PBA Tour champion Ronnie Russell (pictured left) of Indianapolis won a regional record $15,000 first prize in the IGRIND Autism Awareness Midwest/Central Classic at Tinley Bowl in Tinley Park, Ill. July 20.

Russell, who won the 10th Brunswick Euro Challenge for his first PBA Tour title in March, defeated top qualifier Tom Daugherty (right) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., 225-196, for the win.

Russell won three straight matches in the stepladder finals for the victory, defeating 14-time PBA Tour titlist Tommy Jones, of Simpsonville, S.C., 269-211, in the opening match, followed by a 215-166 win over six-time Tour winner and reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., before facing Daugherty.

Daugherty, who won this season's Bowlers Journal PBA Scorpion Championship for his first PBA Tour title, earned $7,500 for second.

The joint PBA Midwest/Central "super regional" drew a field of 105 players.

In other PBA Regional action three-time PBA Tour champion Dick Allen (left) of Columbia S.C., defeated Mason Brantley of Detroit by 122 pins to win the Dan Kondas Memorial Central Open at Legend Lanes.

Allen finished with a 5-2 match play record and a 3,411 pinfall total for 15 games, including match play bonus. The title was Allen's 15th regional title. He also earned $2,000 in a Saturday-only "reduced entry" tournament that drew a capacity field of 60 players.

PBA Hall of Famer Mark Williams (right) of Beaumont, Texas, won seven of his 10 matches to claim his first PBA50 Regional title and the $1,750 first prize in the PBA50 Horseshoe Casino Shreveport Southwest Open at All Star Lanes in Shreveport, La., on Sunday by 255 pins over former U.S. Open champion Robert Lawrence of Del Valle, Texas.

Former Senior U.S. Open winner Rick Minier (left) of Houston had built a 94-pin lead, but Williams won his last five matches with games of 258, 300, 279, 208, and 258 to run away with the title. Minier finished third.

Dave Dayton and Scott Carpenter of Reno, Nev., defeated Chris Hillman of Pleasanton, Calif. and Joe Goldstein of Hayward, Calif., 450-377 to win the PBA Sands Regency West/Northwest Doubles presented by Track at High Sierra Lanes in Reno on Sunday. They shared a $3,500 first prize and each won his first regional title.

This weekend (July 26-28), the PBA Central Region will host the Angola Central/Midwest Open at Angola Bowl in Angola, Ind.; the PBA Midwest Region will host a joint PBA50 St. Charles Lanes Midwest/Central Region Open in St. Charles, Mo.; the PBA East Region will offer the PBA50 Mil-Ray Roods Eastern Open presented by Roto Grip at Playdrome Cherry Hill (N.J.); The Southwest Region hosts the PBA Lakewood (Colo.) Ebonite Open at Holiday Bowling and Billiards, and the PBA South Region will conduct the PBA50 Yorktown (Va.) South Open at AMF York Lanes.

Closing the month (July 30-Aug. 1) the PBA Central Region will host the joint PBA50 Progressive/Gerdeman Insurance/Al Smith Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep Central/Midwest Classic at Al-Mar Lanes in Bowling Green, Ohio.

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

 

PBA Bowling Challenge game continues to grow

Concrete Software's PBA Challenge Game continues to be a hot property among mobile device users, topping the 4.1 million downloads milestone on July 19.

Concrete Software is constantly refreshing the game so the content does not get old, adding new bowling balls, centers and more functionality.

For example, the most recent update allows users to "cloud sync" the game through Google Play so if you get a new phone or use multiple Android devices (like a tablet and phone), your progress is always saved so you don't have to start over. (And just for the record, Concrete Software notes the iOS version is on track to debut this fall.)

Some interesting statistics regarding the PBA Bowling Challenge game:

• There are between 112,000 and 113,000 active users per day
• The peak daily download record was 171,205 on Jan. 26
• The game is averaging between 9,000 and more than 14,000 downloads per day.

 

Rash, Koivuniemi, Fagan retain top three spots in World Bowling Tour ranking

After his third-place finish in the It's Daejeon International Open Bowling Tournament in Korea on July 13, reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash (left) moved into the Men's World Bowling Tour points lead with a 36-point edge over Mika Koivuniemi of Finland and an 86-point edge over Mike Fagan.

In the Men's Division, PBA Tour players make up the rest of the top 10 with Tommy Jones, Jason Belmonte, Chris Barnes, Osku Palermaa, Dan MacLelland, Parker Bohn III and Bill O'Neill holding places four through 10, respectively.

In the Women's Division, PBA players hold the top three spots with Missy Parkin (right) leading the list with a 22-point lead over Kelly Kulick and a 133-point lead over Liz Johnson. Former PBA Women's Series title winners Shannon Pluhowsky and Diandra Asbaty round out the top five.

The top three in points in each division at the end of the two-year, rolling points list earn berths in the ESPN-televised World Bowling Tour finals presented by the PBA which will be held as part of the World Series of Bowling V at the South Point in Las Vegas in November.

 

Tune into U.S. Open telecast Saturday on ESPN

The four-player men's and women's stepladder finals for the 2013 Lipton Bowling's U.S. Open will be telecast live on ESPN beginning at Noon ET Saturday, July 27.

The telecast will conclude with a Battle of the Sexes match between the men's and women's U.S. Open winners. Bowling fans can catch the remaining qualifying and match play action from Columbus, Ohio on PBA.com's online bowling channel Xtra Frame. Subscription information is available on pba.com.

 

U.S. players will try to defend Weber Cup in October

PBA Tour stars Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones, Mike Fagan and Bill O'Neill will return to Barnsley, England, Oct. 11-13, to try to defend the Weber Cup title they won handily over Team Europe last year.

The American players routed the Europeans, 17-7, in the "Ryder Cup" style team, singles and doubles competition.

Barnes (pictured left), who is the U.S. team captain for the invitational event, will be making his eighth consecutive appearance. The European team also will be composed of PBA players: Sweden's Martin Larsen (right), Finland's Mika Koivuniemi and England's Stuart Williams and Dom Barrett.

The made-for-European television event will air on Sky Sports and other international television outlets.

 

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