frame to nip Lynda Barnes, 201-181, for the Anthony women's title.
A look at the stellar list of PBA Tournament of Champions winners can be considered a snapshot of bowling greatness. But one of the names that stands out as missing from that list is Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. As the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour's leader in career titles with 46, the only major accomplishment he hasn't achieved is a Tournament of Champions title. Williams will be competing in the 45th Tournament of Champions Jan. 19-24 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. The finals will be televised live on ESPN Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific).
Women's top qualifier Lynda Barnes to meet Stefanie Nation in championship match
Anthony LaCaze (l.) upset top qualifier Tommy Jones, four-games-to-three, to advance to Sunday's finals in the PBA Earl Anthony Memorial at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl Friday. Sean Rash, Mike Machuga and Mike Wolfe earned the other three men's berths in Sunday's finals. Top qualifier Lynda Barnes (r.) of Double Oak, Texas, and Stefanie Nation of Grand Prairie, Texas, will meet for the women's Earl Anthony Memorial title.
Lynda Barnes leads top eight women into Friday's match play
Tommy Jones (l.) momentarily
slipped into second place, but fired a 288 game to regain the top
qualifying position in the PBA Earl
Anthony Memorial as the field was cut to the top 28 for match play. Lynda Barnes (r.) led the field of eight women who advanced to match play in the women's portion of the tournament. Friday's best-ofseven single-elimination rounds will cull the fields to four men
and two women for the live ESPN finals Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Defending champion Wendy Macpherson paces women's field
Tommy Jones (l.) of Simpsonville, S.C., trying to end a two-year title drought, averaged 240 to take the first round lead in the PBA Earl Anthony Memorial Wednesday at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. Defending Earl Anthony Memorial women's champion Wendy Macpherson (r.) of Henderson, Nev., averaged 216.14 for her first seven games to take the lead in the PBA Women's Series presented by BOWL.COM event in a return to the area where she grew up.
Red Rock Lanes, Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. (Jan. 19-24, 2010)
When the PBA Tournament of Champions was introduced in 1962 by PBA founder Eddie Elias and the organization's tournament committee, it provided the PBA Tour with an elite platform to showcase an exclusive field of champions. The 45th PBA Tournament of Champions, to be conducted Jan. 19-24 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas, will feature 63 players who have earned their right to compete in the second major of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season by virtue of winning a PBA title.
Men and women will honor No. 1 player in PBA history during first visit to Anthony's Dublin Bowl since 1992
The PBA returns to action Jan. 12-17 with the Earl Anthony Memorial at its new home - Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl in Dublin, Calif. It will be the first PBA national stop in Dublin since 1992, and it will serve as a special tribute to the player (archive photo) selected as the No. 1 bowler in PBA history during the PBA's 50th anniversary season earlier in 2009. The Lumber Liquidators The finals of the PBA Tour Earl Anthony Memorial and the PBA Women's Series Earl Anthony Memorial will air live on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific) on Sunday, Jan. 17.
Near-perfect finish ends rookie Wayne Garber's hopes for first PBA Tour victory
Mike Scroggins (l.) of Amarillo, Texas, flirted with a perfect finish, but settled for an easy victory in winning his seventh career Professional Bowlers Association Tour title in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the United States Bowling Congress at Northrock Lanes. Scroggins ruined 42-year-old rookie Wayne Garber's (r.) bid for his first PBA Tour title, 278-229, to conclude the highest scoring tournament in PBA history.
Wins first PBA title, $50,000 prize and a two-year exemption
Tom Smallwood (pictured left) of Saginaw, Mich., hit a home run for America's unemployed workers Sunday, upsetting reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, 244-228, to win the PBA World Championship at Northrock Lanes. Smallwood, a 32-year-old former assembly line worker who was laid off from his job with General Motors nearly a year ago, won his first PBA Tour title, his first "major" title, a $50,000 first prize, a two-year exemption to continue his PBA Tour career and his first chance to bowl in January's PBA Tournament of Champions.
Florida veteran bowls record 31st perfect game in final match to advance from fifth to first
Patrick Allen (l.) fired the 31st 300 game of the tournament in the last match Friday night to jump from fifth place to the top qualifying position for the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC finals at Northrock Lanes. Allen, who never led until the final game, rolled his record-setting 300 game against Walter Ray Williams Jr. (r.), the PBA record-holder for career titles (46), to finish the event with a 48-game total of 12,308 including bonus pins.
