South Africa's Guy Caminsky (pictured left) had a career-best evening at the Barnsley Metrodome as he won the PartyCasino.com World Tenpin Masters beating PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes by a 9 pin margin, 526 – 517.

The 30 year-old from Johannesburg had never got beyond the quarter-final stage in his six previous appearances in the event but two 500-plus games disposing of Paul Moor in the semis and then Chris Barnes in the final have catapulted his standing in the tenpin world.

"As a kid you dream about that moment when you strike out and win a tournament. It's everyone's dream and when I struck it I was literally over the moon!" he said. Caminsky was as focused as he's ever been as he made his entrance in to the packed 500-strong arena and with Barnes in the opposite corner, he had a huge job on his hands.

He settled early nerves as he matched the PBA star in the opening game, finishing just 9 pins adrift of Barnes, 258 – 249 down.

A spare in the second frame of the last game set Barnes (pictured right) back but Caminsky spared himself in the third. The American spared the seventh to let Caminsky in and he took full advantage with a run of strikes.

Barnes struck out to leave his opponent a target and it all came down to the final frames as the popular 'Cammo' needed to deliver two strikes to steal victory. He held his nerves together to roll two perfect balls and then celebrated in some style.

Caminsky, who picked up US $30,000 for his winning efforts, was forthright about what he had achieved.

"This means the absolute world to me to get this title. It's going to be huge for the sport back home and hopefully more guys from there will come and travel overseas. For me I will treasure this moment for the rest of my life," he said.

Asked at what time in the match he thought he could win it, he responded, "Not until the 11th shot in the second game. At no other point did I think I could win the game.

"He left a wobbling fourth pin in one of the frames and if that had fallen he would have been the champion.
"He did not give it to me I had to go out there and earn it. He's a true champion and unfortunately one of us has to lose.

"Before I went into the final I just thought 'I hope it's a good one because I didn't want to go down as the worst finalist ever."

For Barnes it was a bitter disappointment following success in 2006. "It feels terrible. I gave it everything I had but he threw a world-class double in the tenth frame and not many people could do that.

"I made him show up and that's all I wanted to do but he showed up like a champion," he said.

Guy Caminsky hailed his 507-480 semi-final win over Paul Moor (pictured left) as the best of his Masters career. Caminsky, who had never advanced past the quarter-finals of this event before this year, will be playing in the final of the 2008 PartyCasino.com World Tenpin Masters.

"The monkey was off my back after winning the quarter-final and I had no expectations coming into the match," said the South African. "I never thought of the final and I really did not expect to get past Paul.

"Before I said I would need to shoot 500 and I did so but I was twice as relaxed as in previous matches.
"I did the commentary on Paul's last match and I knew he would come out well. But I was delighted with my opening game and that set me up so I just had to hang on.

"That was the best I've bowled in seven years of coming here. For the last six years I couldn't get past the quarter-final and you start to question your own ability and why I was being invited back."

Caminsky started well with seven strikes and had a 51-pin advantage at the end of the first game against Moor, the last English player left in the competition. Four strikes from Moor at the start of the second game reduced the deficit to 28 but an open frame in the fifth, only his third of the tournament, came at the worst possible time.

His next effort was a spare and that effectively ended his hopes of reaching the final for the fourth successive year. With victory already confirmed, Caminsky played to the crowd and bowled one ball wearing a supporter's moose hat and bowled another using both hands, imitating the style of friend Jason Belmonte.

American Chris Barnes won his way through to his second Masters final in three years following an impressive semi-final display against 2007 European ranking champion Osku Palermaa (pictured right), Finland. Barnes, the 2006 champion, starts as favorite in the final after another excellent performance, this time by a 521-462 margin over the Finn.

For the second successive match Barnes, the 2007/08 PBA Player of the Year, registered a total of more than 500. The second semi-final saw Palermaa make a bright start with four strikes but his advantage narrowed with three spares in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames.

Despite this, Palermaa still led at the end of the first game by 246-237. However, Barnes is regarded as the best player in the world and showed why at the start of the second with nine successive strikes which changed the match completely.

He was helped by only six in the second frame from Palermaa and three further spares ended the match as a contest. Barnes registered 284 in the second game to win by 59 pins.