Less than two months after losing his the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exemption, Joe Ciccone (far right) of Buffalo, N.Y., regained a berth on the PBA Tour for the 2009-10 season as the top qualifier in the PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes Sunday. Ciccone, 34, survived a grueling Shark lane condition round Sunday to finish the five-day, 45-game competition with 9,648 pins, a 214 average. He led a diverse group of eight players who earned exemptions to bowl as full-time touring professionals next season: George Lambert IV, Thomas Smallwood, Cassidy Schaub, Mitch Beasley, Stuart Williams, Stevie Weber and Tim Mack.
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Joe Ciccone (pictured) Buffalo, N.Y., struggled to retain his lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes Saturday, but the player he was most concerned about was the guy in ninth place. Ciccone, who is trying to regain an exemption to bowl on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour for the 2009-10 season, finished Saturday's Scorpion lane condition round with a 36-game total of 7,884 pins, a 219 average. He held a 23-pin lead over George Lambert IV of Hamilton, Ontario, but in this event, eighth place is as good as first, and Ciccone was 265 pins ahead of fellow Buffalo resident Dan Patterson, who sat in ninth place.
Fresh off his victory Monday in the PBAQ Regional Players Championship, Joe Ciccone (pictured) of Buffalo, N.Y., charged into the third-round lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes Friday. Ciccone, 34, is bowling to regain a PBA Tour exemption he lost after six years on tour. He was in fourth place after two rounds and finished the Chameleon lane condition round with a 27-game total of 6,038 pins, a 223 average. First-round leader Cassidy Schaub of Ashland, Ohio, remained in second place with 5,925 pins.
Stevie Weber (l.) of Chalmette, La., broke a tie with first-round leader Cassidy Schaub (r.) of Ashland, Ohio, in the final game Thursday to take the second round lead in the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes. Weber, a member of Team USA 2005, finished the Viper lane conditioning segment of the tournament with an 18-game total of 4,049 pins, a 224.94 average. Schaub was second with 4,007 pins.
Cassidy Schaub (pictured) of Ashland, Ohio, averaged 243 on the PBA Tour’s Cheetah lane conditioning pattern Wednesday to take the first round lead in the PBA Tour Trials at Thunderbowl Lanes. Schaub, a two-handed player who throws the ball from the left side of his body, is hoping to join Australia’s Jason Belmonte and Finland’s Osku Palermaa as the third two-handed technician to earn an exemption for the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season. Eight PBA Tour exemptions are at stake in the five-day, 45-game Tour Trials which continues through Sunday.
Tour star Patrick Allen
(l.) found a reaction in the championship game that he
hadn’t seen all day which lead him to a 247-214 win over Wes Malott in the
finals of the DYDO Japan Cup 2009. The win, worth $50,000, marks Allen’s 13th career PBA Tour title. Joining Allen in the spotlight on Sunday was Rhino Page (r.) as he threw the first perfect game in Japan Cup TV finals history, in the Round of 8. Page earned a $100,000 bonus.
Three PBA stars, Patrick Allen, Rhino Page and reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott advanced to the finals of the 2009 Dydo Japan Cup. They will attempt to keep the Tour's winning streak alive in Japan as the last 19 Japan Cup titles have been won by a PBA player. Joining them in the finals are Japan PBA players Ichihara Ryota, Yoshiki Ohsawa and Shigenori Sakata, as well as Korean PBA players Jeong Tae-Hwa and Byun Yong-Hwan. 
Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour Player of the Year Wes Malott likes what he sees on the lanes in the DYDO Japan Cup 2009. After shooting 219 in the first game, Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, turned up the heat and never looked back qualifying with a 3,060 12-game pinfall Friday at the Shinagawa Prince Bowling Center (pictured) to earn the top seed for Saturday’s match play. Malott, who opened the second qualifying block with an 837-series, credits the DYDO Japan Cup 2009 oil pattern for his success.
Defeating PBA Player of the Year contenders Norm Duke and Chris Barnes in the stepladder finals, Mike Scroggins
(pictured left) won his second career major in
winning the 66th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open Sunday at Brunswick Zone
Carolier. It was Scroggins' sixth career PBA Tour title worth $100,000 and three-year Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exemption. Due to Duke's and Barnes' defeat, Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, earns 2008-09 PBA Player of the Year honors.
