The Professional Bowlers Association discovers bowling talent outside the U.S. By Herbert Bickel
10/08/09
PBA Column
"Bowling goes globe-trotting in 2009" was the headline of an article on BOWL.com as of Oct. 6, 2009. Author Gianmarc Manzione told readers that the sport of bowling took on more of an international face than ever before as three PBA players have won titles in Asia in the past weeks.
Tim Mack claimed the title of the 11th Samho Korea Cup 2009 in Inchon worth 30 million Korean won or more than $24,000. 10-time PBA champion Doug Kent (pictured left) captured the 7th Euro-Med Storm International Masters Challenge in Manila, Philippines and pocketed one million Philippine Pesos or about $21,000 and USBC Masters champ John Nolen (right) prevailed in the Hong Kong Open to walk away with 50.000 Hong Kong Dollars or nearly $6,500.
Manzione seems to be glad for the PBA bowlers that the days are gone when the Japan Cup offered Asia its only real opportunity to glimpse PBA talent.
Well, there were opportunities enough since the European Bowling Tour was founded nine years ago offering first prize purses up to 25.000 Euro or more than $30,000 at that time. Many of the Open tournaments in Asia like the Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong Open have existed since more than 30 years or even more than 40 years like the Singapore Open.
The main reason however that so many PBA bowlers go overseas in 2009 is that all but one tournament of the first half of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour were contested in just a month when the PBA World Series of Bowling was held in Detroit in August.
Most of the finals were contested on a Mega TV weekend early September and since then until the final event, the Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC at Northrock Lanes, Wichita, Kan., from Dec. 7-13, 2009 which also features the TV finals of the PBA World Championship, the PBA professionals are practically unemployed.
It was never easier for foreign tournament hosts to convince the PBA stars or their ball companies to come overseas and bowl a tournament or to hold some clinics.
The PBA superstars such as Chris Barnes (left), Tommy Jones, Patrick Allen and Bill O'Neill even found the time to bowl in American Zone (PABCON) Championships in Puerto Rico while the women's Team USA in the 2009 Women's World Championships in Las Vegas was the most star-studded in history featuring former PWBA stars such as Carolyn Darin-Ballard, Kim Terrell-Kearney, Wendy Macpherson, Lynda Barnes (right) and Liz Johnson.
The news from the international events were published immediately even on the PBA website which finally takes notice of international championships and tournaments. The results from the PBA World Series, however, are still published in a hidden section as most of the TV finals weren't broadcasted yet (do NOT click here if you don't want to know the results).
Therefore most the media still refer to the most-winningest player in the PBA history, Walter Ray Williams Jr., as a 45 title champion though he has won his 46th title more than a month ago. Williams, who just turned 50 two days ago, will continue to bowl on the national team and will represent the United States at the 45th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Melaka, Malaysia (Nov. 13-20, 2009) and is planning to "bowl most of the PBA Senior Tour events" if his schedule allows it.
The first U.S. player, who bowled regularly overseas was nine-time Team USA member Bill Hoffman (left), who won the first two of his many international titles in Sweden and Malta back in 1999, and Tim Mack (right), who had tremendous success in Europe, Asia and Australia.
It was no surprise that these Team USA members won the gold medal in Trios (with Dino Castillo, now a PBA exempt bowler) at the 2003 World Championships in Malaysia.
More recently other professionals had success on the European Bowling Tour. In the year 2005 three of the 20 EBT titles were won by PBA players, Mika Koivuniemi won in Aalborg, Denmark, Brian Voss (left) claimed the title in Barcelona and Mike Fagan (right) had a big payday in Viernheim, Germany (25.000 Euro).
Liz Johnson followed in Fagan's footprints when she won in Viernheim in 2006. Pete Weber and Koivuniemi took the titles in Barcelona in 2008 and 2009 and Fagan won his second EBT title in Paris this year with a victory over Voss (go to the video).
Their success was almost unnoticed in the U.S. bowling scene as it seemed any victories in outside the U.S. or in non-PBA events didn't count, not only for the public but also for American bowling writers, who besides USBC representatives have practically never attended World or American Zone Championships, at least not to work.
In addition the PBA and all but the USBC tournaments have no budget for international bowling writers which makes it practically impossible to cover those tournaments onsite.
