With the exception of players-to-be-named-later from the PBA Japan Region, the fields for the QubicaAMF PBA Regional and PBA-PWBA Women’s Regional Challenge events on Nov. 27 at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno have been set. Qualifying concluded Sunday in all seven domestic PBA regions.

The season-long competition points leaders for the PBA Regional Challenge are Matt O’Grady (right), Matawan, N.J., East Region; Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., South Region; Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., Central Region; Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, Midwest Region; Sean Maldonado, Houston, Southwest Region; Jakob Butturff, Chandler, Ariz., West Region, and David Haynes, Las Vegas, Northwest Region.

PBA-PWBA Women’s Regional qualifiers are Liz Kuhlkin (left), Rotterdam, N.Y., East Region; Ashly Galante, Palm Harbor, Fla., South Region; Diana Zavjalova, Latvia, Central Region; Summer Jasmin, Beckley, W.Va., Midwest Region; Clara Juliana Guerrero, Pflugerville, Texas, Southwest Region; Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif., West Region, and April Lord Wittig, Steilacoom, Wash., Northwest Region.

Both Regional Challenge events, and the PBA50 Tour Challenge, will be eight-game round-robin match play events held at 3 p.m. PT on Sunday, Nov. 27. The top two players in each event will advance to a championship match later Sunday.

All of the competition will be covered live on Xtra Frame, PBA’s subscription-based online video-streaming service. For more information, click here.

The PBA50 Tour field will include the top eight players in competition points for the recently-completed PBA50 Tour season. Qualifiers are Pete Weber (right), St. Ann, Mo.; Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela; Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla.; Ron Mohr, Las Vegas; Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J.; Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla.; Brian Voss, Centennial, Colo., and Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis. (replacing Eddie Graham of Centerville, Ohio).

Each of the players who qualified for the Challenge events also earned a paid entry into the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII, which will be held Nov. 28-Dec. 11 at the National Bowling Stadium.

Two events remain on 2016 World Bowling Tour Schedule

International bowlers have two events remaining on the 2016 World Bowling Tour schedule to qualify for the 2017 World Bowling Tour Men’s and Women’s Finals, presented by the PBA, which will be held in conjunction with the 2017 USBC Masters at The Orleans in Las Vegas.

Heading into the home stretch of the 2016 season, the events remaining to earn points toward the WBT finals are the PBA World Championship in Reno, Nev., Nov. 29-Dec. 11, and the Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 10-16. The previously-scheduled UAE Open in Abu Dhabi, the Kuwait International Open and the 10th Kingdom International Open in Saudi Arabia have been cancelled.

The top five men in WBT points, compiled during the two-year rolling points schedule, are Martin Larsen (left), Sweden, 458 points; Dom Barrett, England, 413; Osku Palermaa, Finland, 399; Jason Belmonte, Australia, 340, and Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 316. Barrett won the 2016 WBT Men’s championship.

The top five women are Danielle McEwan (right), Stony Point, N.Y., 663 points; Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 421; Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 354; Cherie Tan, Singapore, 307, and Diana Zavjalova, Latvia, 304. McEwan won the 2016 WBT Women’s event, held in Indianapolis.

The 2017 WBT Finals will be televised live on ESPN on Sunday, Feb. 26, immediately following the live finals of the USBC Masters. Prize money in each division will be $20,000, $10,000 and $5,000.

Next up on Xtra Frame: Bonus coverage from Kokomo

In advance of the extensive Xtra Frame coverage of the PBA Fall Classic followed by preliminary round coverage of the 2016 U.S. Open, Xtra Frame will provide fans with “bonus” coverage of the one-day PBA Kokomo Central/Midwest Regional Classic presented by Security Federal Savings on Sunday, Oct. 23, from Heritage Lanes in Kokomo, Ind., which could be an historic event.

PBA Hall of Famers Walter Ray Williams Jr. (left) and Pete Weber, who are tied for the all-time PBA titles record with 99 each, are both entered and both are trying to become the first player in PBA history to win 100 combined PBA Tour, PBA Regional, PBA50 Tour and PBA50 Regional titles.