Defending champion Norm Duke (l.) of Clermont, Fla.,
earned the top qualifier position Saturday for the stepladder finals of
the 66th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open, enabling him to control his
destiny for his third Player of the Year honor. With an opportunity to defend his 2007-08 Player of the Year honor is Chris Barnes (r.) who qualified third for the finals. Joining Duke and Barnes in the finals are Mike Scroggins, Amleto Monacelli and Richard Wolfe.
With the help of a first-round match play record of 7-1, PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli (left) of Venezuela, moved into the lead in the 66th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open at Brunswick Zone Carolier. Monacelli,
a 19-time PBA Tour titlist who is bowling only in occasional PBA Tour
stops this season, has a 7,738 35-game overall pinfall and leads
defending U.S. Open champion Norm Duke in second with 7,715 and reigning PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes in third with 7,677. 
It happens on occasion. A bowler competes in a tournament and doesn't think his or her score is good enough to make the cut for the next round and is nowhere near the bowling center. But, it turns out the score's good enough and there's a tie for the cut. The bowler then has to scramble to get back to the center. Sometimes they make it and sometimes they don't. U.S. Open competitor Ron Dixon experienced this scenario Thursday after third round qualifying at Brunswick Zone Carolier, but under some remarkable circumstances.
PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke (l.) retained his position as qualifying leader in the 66th Lumber
Liquidators U.S. Open for the second consecutive day but found the
going a lot tougher Thursday at Brunswick Zone Carolier. Duke has a 3,997 18-game pinfall (overall 222.0 average) to hold a 48-pin lead over reigning PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes (right). The field of 415 players was cut to the top 103 who will bowl an additional 9-game round Friday to determine the 24 players for match play.
Because of his recent success on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour, reigning Player of the Year Chris Barnes (left) can still defend his title but he'll need a little help for it to happen. Barnes had a 1,394 six-game pinfall (232.33 average) to lead a
415-player field after first-round qualifying Tuesday in the 66th Lumber Liquidators
U.S. Open at Brunswick Zone Carolier. With the U.S. Open being the final event of the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season, Wes Malott
of Pflugerville, Texas, who has won three titles this season, is the
front runner to win PBA Player of the Year honors. Malott is currently
in 42nd place after first-round qualifying with a 1,253.
Australia's Jason Belmonte (pictured left) became the first
two-handed player in Professional Bowlers Association history to win a
PBA Tour title when he upset top qualifier Michael Fagan of Patchoque, N.Y., 215-201, to win The Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic at AMF Babylon Lanes Sunday. Belmonte, making his PBA Tour singles television debut, won $25,000 and
an exemption to bowl on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour during the
2009-10 season. He also joined Sweden's Mats Karlsson, Venezuela's
Amleto Monacelli and Finland's Mika Koivuniemi as the fourth
international player to win a PBA Tour title.
Looking for his first Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour singles title, Michael Fagan
(pictured) of Patchogue, N.Y., earned the No. 1 qualifying
position for Sunday's live ESPN-televised stepladder finals of the
Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic at AMF Babylon Lanes. As a result of earning the No. 2 qualifying position, Australian two-handed bowling sensation Jason Belmonte will make his PBA Tour television debut in Sunday's finals scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
With a 3,296 14-game pinfall, Michael Fagan
(l.) of Patchogue, N.Y., led Thursday's Round of 64 in the
PBA Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic
at AMF Babylon Lanes. Looking for his first television finals appearance, Australian two-handed player Jason Belmonte (r.) is in seventh place with a 3,127 pinfall. The top 32 players advance to a nine-game modified round robin match play round 
Australian Jason Belmonte (l.) qualified for the Round of 64 field
in the Bowling Foundation Long
Island Classic by a single pin during Wednesday's Tour Qualifying Round, but long-time Long Islanders were cheering loudest for Rudy Kasimakis (r.), who grew up honing his skills on the island. Kasimakis (r.), a PBA touring player off-and-on throughout
much of his adult life turned on
his fabled "Rudy Revs" power game and bowled like a hometown favorite
in posting a 1,560-pin total to easily make the Round of 64 cut.