Jason Belmonte celebrates Australia Day with back-to-back PBA Player of the Year Awards
Australia Day 2015 marked another significant milestone in the stellar career of Aussie tenpin bowling champion, Jason Belmonte.
With an outstanding record in 2014 PBA Tour major championships, Belmonte maintained the momentum that secured the 2012-13 title to earn his second consecutive GEICO Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award by a decisive margin. The announcement was made overnight in Milwaukee, USA during a presentation webcast live on PBA’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel.
An overwhelming winner in balloting among his fellow competitors and a panel of international bowling journalists over Mike Fagan of Fort Worth, Texas, and Ronnie Russell of Marion, Indiana, Belmonte won three PBA Tour titles in 2014 including back-to-back majors in the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions and United States Bowling Congress Masters. He also won the Oklahoma Open during the Grand Casino Resort Summer Swing, and led the PBA Tour in earnings (US$163,788), average (226.71) and competition points (136,454).
Belmonte is the sixth player to win the PBA Player of the Year award in consecutive years and is the only two-handed player to win the PoY award. He joins Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli (1989 and 1990) as the second international player to win PBA Player of the Year honors in back-to-back years, and joins Monacelli and Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi as the third non-American player to win PBA’s highest annual honour.
During the 2014 season, Belmonte defeated Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, with a strike on his last shot to win the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions by a single pin in January at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, 219-218. A month later, he defeated top qualifier EJ Tackett of Huntingon, Indiana, 221-177, to become the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles, joining Hall of Famers Billy Welu (1964 and 1965) and Dick Hoover (1956 and 1957) in that exclusive club. The 31-year-old Australian then won four straight matches on a demanding Bear lane condition to win the Oklahoma Open, defeating Tackett in the title match, 193-145, for his 10th career title.
“The PBA boasts the best bowlers in the world and we aspire to be the best of the best,” Belmonte said. “To be standing here, holding this award again, is very special. “I don’t put myself in the category of the other guys who have won Player of the Year back-to-back but one day I hope I can join that elite group … only five other members have ever achieved this feat - Don Johnson, Earl Anthony, Mark Roth, Amleto Monacelli and Walter Ray Williams Jr. “To add my name to that list of players as back to back Player of the Year winners is humbling and extremely mind blowing,” he added.
Hailing from Orange, New South Wales, Belmonte recently returned to the United States to compete on the 2015 PBA Tour. He will defend his USBC Masters and the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions titles on 1st and 10th February respectively. Further details of Belmonte’s career and latest accolade can be found at www.jasonbelmonte.com, www.pba.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ends
Australia Day 2015 marked another significant milestone in the stellar career of Aussie tenpin bowling champion, Jason Belmonte.
With an outstanding record in 2014 PBA Tour major championships, Belmonte maintained the momentum that secured the 2012-13 title to earn his second consecutive GEICO Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award by a decisive margin. The announcement was made overnight in Milwaukee, USA during a presentation webcast live on PBA’s Xtra Frame online bowling channel.
An overwhelming winner in balloting among his fellow competitors and a panel of international bowling journalists over Mike Fagan of Fort Worth, Texas, and Ronnie Russell of Marion, Indiana, Belmonte won three PBA Tour titles in 2014 including back-to-back majors in the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions and United States Bowling Congress Masters. He also won the Oklahoma Open during the Grand Casino Resort Summer Swing, and led the PBA Tour in earnings (US$163,788), average (226.71) and competition points (136,454).
Belmonte is the sixth player to win the PBA Player of the Year award in consecutive years and is the only two-handed player to win the PoY award. He joins Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli (1989 and 1990) as the second international player to win PBA Player of the Year honors in back-to-back years, and joins Monacelli and Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi as the third non-American player to win PBA’s highest annual honour.
During the 2014 season, Belmonte defeated Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, with a strike on his last shot to win the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions by a single pin in January at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, 219-218. A month later, he defeated top qualifier EJ Tackett of Huntingon, Indiana, 221-177, to become the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles, joining Hall of Famers Billy Welu (1964 and 1965) and Dick Hoover (1956 and 1957) in that exclusive club. The 31-year-old Australian then won four straight matches on a demanding Bear lane condition to win the Oklahoma Open, defeating Tackett in the title match, 193-145, for his 10th career title.
“The PBA boasts the best bowlers in the world and we aspire to be the best of the best,” Belmonte said. “To be standing here, holding this award again, is very special. “I don’t put myself in the category of the other guys who have won Player of the Year back-to-back but one day I hope I can join that elite group … only five other members have ever achieved this feat - Don Johnson, Earl Anthony, Mark Roth, Amleto Monacelli and Walter Ray Williams Jr. “To add my name to that list of players as back to back Player of the Year winners is humbling and extremely mind blowing,” he added.
Hailing from Orange, New South Wales, Belmonte recently returned to the United States to compete on the 2015 PBA Tour. He will defend his USBC Masters and the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions titles on 1st and 10th February respectively. Further details of Belmonte’s career and latest accolade can be found at www.jasonbelmonte.com, www.pba.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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