U.S. Open (bowling)

The U.S. Open is one of the four major tournaments in the Professional Bowlers Association. Despite its status as a PBA Tour major, the tournament is open to qualifying amateurs as well as PBA members. The U.S. Open is considered one of the most difficult tournaments to bowl in today, due to its long format (56 games from opening qualifying through the match play rounds; 64 games if a player from the pre-tournament qualifier makes it through) and demanding oil pattern, which differs from most oil patterns the PBA employs.[1]

Tournament history

With the exception of 1997 and 2014, the U.S. Open has been held in some form every year since 1942. Prior to 1971, this event was known as the BPAA All-Star. BPAA All-Star winners in the PBA era (1959–1970) were initially not credited with PBA titles for their victories. A rule change in 2008, however, retroactively awarded titles to the winners if they were PBA members at the time of their victories.

The first modern-day U.S. Open tournament in the PBA took place in 1971 and was won by Mike Limongello. With five wins, Pete Weber holds the most U.S. Open trophies of all time, one more than his father, Dick Weber, and Don Carter.[2] The last player to successfully defend a U.S. Open was Dave Husted, who won the event in 1995 and 1996.

The 1987 U.S. Open, sponsored by Seagram Wine Coolers, offered a then-record total purse of $500,000, and was the first PBA tournament to award a $100,000 winner's share.

Unable to find viable sponsorship, the U.S. Open was canceled for 2014, amid speculation that the tournament may not return at all.[3] However, the USBC and BPAA later reached a three-year agreement that brought the tournament back for 2015, 2016 and 2017.[4] The USBC and BPAA secured Bowlmor AMF, the largest operator of bowling centers in the world, as the title sponsor for 2015.[5] The 2015 tournament took place November 2–8 in Garland, Texas.

Beginning in 2017 with the U.S. Open held at Flamingo Bowl in Liverpool, New York, the tournament instituted a partial invitational field for the first time.[6] Among those invited are top money leaders among PBA members, top performers from a variety of USBC events, members of Team USA and Junior Team USA, winners of the past ten U.S. Opens, the last three winners from each of the PBA's other major championships, and winners of the current year PBA Regional Tour U.S. Open qualifier tournaments. The "open" portion of the tournament is actually a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) with a maximum of 80 entries. Top finishers from the eight-game PTQ then join all those who accepted invitations to round out the starting field of 144 players.[7] The 2018 event had 116 invitational entries and only 28 open spots available via the PTQ.[8] In 2019, only 91 invitees entered the tournament, so 53 open spots were filled from the PTQ.[9]

Format

In 2020, the starting field is only 108 players. After the starting field is determined, players bowl 24 qualifying games in three 8-game blocks on three different lane conditions. The top 36 in pinfall advance to the cashers round for 8 more games. The top 24 players after the cashers round then bowl 24 round-robin, head-to-head match play games, all on the same 41-foot pattern. In the match play round, players are awarded actual pinfall plus 30 bonus pins for every match won (15 bonus pins each in the case of a tie). The top five after the match play round advance to the televised championship finals, which is on the same oil pattern as match play.[10]

Current champion

2020 Event

The 2020 U.S. Open was held at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 17 through February 22, with a pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ) on February 16. The tournament had a starting field of 108 players and a total prize fund of $170,650.[11] A five-player stepladder finals format was used. Jason Belmonte worked his way up the stepladder from the #2 seed position and won, topping #1 seed Anthony Simonsen in the final match. This was Belmonte's 23rd PBA Tour title and upped his record in major tournament wins to 12, at the same time making him just the second bowler in PBA history (after Mike Aulby) to complete the career "Super Slam," comprising wins in all five major tournaments.[12]

	Match #1					Match #2					Match #3					Title match
																1	Anthony Simonsen	201
											2	Jason Belmonte	215			2	Jason Belmonte	226
						3	Dick Allen	205			3	Dick Allen	187
	4	Chris Via	203			5	Perry Crowell IV	181
	5	Perry Crowell IV	241

• Prize Pool:

1. Jason Belmonte (Orange, New South Wales, Australia) – $30,000

2. Anthony Simonsen (Little Elm, Texas) – $15,000

3. Dick Allen (Columbia, South Carolina) – $12,000

4. Perry Crowell IV (Hoquiam, Washington) – $10,000

5. Chris Via (Springfield, Ohio) – $8,000

Past champions

U.S. Open champions

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Championship match score
1971	Mike Limongello	Teata Semiz	194–186
1972	Don Johnson	George Pappas	233–224
1973	Mike McGrath	Earl Anthony	234–222
1974	Larry Laub	Dave Davis	258–237
1975	Steve Neff	Paul Colwell	279–217
1976	Paul Moser	Jim Frazier	226–195
1977	Johnny Petraglia	Bill Spigner	279–232
1978	Nelson Burton Jr.	Jeff Mattingly	204–201
1979	Joe Berardi	Earl Anthony	232–195
1980	Steve Martin	Earl Anthony	248–222
1981	Marshall Holman	Mark Roth	200–179
1982	Dave Husted	Gil Sliker	255–180
1983	Gary Dickinson	Steve Neff	214–202
1984	Mark Roth	Guppy Troup	244–237
1985	Marshall Holman	Wayne Webb	233–205
1986	Steve Cook	Frank Ellenburg	245–211
1987	Del Ballard Jr.	Pete Weber	247–209
1988	Pete Weber	Marshall Holman	203–171
1989	Mike Aulby	Jim Pencak	195–178
1990	Ron Palombi Jr.	Amleto Monacelli	269–205
1991	Pete Weber	Mark Thayer	289–184
1992	Robert Lawrence	Scott Devers	226–221
1993	Del Ballard Jr.	Walter Ray Williams Jr.	237–193
1994	Justin Hromek	Parker Bohn III	267–230
1995	Dave Husted	Paul Koehler	266–245
1996	Dave Husted	George Brooks	216–214
1997	Not held
1998	Walter Ray Williams Jr.	Tim Criss	221–189
1999	Bob Learn, Jr.	Jason Couch	231–215
2000	Robert Smith	Norm Duke	202–201
2001–02	Mika Koivuniemi	Patrick Healey, Jr.	247–182
2002–03	Walter Ray Williams Jr.	Michael Haugen Jr.	236–198
2003–04	Pete Weber	Brian Voss	231–178
2004–05	Chris Barnes	Patrick Allen	213–212
2005–06	Tommy Jones	Ryan Shafer	237–223
2006–07	Pete Weber	Wes Malott	210–204
2007–08	Norm Duke	Mika Koivuniemi	224–216
2008–09	Mike Scroggins	Norm Duke	191–173
2009–10	Bill O'Neill	Mike Scroggins	267–207
2010–11	Norm Duke	Mika Koivuniemi	225–216
2011–12	Pete Weber	Mike Fagan	215–214
2012–13	Wes Malott	Jason Belmonte	214–156
2014	Not held
2015	Ryan Ciminelli	Dominic Barrett	236–223
2016	François Lavoie	Marshall Kent	228–194
2017	Rhino Page	Jakob Butturff	256–222
2018	Dominic Barrett	Jakob Butturff	207–206
2019	François Lavoie	Sean Rash	221–172
2020	Jason Belmonte	Anthony Simonsen	226–201

BPAA All-Star champions

• 1942 – John Crimmons
• 1943 – Connie Schwoegler
• 1944 – Ned Day
• 1945 – Buddy Bomar
• 1946 – Joe Wilman
• 1947 – Andy Varipapa
• 1948 – Andy Varipapa
• 1949 – Connie Schwoegler
• 1950 – Junie McMahon
• 1951 – Dick Hoover
• 1952 – Junie McMahon
• 1953 – Don Carter
• 1954 – Don Carter
• 1955 – Steve Nagy
• 1956 – Bill Lilliard
• 1957 – Don Carter
• 1958 – Don Carter
• 1959 – Billy Welu
• 1960 – Harry Smith
• 1961 – Bill Tucker
• 1962 – Dick Weber
• 1963 – Dick Weber
• 1964 – Bob Strampe Sr.
• 1965 – Dick Weber
• 1966 – Dick Weber
• 1967 – Les Schissler
• 1968 - Jim Stefanich
• 1969 – Billy Hardwick
• 1970 – Bobby Cooper

U.S. Open oil pattern

The U.S. Open featured what PBA.com describes as "the toughest lane oil design in all of bowling." The pattern is considered "flat," meaning equal amounts of oil are applied to every lane board. (A typical lane condition allows more oil in the middle section of lane boards, and lesser amounts on the outer boards.)

Many claim the oil pattern was responsible for the lack of left-handed winners in this tournament, because there isn't enough ball traffic on the left side to create a "track area."[13] When Mike Scroggins won the 2009 event in North Brunswick, New Jersey, he became the first left-hander in 20 years (Mike Aulby, 1989) to earn a U.S. Open title. Aulby's win was on an oil pattern where oil was applied more heavily on the outer boards (that is, those closest to the gutters), to the point where the outer parts of the lanes were effectively unplayable. In all, left-handers accounted for six victories (McGrath [1973], Moser [1976], Petraglia [1977], Cook [1986], Aulby [1989], and Scroggins [2009]) and nine runner-up finishes (Anthony [1973, 1979, 1980], Davis [1974], Devers [1992], Bohn [1994], Couch [1999], Allen [2005], Scroggins [2010]) at the U.S. Open since 1971. It was also the only major title that left-hander and 43-time titlist Earl Anthony never won in his career, though he did finish runner-up three times. In recent years, lefties Ryan Ciminelli (2015) and Rhino Page (2017) have won U.S. Opens.

See also

• U.S. Women's Open

References

1. "65th Denny's U.S. Open". PBA.com. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
2. Vint, Bill. "Pete Weber Wins Record Fifth U.S. Open to Surpass Father Dick Weber and Don Carter." Article at www.pba.com on February 26, 2012.
3. Richgels, Jeff (May 3, 2014). "BPAA cancels U.S. Opens for 2015".
4. Wiseman, Lucas (May 9, 2014). "USBC, BPAA reach agreement to bring back U.S. Open". Retrieved June 30, 2014.
5. "Bowlmor AMF becomes title sponsor for 2015 Bowling's U.S. Opens". bowlingdigital.com. December 12, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
6. "Central New York Bowling: Syracuse to host three upcoming national events". March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
7. Cannizzaro, Matt (March 1, 2017). "2017 U.S. OPEN TO FEATURE SELECT FIELD, IMPROVED PATTERN INTEGRITY". bowl.com. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
8. Schneider, Jerry (October 22, 2018). "Rhino Page Set to Defend U.S. Open Title; Final Major of Season Could Have Impact on POY and PBA Clash Races". PBA.com. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
9. "2019 U.S. Open PTQ". PBA.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
10. "2019 U.S. Open Tournament Information". Bowl.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
11. "2020 U.S. Open Prize Fund" (PDF). Bowl.com. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
12. Vint, Bill; Cannizzaro, Matt (February 23, 2020). "Australia's Jason Belmonte Wins U.S. Open, Becomes Second Bowler to Complete PBA "Super Slam"". PBA.com. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
13. Pedersen, Randy. Transcript of 4/5/2009 U.S. Open broadcast on ESPN.

External links

• PBA.com Site