Williams missed an opportunity to win the race when he and partner Tom Carter were eliminated in the semifinal round of the PBA50/PBA60 Park Centre Lanes Central Doubles Open in North Canton, Ohio, Sunday.

Xtra Frame coverage then heads to Las Vegas for the PBA Xtra Frame South Point Las Vegas Open, the final event in the 2016 Xtra Frame PBA Tour points competition that will reward the overall winner with a $10,000 bonus, which kicks off nearly two weeks of programing Oct. 29-30.

The Las Vegas Open winner will receive 25 points with the next 19 players earning points in descending value, but the players to watch in the Xtra Frame Tour final are: E.J. Tackett with 76 points, Tommy Jones with 72, and Ryan Ciminelli with 69. Only Sean Rash and Anthony Simonsen (52 each) still have a mathematical chance to win the bonus.

Following the Las Vegas Open will be live coverage of the second PBA Team Challenge, a five-player team competition that will award PBA Tour titles to all five winning teammates (if they are PBA members) for the first time. Team Challenge coverage is set for Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

Nov. 2 will feature live coverage of the PBA League Draft, with eight team managers selecting the final two players to round out their 2017 rosters.

PBA’s Xtra Frame team will then provide exclusive live coverage of the qualifying and match play rounds of Bowling’s U.S. Open, Nov. 4-8. The stepladder finals will air live on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. ET.

World Series TV Finals tickets, Pro-Am entries available

Tickets for all six GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII ESPN television finals are now available, along with pro-am entries.

An all-day pass to provide access to the Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark Championship finals on Saturday, Dec. 10, at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno are available for $20. An all-day pass for the live PBA World Championship finals on Sunday at 10 a.m. followed by the USA vs. The World special team match are available for $15, and will include a free hotdog and beer/soft drink for the first 200 through the door.

The Saturday schedule of events will include the PBA Cheetah Championship presented by PBA Bowling Challenge Mobile Game at 10 a.m.; the PBA Chameleon Championship presented by Hotelplanner.com at 2:30 p.m.; the PBA Scorpion Championship presented by Reno Tahoe USA at 4:15 p.m., and the PBA Shark Championship at 6 p.m. TV tickets can be purchased at pba.com/tickets.

Amateur bowlers who would like to bowl with the stars of the PBA are invited to enter the pro-am on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. by calling the National Bowling Stadium (800-304-2695). The adult entry package is $99, youth entry package is $50, and both include a ticket to the live PBA World Championship television finals along with other giveaways.

QubicaAMF PBA Regional Update: Butturff continues to dominate the West

Jakob Butturff (left) of Chandler, Ariz., continues to dominate the QubicaAMF PBA West Region, winning his eighth 2016 title in 18 events entered by posting a 7-1 match play record and a 3,909 pinfall total to dominate the PBA Meadow Gold Dairy West/Northwest Open hosted at Bowladrome Lanes in Twin Falls, Idaho, Sunday.

Butturff, a 22-year-old second-year PBA member, earned $2,000. He defeated Jake Peters of Henderson, Nev., by 151 pins for the title. Peters had a 6-2 match play record and 3,758 pins for his 16 games, including match play bonus pins.

In the companion PBA50 event, Rob Rice (right) of Sunnyside, Wash., went 5-1 and knocked down 3,042 total pins to top Kevin Foley of Reno, Nev., for his ninth career regional title. Foley had a 3-3 match play record and 3,011 pins for 14 games including match play bonus pins.

PBA60 competitor Michael Chapman of Garden City, Mich. and his PBA50 partner Gerald Johnson of Taylor, Mich., both non-members, defeated Dave Patchen of Oregon, Ohio and Dean Billings of Rootstown, Ohio, 2-1, in the best-of-three-game championship match to win the PBA50/PBA60 Park Centre Lanes Central Doubles Open at Park Centre Lanes in North Canton, Ohio, Sunday.

