LAS VEGAS – Shawn Maldonado of Houston, Texas, a 27-year-old two-handed bowler competing his first national professional tournament, race into the early first round lead in the Professional Bowlers Association’s Scorpion Championship at South Point Bowling Center Tuesday. The Scorpion Championship is the final animal pattern qualifying event for the PBA World Championship and the fourth of five PBA Tour events that compose the PBA World Series of Bowling V. Maldonado averaged 243.14 for his first seven games in the Scorpion Championship, despite a 178 final game. He started his round with games of 250, 269, 248, 248, 252 and 257, finishing with a 1,702 total and a 53-pin lead over Lee Vanderhoef of Greenville, S.C. England’s Dom Barrett, after earning top qualifier honors for the Chameleon Championship stepladder finals Monday, was third among the early finishers. The second half of the Scorpion field bowled its opening round later Tuesday. After seven games by the full field, the top 24 players will advance to a seven-game semifinal round which begins at 7:30 p.m. PT. The top four after 14 games will advance to the Scorpion Championship finals which will be conducted on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. for telecast on ESPN on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 1 p.m. ET. Maldonado is another in a emerging group of high-revolution, two-handed players in the mold of established PBA stars Jason Belmonte of Australia and Osku Palermaa of Finland. Like them, he got his start as a two-hander as a two-year-old toddler, and like them, he grew up without a two-handed role model. His favorite bowler was – and still is – PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III. “People always tried to change me,” he said. “They said (bowling two-handed) was never going work, but I figured it was the right thing at about age 13 when I was averaging in the 200s.” Maldonado said he has always bowled for a living (“I’ve had a couple of jobs, but they don’t last because I’m bowling tournaments almost every weekend”), but making the move to PBA competition was something he thought long-and-hard about. “I would ask people about joining the PBA,” he said, “but I was always hesitant because I knew when I did it, I had to commit. Plus I got married and had a kid, so I didn’t travel much. When I decided to join the PBA (in August 2013), I knew right then I was coming to the World Series. I decided I wanted to compete against the best.” He came into the World Series without lofty expectations. “I just want to do my best, not put too much pressure on myself,” he said. “I know if I’m capable of doing what I do best, I can be up there (in the standings). “It’s been a great experience,” he added. “I started slow, but I took notes on what I could do better. I did real good today. I’ve found out I have to play with different ball surfaces. I don’t like to do that, but that’s a huge thing out here.” Prior to the World Series, Maldonado had bowled in 11 PBA Southwest Region tournaments – only two as a member – and had six top 10 finishes, including a third-place finish in his most recent event last Sunday in Conroe, Texas. The combined seven-game qualifying scores from the four animal pattern tournaments – Cheetah, Viper, Chameleon and Scorpion Championships – determine the top 24 players who will advance to World Championship round-robin match play on Wednesday and Thursday. All qualifying rounds from the World Series are being covered live on PBA’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel, and via “live scoring” on pba. For daily, monthly or yearly subscriptions to Xtra Frame, click on the Xtra Frame link on the pba home page. PBA SCORPION CHAMPIONSHIP South Point Bowling Center, Las Vegas, Tuesday EARLY FIRST ROUND STANDINGS (top 50 after 7 games; half of the field complete) 1, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,702. 2, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 1,649. 3, Dom Barrett, England, 1,609. 4, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,600. 5, Keith Laing, Culver City, Calif., 1,591. 6, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 1,589. 7, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,588. 8, Tom Baker, King, N.C., 1,582. 9 (tie), Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., and Brad Miller, St. Charles, Mo., 1,575. 11, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 1,574. 12, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,573. 13, Joonas Jehkinen, Finland, 1,568. 14, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,565. 15, Josh Blanchard, Gilbert, Ariz., 1,564. 16, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 1,559. 17, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 1,554. 18, Jim Pratt, Glendale, Ariz., 1,549. 19, Shigeo Saitoh, Japan, 1,548. 20 (tie), Andrew Cain, Phoenix, and Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,546. 22, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,545. 23, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,541. 24, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 1,539. 25 (tie), Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., and PJ Haggerty, Roseville, Calif., 1,533. 27, Sean Lavery-Spahr, Denton, Texas, 1,532. 28, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,529. 29, Eddie VanDaniker Jr., Chatsworth, Calif., 1,522. 30, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,520. 31, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 1,517. 32, Pat Nolan, Japan, 1,516. 33, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,513. 34, Jeff Roche, Dearborn, Mich., 1,510. 35, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,504. 36, Manuel Otalora, Colombia, 1,502. 37, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 1,497. 38 (tie), Eric Forkel, Henderson, Nev., and Marek Talpa, Czech Republic, 1,496. 40, Mike Fagan, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1,488. 41, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 1,486. 42, Jake Peters, Decatur, Ill., 1,284. 43, Lee Rathjen Jr., Naples, Fla., 1,479. 44, Justin Stevens, Aiea, Hawaii, 1,475. 45, Tim Mack, Indianapolis, 1,471. 46, Jeremy Mooney, West Palm Beach, Fla., 1,468. 47, Chad Pojas, Wahiawa, Hawaii, 1,466. 48, Joe Findling, Mesquite, Texas, 1,465. 49, Randy Pedersen, Clermont, Fla., 1,459. 50, Hyun Bum Kim, Korea, 1,455. 300 Games: Dom Barrett, PJ Haggerty. Be the first to rate this post 12345 If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it. Headline | PBA Tour | Player News Permalink
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 22:16:25 +0000
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