Two-time PBA champ isn't comfortable with 136-pin heading into final round
Michael Machuga (l.) of Erie, Pa., won six of his eight matches Friday afternoon, establishing a PBA 40-game scoring record as he maintained his lead in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC at Northrock Lanes. Machuga, a 33-year-old two-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, improved his average to 252.03 for 40 games, posting an actual total of 10,081 pins. He has a total of 10,411 pins including bonus for a 136-pin lead over rookie Wayne Garber of Modesto, Calif.
All-time PBA records for 300 games, 32-game scoring are torched in Wichita
Michael Machuga (l.) threw a record-tying 300 game on his way to the PBA 32-game scoring record in taking the fourth-round lead in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC Thursday night at Northrock Lanes. The 33-year-old two-time PBA champion averaged 250.50 for 32 games to break the PBA record set by Parker Bohn III in Japan in 1999 and had a total of 8,166 including bonus for a 67-pin lead over Patrick Allen (r.).
Happiest player in Wichita is North Carolina's Jack Ness, who missed the cut by six pins
Rookie Cassidy Schaub slowed his record scoring pace, but retained his lead as the top 24 qualifiers in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC headed into match play Thursday night at Northrock Lanes. Schaub finished the qualifying portion of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour event with a 24-game total of 5,991 pins – shy of the PBA 24-game record of 6,109 by Pete Weber in Las Vegas in 1996 – but held onto a 25-pin lead over Patrick Allen after eight games Thursday morning on the USBC's Blue lane conditioning pattern.
Averaging 225.3 and compiling a 13-3 record after two rounds of match play, 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes (l.) of Double Oak, Texas, vaulted into the lead in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions Friday at Red Rock Lanes. Barnes, the 2006 Tournament of Champions winner, has a 9,403 40-game overall total and holds a 30-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer and 1987 Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber (right) who is in second heading into Friday evening's final eight-game match play round.
Tony Reyes (l.) of San Bruno, Calif. averaged 225.5 in the first round of match play to take the lead in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions Thursday at Red Rock Lanes. Reyes finished the fourth round with a 32-game total of 7,483 and a 5-3 match play record to hold an 11-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber in second, and a 32-pin lead over reigning Player of the Year Wes Malott in third. Rhino Page, who led the first three rounds, went 3-5 in match play and trails by 52 pins in fourth.
Averaging 229 after three rounds of qualifying, Kelly Kulick (l.) is making her presence felt as the only woman competing in the 45th PBA Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes. Kulick, who became the first woman ever to earn a berth in the ToC by winning the PBA Women's World Championship, is currently in a tie for fourth place with a 5,496 24-game pinfall. Rhino Page (r.) maintained his lead heading into the match play portion of the tournament.
Rhino Page (l.) of Dade City, Fla., added an 1846 8-game series to his 1885 from Round 1 to hold on to the lead in the Professional Bowlers Association Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Wednesday. Page, a three-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, had a 3,731 pinfall (233.19 avg.) to hold a four-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer and 1987 Tournament of Champions winner Pete Weber (r.), who had the field-best 1912 series in Round 2. 
Rhino Page (l.) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., averaged 235.6 for eight games to take the first round lead in the PBA Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Wednesday. Page, a three-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, had a 1,885 pinfall to hold a 43-pin lead over Mike Fagan in second with 1,842. Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte (1,840) is mere three pins behind in third place with Sean Rash (1,833) in fourth and Tommy Jones (1,825) in fifth.
With the second half of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour underway, bowling fans who subscribe to PBA.com's Xtra Frame video service are getting unprecedented Tour coverage. Fans can get a front row seat to the most prestigious tournament in
professional bowling--The PBA Tournament of Champions--taking place
this week at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. Competition begins Wednesday with qualifying and wraps up with the live
ESPN-televised finals on Sunday (Jan. 24) at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Anthony LaCaze (l.), a 27-year-old rookie from Melrose Park, Ill., won his first Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title Sunday, throwing three clutch strikes in the ninth and 10th frames to defeat Michael Machuga, 214-206, in the title match of the Earl Anthony Memorial at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. Stefanie Nation (r.) of Grand Prairie, Texas, virtually matched LaCaze, throwing three strikes in her 10th frame to nip Lynda Barnes, 201-181, for the Anthony women's title.