In the meantime the PBA has become aware that the balance of power between American and international talent is about as even as it has ever been as Manzione states. The mind change came when Tom Clark (left), who has worked for USA Today and then the USBC Communications department, became the Chief Operating Officer of the PBA.
For the first time in the history of bowling most illustrious organization, a PBA executive attended a WTBA World Championship when Clark came to the 2008 Men's World Championships in Nontanburi, Thailand. At this time, the World's governing body didn't pay much attention to it. Hopefully they will next time.
Under the eyes of their COO, the PBA pros plus Bill Hoffman had to survive several nail biters before they won four out of six gold medals in the 2008 MWC, but they were far from dominating the event as expected by many who didn't know anything about international bowling.
The USA women on the other hand won just one gold medal at the 2009 Women's World Championships (Stefanie Nation in Singles, on the left), while Korea (Doubles, Team) and Chinese Taipei (Trios) won the titles in the team events and Colombia's Clara Juliana Guerrero (right), captured the other individual titles (Masters, All Events).
The past two PBA Rookies of the Year were familiar faces to the international bowling community, however, with Team USA's Rhino Page (left) and Australia's two-hander Jason Belmonte capturing the top honors.
Don't get me wrong. There is no doubt that the international stars can learn from the PBA bowlers and improve their games as PBA exempt player Stuart Williams (right), England, told us during the live streaming of the Vienna Open last Sunday.
However, the PBA bowlers must understand that the top international stars have respect but they aren't scared. The European Bowling Tour has open for professionals for years and all women no matter if their names are Liz Johnson, Kelly Kulick, Carolyn-Dorin Ballard or Tammy Boomershine got and will get 8 pins handicap each game. Same for the Asian tournaments except the ABF Tour which is still an Asians-only event.
As Bill Hoffman said "Bowling is not only becoming more global, but the talent level of the sport is being raised by great athletes competing against each other more often around the world."
The PBA and other U.S. bowlers should continue globe-trotting in the next years but they should know that winning in Europe and Asia is not a given thing.
"The message is that the rest of the world is catching up," said PBA Hall of Famer Del Ballard Jr. (left) to Manzione, "and our guys and girls better be aware of it."
I think the top level international bowlers are already one step further. The professionals should be at the best of their game or be prepared to get beaten.
Tim Mack claimed the title of the 11th Samho Korea Cup 2009 in Inchon worth 30 million Korean won or more than $24,000. 10-time PBA champion Doug Kent (pictured left) captured the 7th Euro-Med Storm International Masters Challenge in Manila, Philippines and pocketed one million Philippine Pesos or about $21,000 and USBC Masters champ John Nolen (right) prevailed in the Hong Kong Open to walk away with 50.000 Hong Kong Dollars or nearly $6,500.Manzione seems to be glad for the PBA bowlers that the days are gone when the Japan Cup offered Asia its only real opportunity to glimpse PBA talent.
Well, there were opportunities enough since the European Bowling Tour was founded nine years ago offering first prize purses up to 25.000 Euro or more than $30,000 at that time. Many of the Open tournaments in Asia like the Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong Open have existed since more than 30 years or even more than 40 years like the Singapore Open.
The main reason however that so many PBA bowlers go overseas in 2009 is that all but one tournament of the first half of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour were contested in just a month when the PBA World Series of Bowling was held in Detroit in August.
Most of the finals were contested on a Mega TV weekend early September and since then until the final event, the Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC at Northrock Lanes, Wichita, Kan., from Dec. 7-13, 2009 which also features the TV finals of the PBA World Championship, the PBA professionals are practically unemployed.
It was never easier for foreign tournament hosts to convince the PBA stars or their ball companies to come overseas and bowl a tournament or to hold some clinics.
The PBA superstars such as Chris Barnes (left), Tommy Jones, Patrick Allen and Bill O'Neill even found the time to bowl in American Zone (PABCON) Championships in Puerto Rico while the women's Team USA in the 2009 Women's World Championships in Las Vegas was the most star-studded in history featuring former PWBA stars such as Carolyn Darin-Ballard, Kim Terrell-Kearney, Wendy Macpherson, Lynda Barnes (right) and Liz Johnson.The news from the international events were published immediately even on the PBA website which finally takes notice of international championships and tournaments. The results from the PBA World Series, however, are still published in a hidden section as most of the TV finals weren't broadcasted yet (do NOT click here if you don't want to know the results).
