Brunswick News

November 09, 2011

Rash Leads Field of 53 into PBA World Championship Cashers’ Round

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Nov. 8, 2011) – Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., dominated the first 32 games of the PBA World Series of Bowling and will lead the field of 53 survivors into the cashers’ round of the PBA World Championship, the Professional Bowlers Association’s first major championship of the 2011-12 season, Wednesday at South Point Bowling Center.

Rash, a 29-year-old four-time PBA Tour title winner, averaged 239.81 over four eight-game rounds on the PBA’s Viper, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark lane conditioning patterns for a total of 7,674 pins and a 314-pin lead over Australia’s Jason Belmonte. Rash, who has already qualified among the top four for the ESPN television finals in the Bayer Viper, Chameleon and Scorpion Open events, ranked second in the Shark field heading into Tuesday night’s final six qualifying games, and needs to remain among the top 16 after Wednesday’s final eight-game round of PBA World Championship qualifying to advance to an unprecedented five consecutive World Series of Bowling telecasts.

Defending PBA World Champion Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, also advanced to the cashers’ round, sitting in 12th place after 32 games.

Following Wednesday morning’s final round, the top qualifier will earn a $5,000 bonus and the top 16 will advance to a series of divisional elimination rounds named in honor of past PBA World Champions Don Carter, Billy Hardwick, Johnny Petraglia and Mike Aulby. In each divisional final, the highest of four seeded player (based on their qualifying totals) will select the lane condition and all four will bowl one game with the lowest-scoring player eliminated. The three surviving players will bowl a second game, again eliminating the low score. The two survivors will then bowl a game to decide who advances to the PBA World Championship finals which will follow the same format.

All five PBA World Championship rounds will be contested on Saturday, Nov. 19, in a special arena lanes setup at South Point. The telecasts will air on ESPN on five consecutive Sundays except Christmas Day (Dec. 11, 18, Jan. 1, 8 and 15) at 1 p.m. ET.

Wednesday’s cashers’ round (and all other World Series preliminaries) will be webcast live on pba.com’s exclusive online bowling channel, Xtra Frame. Special one-day and World Series of Bowling subscription packages are available on pba.com.

First prize in the 2011 PBA World Championship will be $50,000. If reigning PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi or 13-time PBA Tour titlist Tommy Jones should happen to win the event, the PBA Triple Crown club will have its seventh member.

PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
(After 32 games; top 53 advance to cashers’ round)

1, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 7,674.
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 7,360.
3, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 7,314.
4, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 7,300.
5, Stuart Williams, England, 7,246.
6, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 7,213.
7, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 7,205.
8 (tie), Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., and Dom Barrett, England, 7,191.
10, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 7,167.
11, Mike Fagan, Dallas, 7,165.
12, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 7,130.
13, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 7,107.
14, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 7,103.
15, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 7,093.
16, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 7,067.
17, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 7,066.
18, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 7,063.
19, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 7,060.
20, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 7,055.
21 (tie), Dan MacLelland, Canada, and Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 7,039.
23, Kurt Pilon, Warren, Mich., 7,032.
24, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 7,024.
25, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 7,016.
26, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 7,009.
27, Patrick Allen, Baltimore, 7,008.
28, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 6,976.
29, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 6,964.
29, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 6,964.
31, Bill O’Neill, Southampton, Pa., 6,963.
32, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 6,953.
33, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 6,948.
34, Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., 6,939.
35, Stevie Weber, Chalmette, La., 6,934.
36, Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, 6,929.
37, Scott Norton, Costa Mesa, Calif., 6,925.
38, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, 6,920.
39, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 6,919.
40, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 6,918.
41, Patrick Girard, Canada, 6,914.
42, Kimmo Lehtonen, Finland, 6,907.
43, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 6,903.
44, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 6,901.
45, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 6,897.
46, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 6,889.
47, Mike DeVaney, Murrieta, Calif., 6,888.
48 (tie), Matthew O’Grady, South Amboy, N.J., and Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 6,885.
50, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 6,867.
51, Hyun Bum Kim, South Korea, 6,862.
52, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 6,858.
53, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 6,857.

Bill Vint | PBA Media Relations
Professional Bowlers Association | 719 Second Avenue, Suite 701 | Seattle, WA 98104
bill.vint@pba.com | cell: 414.339.0404