Teams in the event included one bowler between the ages of 50 and 59 and one bowler over the age of 60. Neither player on the winning team had previously won a PBA event. They split a $2,800 first prize, but neither will receive credit for a title because they are non-members.

In the best-of-three-game semifinal round, Chapman and Johnson defeated Tom Carter of Columbus, Ohio, and Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Oxford, Fla., 2-0, ending Williams’ hopes of winning his 100th overall PBA title, while Patchen and Billings downed Dick Gran of Hartville, Ohio and Brian Kretzer of Kettering, Ohio, 2-1, to set up the championship match.

Amateur Mike Dole of Loves Park, Ill., defeated Eugene McCune of Munster, Ind., 248-211, to win the PBA Illinois Valley Midwest/Central Open at Illinois Valley Super Bowl in Peru, Ill., Sunday.

The win was Dole’s second in QubicaAMF PBA Regional competition. He earned $2,100 but doesn’t get credit for a title because he is not a PBA member.

McCune defeated Aaron Lorincz of Center Line, Mich., 253-238, in the first match and then eliminated Andrew Klingler of Grand Rapids, Mich., 215-182, to advance to the title match.

Anthony Lavery-Spahr (left) of Pasadena, Texas, defeated Canadian Mitch Hupé of Wichita, Kan., 254-203, to win the $2,500 first prize and his third PBA title in the PBA Wichita Southwest Open at Northrock Lanes in Wichita Sunday.

In the title match, Lavery-Spahr opened in the second frame, but struck his next eight shots to overwhelm the Wichita State University competitor from Winnipeg, Manitoba, for his first title in a standard PBA Regional event.

Lavery-Spahr, who earned a first round bye in the match play elimination finals, defeated amateur Brandon Biondo of Carpentersville, Ill., 2-0, in the Round of 12; PBA Tour champion Lonnie Waliczek of Wichita, in the Round of 8, 2-0, and Devin Bidwell, also from Wichita, 225-161, in the semifinal round.

Lavery-Spahr’s two previous regional titles came in non-champions and doubles events.

QubicaAMF PBA Regional competition continues over the Oct. 21-23 weekend with the PBA Century Lanes South Open in Hampton, Va.; the PBA Greenville Southwest Open at Shenaniganz in Greenville, Texas; the Maple City Dodge East Open presented by 900 Global at Maple City Bowl in Hornell, N.Y.; the PBA/PBA50 Ken Fowler Auto Centers West/Northwest Doubles presented by 900 Global at Yokayo Bowling Center in Ukiah, Calif.; the PBA Kokomo Central/Midwest Classic presented by Security Federal Savings at Heritage Lanes in Kokomo, Ind., and the DHC Cheetah Open Doubles at Nagoya Grandbowl in Japan.

For complete QubicaAMF PBA Regional schedules, rules and entry information, click here to find the event(s) in your area.

Quick Notes

Liz Kuhlkin (left) of Rotterdam, N.Y., who will be the QubicaAMF East Region’s representative in the PBA-PWBA Women’s Regional Challenge during the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII, broke the USBC women’s three-game series record by bowling an 890 series during league play in the Reis Group Kim Brown Memorial League at Towne Bowling Academy in Schenectady, N.Y., Monday.

The former University of Nebraska star rolled back-to-back 300s, left an 8 pin in the first frame of her third game which she converted before striking out to top the previous-record 889 series by Erica Cutler of Fort Wayne, Ind., bowled on Feb. 14, 2016.

The PBA Bowling Challenge Mobile game’s special Halloween-themed bowling ball promotion continues leading up to the Halloween weekend. Currently underway, new Halloween balls are being released by Concrete Software each week for limited use (one week) – and then all of the balls will be available for the Halloween weekend. One ball per company will be released each week. The final releases on Oct. 20 will be Brunswick and Radical. On Oct. 27, all of the special balls will be available to PBA Bowling Challenge players thru Oct. 31.

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