Therefore most the media still refer to the most-winningest player in the PBA history, Walter Ray Williams Jr., as a 45 title champion though he has won his 46th title more than a month ago. Williams, who just turned 50 two days ago, will continue to bowl on the national team and will represent the United States at the 45th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Melaka, Malaysia (Nov. 13-20, 2009) and is planning to "bowl most of the PBA Senior Tour events" if his schedule allows it.
The first U.S. player, who bowled regularly overseas was nine-time Team USA member Bill Hoffman (left), who won the first two of his many international titles in Sweden and Malta back in 1999, and Tim Mack (right), who had tremendous success in Europe, Asia and Australia.It was no surprise that these Team USA members won the gold medal in Trios (with Dino Castillo, now a PBA exempt bowler) at the 2003 World Championships in Malaysia.
More recently other professionals had success on the European Bowling Tour. In the year 2005 three of the 20 EBT titles were won by PBA players, Mika Koivuniemi won in Aalborg, Denmark, Brian Voss (left) claimed the title in Barcelona and Mike Fagan (right) had a big payday in Viernheim, Germany (25.000 Euro).Liz Johnson followed in Fagan's footprints when she won in Viernheim in 2006. Pete Weber and Koivuniemi took the titles in Barcelona in 2008 and 2009 and Fagan won his second EBT title in Paris this year with a victory over Voss (go to the video).
Their success was almost unnoticed in the U.S. bowling scene as it seemed any victories in outside the U.S. or in non-PBA events didn't count, not only for the public but also for American bowling writers, who besides USBC representatives have practically never attended World or American Zone Championships, at least not to work.
In addition the PBA and all but the USBC tournaments have no budget for international bowling writers which makes it practically impossible to cover those tournaments onsite.
In the meantime the PBA has become aware that the balance of power between American and international talent is about as even as it has ever been as Manzione states. The mind change came when Tom Clark (left), who has worked for USA Today and then the USBC Communications department, became the Chief Operating Officer of the PBA.For the first time in the history of bowling most illustrious organization, a PBA executive attended a WTBA World Championship when Clark came to the 2008 Men's World Championships in Nontanburi, Thailand. At this time, the World's governing body didn't pay much attention to it. Hopefully they will next time.
Under the eyes of their COO, the PBA pros plus Bill Hoffman had to survive several nail biters before they won four out of six gold medals in the 2008 MWC, but they were far from dominating the event as expected by many who didn't know anything about international bowling.
The USA women on the other hand won just one gold medal at the 2009 Women's World Championships (Stefanie Nation in Singles, on the left), while Korea (Doubles, Team) and Chinese Taipei (Trios) won the titles in the team events and Colombia's Clara Juliana Guerrero (right), captured the other individual titles (Masters, All Events).The past two PBA Rookies of the Year were familiar faces to the international bowling community, however, with Team USA's Rhino Page (left) and Australia's two-hander Jason Belmonte capturing the top honors.Don't get me wrong. There is no doubt that the international stars can learn from the PBA bowlers and improve their games as PBA exempt player Stuart Williams (right), England, told us during the live streaming of the Vienna Open last Sunday.However, the PBA bowlers must understand that the top international stars have respect but they aren't scared. The European Bowling Tour has open for professionals for years and all women no matter if their names are Liz Johnson, Kelly Kulick, Carolyn-Dorin Ballard or Tammy Boomershine got and will get 8 pins handicap each game. Same for the Asian tournaments except the ABF Tour which is still an Asians-only event.
As Bill Hoffman said "Bowling is not only becoming more global, but the talent level of the sport is being raised by great athletes competing against each other more often around the world."
The PBA and other U.S. bowlers should continue globe-trotting in the next years but they should know that winning in Europe and Asia is not a given thing."The message is that the rest of the world is catching up," said PBA Hall of Famer Del Ballard Jr. (left) to Manzione, "and our guys and girls better be aware of it."
I think the top level international bowlers are already one step further. The professionals should be at the best of their game or be prepared to get beaten.
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