Mike Edwards' 701-691 victory over Hugh Miller to lock up his first PBA Senior Tour title – and first major – in the USBC Senior Masters on June 15 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas threw both the PBA Senior Tour Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year races into a tizzy heading into the final three events of the 2012 season.

Edwards (pictured left with the trophy), who turned 50 in December, ran the table in the Senior Masters, posting a 7-0 record in the three-game, double-elimination match play event in becoming the first Native American to win a PBA Senior Tour title.

The victory came a week after Edwards finished third in the Etonic PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by Suncoast in his debut as a senior player, and 18 years after winning his only PBA Tour title in the 1994 PBA IOF Bowling for Miracles Open in Toronto, Ontario.

The win also earned Edwards 24 points in the PBA Senior Player of the Year race.

Combined with the eight points he earned for his third-place finish in the Senior U.S. Open, he now has 32 points and he's tied for No. 1 on that list with PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. (left) and fellow Senior Tour "rookie" Amleto Monacelli (right) of Venezuela, who mirrored Edwards' finishes in the season's two senior majors:

Monacelli won the Senior U.S. Open and finished third in the Senior Masters for his 32 points.

Trailing Williams, Monacelli and Edwards in the POY points chase are rookies Bob Learn Jr. (left; 18 points) and Lennie Boresch Jr. (right; 16), PBA Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia (16), and Ron Profitt and Hugh Miller (12 each). Petraglia is currently sidelined, recovering from shoulder surgery.

For the final three Senior Tour tournaments (Brentwood, Calif., June 17-20; Hammond, Ind., Aug. 6-9, and Decatur, Ill., Aug. 11-14), 16 Player of the Year points will be awarded to the winners, eight points for second place, four for third and two for fourth.

Senior Tour Rookie of the Year will be elected by PBA members and the bowling media. In addition to Edwards and Monacelli, Boresch and Learn are also first-year title winners.

 

Free "Xtra Frame on Youtube" shows set for Bowl Expo week

PBA's Xtra Frame crew (Mike J. Laneside, Mike Jakubowski, and The Bowling Guy, Jason Thomas) will be on-site at International Bowl Expo in Reno, Nev., next week to develop a series of interviews and features that will be available online at no cost, starting June 27, on the PBA YouTube Channel.

Click here to subscribe to the PBA's free YouTube programming.

 

Regional Roundup: Jurek wins PBA Central Region Cheetah Open

Jack Jurek of Lackawanna, N.Y. (pictured left with the trophy), locked up a paid entry into the 2012 PBA World Series of Bowling Sunday when he defeated Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, by 220 pins to win the PBA Central Region J.D. Producing, Inc./Triway Lanes Cheetah Open presented by Hammer at Triway Lanes in Wooster, Ohio.

Jurek finished with a 9-3 match play record and a total of 5,164 pins for 20 games, including match play bonus pins, to win the second of four PBA Central Region "animal pattern" championships.

The title was Jurek's 13th in PBA Regional competition. He also earned $3,500 along with his berth in the World Series of Bowling, Nov. 2-11 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, as an entry into the optional animal pattern championship series.

Jim Pratt (right) of Glendale, Ariz., defeated PJ Haggerty of Roseville, Calif., 212-201, to win the joint PBA West/Northwest Region Scorpion Open presented by Columbia 300 at Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, Calif., Sunday.

Pratt took home his third regional title and $2,000, but Haggerty claimed the World Series entry as the highest finisher among those who paid the optional animal pattern championship entry fee. The tournament was the second in a series of four animal pattern events hosted by the West Region.

In the PBA East Region, Danny Wiseman (pictured with Howell Lanes proprietor Neil Feingold and GM Sharon Nasta) of Baltimore defeated Tommy Dakouvanos of Belford, N.J., 267-200, to win his 11th regional title and second in a row in the Howell Lanes Open presented by Brunswick in Howell, N.J., Sunday.

Wiseman's win came on the heels of his victory in the Dominick DiCicco Memorial presented by Ebonite a week earlier at Brunswick Zone in Turnersville, N.J.

In the PBA South Region, Rhino Page (right) of Dade City, Fla., defeated amateur Brian Huther of Tampa, 221-177, to win his fourth regional title in the inaugural Reality Check Classic at Brunswick Harbour Lanes Sunday. Page earned $3,200 and added another perfect game to his PBA resume.

Heading toward the Fourth of July, several "animal pattern" championships are on the schedule across the country.

Over the June 22-24 weekend, the PBA Midwest Region will host the Oak Forest Bowl Chameleon Open presented by American Family Insurance in Oak Forest, Ill.; and the PBA Northwest Region will host the Secoma Lanes Scorpion Open in Federal Way, Wash. The West/Northwest event also will include the Secoma Lanes Senior Open, and the PBA East Region will host a senior event, the Glassboro Bowl Senior Open in Glassboro, N.J.

Over the June 29-July 1 weekend, the PBA East Region will conduct the Homefield Bowl Viper Open in Yonkers, N.Y., and the PBA Midwest will host the Fox Bowl Open sponsored by Allstate Insurance in Wheaton, Ill.

The July 6-8 weekend features two animal pattern championships: the South Region's Chameleon Open presented by Columbia 300 at George Pappas' Liberty Lanes in Gastonia, N.C., and the West Region's Vanessa Brown Homes Viper Open at Yosemite Lanes in Modesto, Calif.

Also on the calendar for July 6-8 are the PBA Midwest Miller Lite Regular/Senior Doubles sponsored by Allstate Insurance at Raymond's Johnsburg (Ill.) Bowl, and the East Region's Bethmann-Russell Syracuse Open at Flamingo Bowl in Liverpool, N.Y.

In all PBA regional animal pattern championships, players can pay an optional animal pattern entry fee for the right to win a paid entry into the PBA World Series of Bowling, Nov. 2-11 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas.

In all seven PBA Regions, the player who accumulates the highest number of competition points in the region's four animal pattern events (Cheetah, Scorpion, Chameleon and Viper) will earn a World Series entry.

For complete Regional tournament schedules and entry information, click here.

 

Quick Notes

Former University of Nebraska collegiate All-American, Team USA member and 2008 QubicaAMF World Cup champion Derek Eoff has joined the PBA and will make his debut in the PBA Midwest Region's Oak Forest Bowl Chameleon Open in Oak Forest, Ill., this weekend. Eoff, a former United States Bowling Congress employee in Arlington, Texas, has re-located to Madison, Wis.

 

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