A look at the stellar list of PBA Tournament of Champions winners can be considered a snapshot of bowling greatness. But one of the names that stands out as missing from that list is Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. As the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour's leader in career titles with 46, the only major accomplishment he hasn't achieved is a Tournament of Champions title. Williams will be competing in the 45th Tournament of Champions Jan. 19-24 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas. The finals will be televised live on ESPN Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific).
Anthony LaCaze (l.) upset top qualifier Tommy Jones, four-games-to-three, to advance to Sunday's finals in the PBA Earl Anthony Memorial at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl Friday. Sean Rash, Mike Machuga and Mike Wolfe earned the other three men's berths in Sunday's finals. Top qualifier Lynda Barnes (r.) of Double Oak, Texas, and Stefanie Nation of Grand Prairie, Texas, will meet for the women's Earl Anthony Memorial title.
Tommy Jones (l.) of Simpsonville, S.C., trying to end a two-year title drought, averaged 240 to take the first round lead in the PBA Earl Anthony Memorial Wednesday at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. Defending Earl Anthony Memorial women's champion Wendy Macpherson (r.) of Henderson, Nev., averaged 216.14 for her first seven games to take the lead in the PBA Women's Series presented by BOWL.COM event in a return to the area where she grew up.
Former touring player Dave Wodka, and his fiancé, Nicole Ellison, both of Chatsworth, Calif., were among the eight men and four women who advanced out of the Tour Qualifying Round Tuesday into the field for the Professional Bowlers Association's Earl Anthony Memorial which gets underway Wednesday at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. The bowlers advancing out of the TQR will join the Lumber Liquidators
PBA Tour and PBA Women's Series exempt players for seven-game
qualifying rounds Wednesday and Thursday.
When the PBA Tournament of Champions was introduced in 1962 by PBA founder Eddie Elias and the organization's tournament committee, it provided the PBA Tour with an elite platform to showcase an exclusive field of champions. The 45th PBA Tournament of Champions, to be conducted Jan. 19-24 at Red Rock Lanes in Las Vegas, will feature 63 players who have earned their right to compete in the second major of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season by virtue of winning a PBA title.
The PBA returns to action Jan. 12-17 with the Earl Anthony Memorial at its new home - Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl in Dublin, Calif. It will be the first PBA national stop in Dublin since 1992, and it will serve as a special tribute to the player (archive photo) selected as the No. 1 bowler in PBA history during the PBA's 50th anniversary season earlier in 2009. The Lumber Liquidators The finals of the PBA Tour Earl Anthony Memorial and the PBA Women's Series Earl Anthony Memorial will air live on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific) on Sunday, Jan. 17.
Mike Scroggins (l.) of Amarillo, Texas, flirted with a perfect finish, but settled for an easy victory in winning his seventh career Professional Bowlers Association Tour title in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the United States Bowling Congress at Northrock Lanes. Scroggins ruined 42-year-old rookie Wayne Garber's (r.) bid for his first PBA Tour title, 278-229, to conclude the highest scoring tournament in PBA history. 
Tom Smallwood (pictured left) of Saginaw, Mich., hit a home run for America's unemployed workers Sunday, upsetting reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, 244-228, to win the PBA World Championship at Northrock Lanes. Smallwood, a 32-year-old former assembly line worker who was laid off from his job with General Motors nearly a year ago, won his first PBA Tour title, his first "major" title, a $50,000 first prize, a two-year exemption to continue his PBA Tour career and his first chance to bowl in January's PBA Tournament of Champions.
Michael Machuga (l.) of Erie, Pa., won six of his eight matches Friday afternoon, establishing a PBA 40-game scoring record as he maintained his lead in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC at Northrock Lanes. Machuga, a 33-year-old two-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titlist, improved his average to 252.03 for 40 games, posting an actual total of 10,081 pins. He has a total of 10,411 pins including bonus for a 136-pin lead over rookie Wayne Garber of Modesto, Calif.
Rookie Cassidy Schaub slowed his record scoring pace, but retained his lead as the top 24 qualifiers in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC headed into match play Thursday night at Northrock Lanes. Schaub finished the qualifying portion of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour event with a 24-game total of 5,991 pins – shy of the PBA 24-game record of 6,109 by Pete Weber in Las Vegas in 1996 – but held onto a 25-pin lead over Patrick Allen after eight games Thursday morning on the USBC's Blue lane conditioning pattern.