Coming from the No. 5 qualifying position, Brian Voss (left) of Alpharetta, Ga., and Diandra Asbaty (right) of Chicago, won the Professional Bowlers Association Bayer Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Sunday at Brunswick Zone Wheat Ridge.

Voss, a member of the PBA Hall of Fame, and Asbaty, a member of the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, defeated No. 1 qualifiers Jason Belmonte of Australia and Michelle Feldman of Auburn, N.Y., in the Baker format championship match 234-212.

For Voss (right) it was his 25th career Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title ranking him 10th on the all-time list and his first in four years. It was the second PBA Women's Series presented by BOWL.COM title for Asbaty.

"Diandra bowled so well it took a lot of pressure off of me," said the 51-year-old Voss. "Once we got to match play our strategy was that she would start and I would finish and we stuck with that the whole tournament.

"This was special not just for myself but also because you have an opportunity to share it with someone."

The Baker format requires each member of the team to bowl alternate frames in a game to combine for one score.

"Believe me, I couldn't have done it without Brian," Asbaty (left) said. "We had good chemistry right from the start. Even though we qualified fifth for the finals, we had a lot of confidence and the fact that we jumped out to big leads in the first two matches helped make us feel we were in control."

The Voss and Asbaty team had a scare in the championship match when Voss missed a 10 pin spare in the eighth frame.

"I hadn't thrown any shots on the right hand part of the lane all day and just threw a bad shot," Voss said. "Fortunately it didn't cost us."

Voss and Asbaty shared in a $50,000 first prize and Belmonte and Feldman split $26,000 for second.

"I thought after bowling really well at the start it would eventually end for them but it didn't," said Belmonte. "That's the cruel part of bowling one game for the title, but if it's your day it can be the beauty of it as well."

Voss and Asbaty began the finals by defeating 2009 PBA World Championship winner Tom Smallwood and Jodi Woessner, 276-224. In the second match they defeated Rhino Page and Shannon Pluhowsky, 276-227, and in the semi-final beat reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott and Shannon O'Keefe, 224-202 to get to the championship match.

 

PBA Bayer® Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles

Brunswick Zone-Wheat Ridge in Wheat Ridge, Colo. (Feb. 15-21, 2010)

Championship Round:
1, Brian Voss, Alpharetta, Ga./Diandra Asbaty, Chicago, $50,000
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia/Michelle Feldman, Auburn, N.Y., $26,000
3, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas/Shannon O'Keefe, Arlington, Texas, $16,000
4, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla./Shannon Pluhowsky, Kettering, Ohio, $12,000
5, Tom Smallwood, Flushing, Mich./Jodi Woessner, Oregon, Ohio, $10,000

Playoff Results:
Match 1: Voss/Asbaty def. Smallwood/Woessner, 276-224
Match 2: Voss/Asbaty def. Page/ Pluhowsky, 276-227
Semifinal: Voss/Asbaty def. Malott/O'Keefe, 224-202
Championship: Voss/Asbaty def. Belmonte/Feldman, 234-212