Russell and Rash head star-studded field for Sunday's PBA Doubles Championship
03/22/12
Ronnie Russell (left) of Marion, Ind., trying for his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour title, will team up with the hottest player in the PBA World Series of Bowling in the finals of the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, but they will have to beat an all-star team if they want to win the title.
The finals, which were conducted in November 2011 during the PBA World Series of Bowling at South Point Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, will be televised Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Russell, as the leading qualifier for the PBA Elite Players Championship, had first choice of partners in a special doubles championship draft involving the top 16 qualifiers for the event. Qualifying was based on 12 games bowled in the Carmen Salvino Classic and another 18 games in the PBA Elite Players Championship.
Russell immediately selected Sean Rash (above right) as his partner after Rash dominated the PBA World Series of Bowling by making five consecutive television finals. As the top-qualifying team, Russell and Rash will each bowl five frames in the Baker format title contest against whichever powerhouse team survives the preliminary matches.
Russell and Rash’s opposition will come from a group including Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte, who has already won two World Series of Bowling titles, and his partner, Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo.; 2009 U.S. Open winner Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., and 2011 USBC Masters champ Mike Fagan of Dallas; rising international stars Andres Gomez of Colombia and Martin Larsen of Sweden, Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., and 2008-09 PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas.
Belmonte (left) and Weber (right) emerged from a preliminary bowl-down round, which is airing exclusively on Xtra Frame, defeating Jason Couch and Mike DeVaney, 242-224, and Dan MacLelland and Ryan Ciminelli, 245-219, to reach to the ESPN finals.
They will meet O’Neill and Fagan in Sunday’s opening match. The winner of that match will bowl Gomez and Larsen. That winner takes on Duke and Malott to decide the pairing for the title match.
The Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship is named in honor of two of the PBA’s most celebrated champions, and a tandem that won the PBA Doubles Championship three times in 13 tries and finished in the top five three additional times. Roth and Holman will be in the crowd for the finals.
The winning team members will earn PBA Tour titles and, if not already qualified, earn a berth in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions. Belmonte, Fagan, Weber and Duke have already clinched TOC Round of 36 berths as 2011-12 title winners.
Going into the PBA Doubles Championship finals, international players have swept all five previous World Series of Bowling titles, not including the WTBA World Bowling Tour men’s title won by native Finlander Mika Koivuniemi. Belmonte, Gomez and Larsen hope to keep the international trend alive.
A post-game show will be webcast on Xtra Frame immediately following Sunday’s ESPN telecast.
Russell selects Rash as No. 1 Team for PBA Doubles Championship
2011-12 PBA Tour #8
PBA World Series of Bowling event airs Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Ronnie Russell (left) of Marion, Ind., trying for his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour title, will team up with the hottest player in the PBA World Series of Bowling in the finals of the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, but they will have to beat an all-star team if they want to win the title. The finals, which were conducted in November 2011 during the PBA World Series of Bowling at South Point Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, will be televised Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Russell, as the leading qualifier for the PBA Elite Players Championship, had first choice of partners in a special doubles championship draft involving the top 16 qualifiers for the event. Qualifying was based on 12 games bowled in the Carmen Salvino Classic and another 18 games in the PBA Elite Players Championship.
Russell immediately selected Sean Rash (above right) as his partner after Rash dominated the PBA World Series of Bowling by making five consecutive television finals. As the top-qualifying team, Russell and Rash will each bowl five frames in the Baker format title contest against whichever powerhouse team survives the preliminary matches.
Russell and Rash’s opposition will come from a group including Australian two-handed star Jason Belmonte, who has already won two World Series of Bowling titles, and his partner, Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo.; 2009 U.S. Open winner Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., and 2011 USBC Masters champ Mike Fagan of Dallas; rising international stars Andres Gomez of Colombia and Martin Larsen of Sweden, Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., and 2008-09 PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas.
Belmonte (left) and Weber (right) emerged from a preliminary bowl-down round, which is airing exclusively on Xtra Frame, defeating Jason Couch and Mike DeVaney, 242-224, and Dan MacLelland and Ryan Ciminelli, 245-219, to reach to the ESPN finals. They will meet O’Neill and Fagan in Sunday’s opening match. The winner of that match will bowl Gomez and Larsen. That winner takes on Duke and Malott to decide the pairing for the title match.
The Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship is named in honor of two of the PBA’s most celebrated champions, and a tandem that won the PBA Doubles Championship three times in 13 tries and finished in the top five three additional times. Roth and Holman will be in the crowd for the finals.
The winning team members will earn PBA Tour titles and, if not already qualified, earn a berth in the Round of 36 for the end-of-season PBA Tournament of Champions. Belmonte, Fagan, Weber and Duke have already clinched TOC Round of 36 berths as 2011-12 title winners.
Going into the PBA Doubles Championship finals, international players have swept all five previous World Series of Bowling titles, not including the WTBA World Bowling Tour men’s title won by native Finlander Mika Koivuniemi. Belmonte, Gomez and Larsen hope to keep the international trend alive.
A post-game show will be webcast on Xtra Frame immediately following Sunday’s ESPN telecast.
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Russell selects Rash as No. 1 Team for PBA Doubles Championship
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