Bohn, Weber, Allen, Blanchard Earn PBA Challenge Finals Berths as GEICO WSOB VII Gets Underway

by Bill Vint December 7, 2015 16:29
RENO, Nev. – Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J.; Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo.; Patrick Allen of Mt. Kisco, N.Y., and Josh Blanchard of Phoenix earned berths in the PBA Challenge Finals Monday to kick off 14 days of competition in the GEICO Professional Bowlers Association World Series of Bowling VII presented by Silver Legacy at the National Bowling Stadium.

Bohn, with a 257-236 victory in the eighth and final match, advanced from fourth place to first in the PBA50 Tour Challenge qualifying event, breaking open an intense position round that began with the top four players only 27 pins apart. Weber claimed the second berth in the PBA50 Tour Challenge Finals when Ron Mohr of Las Vegas, who led by one pin heading into the final match, failed to strike out in his match against Bob Learn Jr. of Erie, Pa. Mohr defeated Learn, 185-174, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Weber.

Bohn finished the eight-game contest with 1,911 pins, including match play bonus pins, while Weber finished with a 1,884 total. Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli threw a closing 258 to finish third with 1,868 pins and Mohr, a last-minute substitute in the PBA50 Tour event for injured Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, dropped to fourth with 1,866 pins.

The PBA50 Tour field featured the top eight players in competition points during the 2015 PBA Tour season.

In the PBA Regional Challenge included the 2015 points leaders in the eight PBA Regional programs. Allen, representing the PBA East Region, defeated Blanchard in the final match, 256-203, to overtake the defending PBA Regional Challenge champion with 2,019 total pins. Blanchard, the PBA West Region representative, finished with 1,962 pins, 19 ahead of Northwest Region representative Scott Norton of Mission Viejo, Calif.

Monday’s four qualifiers will be joined in the PBA Challenge Finals by the top two players in the PWBA-PBA Women’s Regional qualifying event that will be held on Friday, Dec. 18, and Teen Masters boys and girls champions Brandon Soedarmasto of Levittown, N.Y., and Brigitte Jacobs of Freeport, Ill. The four-match special event will be contested on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the National Bowling Stadium for telecast by ESPN on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. ET.

GEICO WSOB VII competition continues Tuesday with the nine-game qualifying round in the PBA Cheetah Championship presented by PBA Bowling Challenge Mobile Game. A field of 245 players from 21 countries will battle for 24 positions in the best-of-five-game match play elimination round that will take place on Monday, Dec. 14.

All qualifying and match play rounds of the World Series of Bowling will be covered live, exclusively by PBA’s online video streaming service, Xtra Frame. For subscription information, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame link. Real-time results also will be posted on pba.com under its “live scoring” link.

PBA50 TOUR CHALLENGE FINALS QUALIFIER

Final Standings (after 8 games including match play bonus pins; top two players advance to PBA Challenge Finals on Saturday, Dec. 18; ESPN telecast on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. ET):

1, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 4-4, 1,911.
2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 5-3, 1,884.
3, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 4-4, 1,868, $1,000.
4, Ron Mohr, Las Vegas, 6-2, 1,866, $700.
5, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 3-5, 1,827, $600.
6, Bob Learn Jr., Erie, Pa., 4-4, 1,824, $500.
7, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 3-5, 1,792, $400.
8, Brian LeClair, Delmar, N.Y., 3-5, 1,722, $300.

PBA REGIONAL CHALLENGE FINALS QUALIFIER

Final Standings (after 8 games including match play bonus pins; top two players advance to PBA Challenge Finals on Saturday, Dec. 18; ESPN telecast on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. ET):

1, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 6-2, 2,019.
2, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 5-3, 1,962.
3, Scott Norton, Costa Mesa, Calif., 5-3, 1,943, $1,000.
4, Mitch Beasley, Nashville, Tenn., 3-5, 1,845, $700.
5, Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, 4-4, 1,838, $600.
6, Tom Daugherty, Tampa, Fla., 4-4, 1,767, $500.
7, Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 3-5, 1,697, $400.
8, Pat Nolan, Japan, 2-6, 1,594, $300.