PLAYERS PROFESSIONAL BOWLING

AMATEUR HOUR Kevin Reuer isn’t the only amateur making news for facing pro competitors on the PBA Tour. On March 28, Brian Ziesig of Levittown, N.Y., became the first ama- teur to claim a PBA title in eight years. Competing in the PBA

GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship, Ziesig rolled three strikes in the 10th frame in the cham- pionship match to tie his opponent, Australian two- hander Jason Belmonte, 247- 247. That forced a one-ball, sudden-death roll-off, which Ziesig won with a strike to Belmonte’s nine-count in which he left the 7 pin. “Whenever I tried to

over-hook the ball, it seemed I wouldn’t get the carry so those last few shots I paid special attention to avoiding that,” Ziesig said. “Believe it or not, I really wasn’t that nervous so that helped me throw those shots the way I wanted to.”

Ziesig became

the first amateur to win a Tour title since Brett Wolfe won the 2002 USBC Masters. “This is my 15 minutes

of fame,” said the 35-year- old Ziesig, who works for a local bowling sup- ply company. “It’s back to work tomorrow morning. To be able to accomplish this on national TV in front of a home-

Brian Ziesig

town crowd is really kind of a fantasy.” Ziesig, who earned

$25,000 for the win, had been a touring profes- sional in the 1998, ’99 and 2000 seasons with a previous best finish of 10th. He earned his way into the tournament field through a tour qualify- ing round earlier in the week.

SHOW ME THE MONEY! Maybe Kelly Kulick picked the wrong year to bust out on the PBA Tour as the first woman to win a PBA title earlier this year at the Tournament of Champions. Her $40,000 payday is nothing to sneeze at, but next year’s winner will receive more than six times that amount!

EYE ON THE PRIZE: Pete Weber, who won the 2010 Marathon Open, is one of the players who will compete at the 2011 Tournament of Champions and vie for the $250,000 first-place prize money.

some will feature three consecutive days of live television (Friday, Saturday, Sunday time slots on ESPN’s family of networks). The PBA World Championship and the U.S. Open will both be telecast in that format. Previously, only the final championship round of any PBA Tour event had

Showcased as the

crown jewel of the 2010- 11 pro schedule, the PBA announced that next season’s Tournament of Champions will boast a $1 million prize fund, including a $250,000 first prize, making it the rich- est in pro bowling history. “The Professional Bowlers

Association has weathered the most difficult economic year for professional sports of all kinds that most of us have ever seen,” said PBA Tour Commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer, “and we are con- tinuing to reshape the future of professional bowling by introducing new concepts that are both necessary and exciting.” Those concepts include

focusing more heavily on the major events and scaling back on some of the smaller tour stops. Still, the sched- ule includes as many as 23 original PBA televised shows, which begin in November. As for focusing on more on the majors,

been telecast. Additionally, the PBA

World Series of Bowling will return, producing nine sepa- rate TV shows and culmi- nating with the PBA World Championship. The USBC Masters will again round out the list of four major cham- pionships and will be aired live from Reno’s National Bowling Stadium. A new PBA Playoffs will

conclude the season with a six-week series of shows. The elimination series will have its own separate prize fund and be a key decider in the PBA Player of the Year race. NBA superstar and USBC

spokesperson Chris Paul will also be back with his annual charity competition match- ing PBA pros with other celebrities. Further information

with more specifics on prize funds, tournament formats, event locations, qualifying tournaments, competition dates and TV schedules will be released soon.

SUMMER 2010 USBOWLER 37