Although live professional bowling is still a week away, local bowling fans may want to tune in to this Sunday’s taped telecast of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Shark Championship if only to see how Lackawanna’s Jack Jurek captured the seond title of his pro career.
The final round of the tournament, which was part of the Labor Day weekend PBA World Series of Bowling in Allen Park, Mich., finally gets its airing – three months after it took place.
“It seems like such a long time ago, but I’m looking forward to (watching) it,” said Jurek, who has been spending countless hours this fall mapping and drilling bowling balls at his pro shop at Transit Lanes in Williamsville.
Jurek said he has invited family and friends to Transit Lanes this Sunday to celebrate the victory, which capped a tremendous month of bowling for the 46-year-old right-hander. He earned $40,000 at the World Series -- $25,000 of it for winning the Shark title. He has yet to receive all of his prize money, however, because the PBA doesn’t get all of its money from its sponsors until the shows are televised.
“I got about $7,000 of it so far,” Jurek said. “The rest of it will be direct-deposited in my account on Tuesday after the show airs.”
Jurek said he’s not sure if the PBA will conduct the World Series of Bowling next year.
“I really haven’t heard. I think it is contingent on the ratings (of the half-season’s worth of taped shows that have been running on Sunday afternoons on ESPN). The PBA said the ratings were slightly improved after the first show, but I haven’t seen anything since. I don’t know if that means the ratings have gone down or not.”
As far as his bowling is concerned, he said he hasn’t practiced that much. “I haven’t put a lot of time in yet, but I’ve kept up my physical routine and I feel fine. I’ve been trying to squeeze in more practice lately.”
Jurek returns to action next week at the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC in Wichita, Kansas. The final round of this event won’t be televised until Jan. 10.
However, the finals of the PBA World Championship – another World Series of Bowling event – will be televised live at 1 p.m. Dec. 13 on ESPN.
The four bowlers in contention for the $50,000 top prize (and two-year PBA exemption) are Wes Malott, the reigning PBA Player of the Year; Rhino Page, a recent PBA Rookie of the Year; Bill O’Neill, the newly-crowned PBA Chameleon Championship winner; and newcomer Thomas Smallwood.
Smallwood will meet O’Neill in the first semifinal round match, and Malott will square off against Page, the lone lefty in the field, in the second semifinal round match. The winners will meet for the Major championship.
The remainder of the PBA Tour schedule on ESPN:
Jan. 10 – Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open, 1 p.m.
Jan. 17 – Earl Anthony Memorial, 1 p.m.
Jan. 24 – PBA Tournament of Champions, 1 p.m.
Feb. 7 – Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational, 2 p.m.
Feb. 14 –USBC Masters, 3 p.m.
Feb. 21 – Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles, 1 p.m.
Feb. 28 – 67th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open, 12:30 p.m.
March 7 – Don Johnson Eliminator, 2 p.m.
March 21 – PBA Match Play Championship, 1 p.m.
March 28 – Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship, 2 p.m.
April 4 – PBA Marathon Open, 1 p.m.
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COLORFUL LANE CONDITIONS
Getting back to the Red, White and Blue Open, the event is part of the United States Bowling Congress’ campaign to unveil its new Red, White and Blue lane oil patterns.
USBC officials announced that this tournament marks the first time that amateurs and PBA members will be competing on the patterns, which range from the least challenging (USBC Red) to the most difficult (USBC Blue) with USBC White somewhere in between.
These patterns are variations of the “house” conditions that most leagues bowl on throughout the United States and, according to the USBC, are available to bowling centers that wish to try them.
At the Wichita tournament, the first round of qualifying will use the Red pattern, the second round will use the White pattern and the third round will use the Blue pattern. It will be interesting to see how much the scores decrease as the degree of difficulty increases.
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MARTH CUP ACTION RESUMES
The 16th edition of the Karl Marth Cup, an annual competition between teams from the Batavia Bowling Association North and BBA South, unfolds at 2 p.m. this Saturday at Scopano’s Lanes in Oakfield.
The singles, doubles, Baker-style doubles and Baker-style team tournament is named for the late Karl Marth, a BBA Hall of Famer. Last year, the North team snapped the South’s three-year winning streak in overtime – capturing a one-game Baker-style team match in which all 10 members of both teams rolled one frame each.
This year’s participants are:
North – Tom Allis, captain; Mike Allis, Roger Allis, Scott Allis, Mike Lavender, Scott Gibson, Rick Culver, Rich Culver Jr., Rob Sease and Aaron Verheyn.
South – Bruce Kraus, non-bowling captain; Paul Spiotta, Jerry Currier, Mike Kraus, Aaron Chamberlain, Steve O’Dell, Joe Trigilio, Mike Pettinella, Dean Cadieux Jr., Ed Doody and Todd Pangrazio.
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(Mike Pettinella’s Pin Points bowling column appears every Thursday during the bowling season in the print and online editions of The Daily News. If you have an item of interest for his column, contact him at mikepett2002@yahoo.com, at 343-3736 or by mail at 55 Edgewood Drive, Batavia).