Belmonte to lead Aussie group at USBC Masters

By Tenpin Bowling Australia
March 29, 2022

The Australian trio of Jason Belmonte, Sam Cooley and Callum Borck will compete in the upcoming USBC Masters that begins Wednesday 30 March at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Initially, an invitational event to showcase national and local bowling stars, the USBC Masters now hosts the world’s best bowlers vying for one of the biggest prize funds in bowling.  The final PBA major of the season, the USBC Masters, is run in collaboration with the United States Bowling Congress (USBC).

A total of 418 bowlers will line up to complete 15 games of qualifying over three days. The top 63 bowlers plus the defending champion (Thomas Larsen) will advance to a double-elimination match play round to ultimately find the top 5 bowlers for the stepladder finals.

The USBC Masters is the last tournament for bowlers to earn PBA player ranking points. After that, the top 16 ranked bowlers will qualify for the KIA PBA Playoffs event to conclude the PBA season. The number one spot in the rankings has already been decided. That bowler is none other than Jason Belmonte.

Belmonte has had yet another fantastic season on tour, and at the USBC Masters, he will look to notch up career PBA title number 30 and extend his major title record to 15.

After finishing in eighth place at the PBA Colorado Springs Open, Belmonte would lock away the top spot on the player standings and win the PBA Storm Cup bonus of $10,000 USD. The superstar from Orange is a four-time winner of the USBC Masters (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017) and will look to become the first bowler in history to win the event five times.

Currently sitting as the 41st bowler in the rankings, Cooley will look to find some form at a place he had success at last year. In 2021, Cooley finished the highest of all three Aussies who competed when he finished in sixth place. Cooley will look to go a few steps better this year after narrowly missing the stepladder final last year for an opportunity to add to his 2021 PBA Cheetah Championship title.

West Australian young gun Borck has been battling for his opportunity to compete with the final fields all season. Requiring completion of Pro-Tour Qualifiers at each event to claim one of a handful of spots, the shackles will be finally off for Borck at the USBC masters this week. In the same event last year, Borck qualified for the double-elimination bracket and finished in 49th place.

Belmonte and Borck have been placed in C Squad while Sam Cooley is in the A Squad. Lane pairings and more information can be found below or on bowl.com.

Tenpin Bowling Australia wishes all three Aussies the best of luck and high scoring as they embark on the 2022 USBC Masters.

Schedule (AEDT)

Wednesday, March 30

  • 2 am AEDT:  Qualifying – A Squad – Round 1 (five games, fresh)
  • 6.30 am AEDT: Qualifying – B Squad – Round 1 (five games, fresh)
  • 12.30 p.m AEDT:  Qualifying – C Squad – Round 1 (five games, fresh)

Thursday, March 31

  • 2 a.m AEDT:  Qualifying – B Squad – Round 2 (five games, fresh)
  • 6.30 am AEDT: Qualifying – C Squad – Round 2 (five games, fresh)
  • 12.30 pm AEDT:  Qualifying – A Squad – Round 2 (five games, fresh)

Friday, April 1

  • 2.00am AEDT.:  Qualifying – C Squad – Round 3 (five games, fresh)
  • 6.30 am AEDT: Qualifying – A Squad – Round 3 (five games, fresh)
  • 12.30pm AEDT: Qualifying – B Squad – Round 3 (five games, fresh)

After 15 games of qualifying, the top 63 players, plus the defending champion, will advance to double-elimination match-play competition. All bracket matches leading up to the stepladder finals will feature a three-game total pinfall format.

Saturday, April 2

  • 3.00 am AEDT :  All first-round matches
  • 5.00 am AEDT Winners Bracket | Elimination Bracket (16 eliminated)
  • 8.00 am AEDT Winners Bracket | Elimination Bracket (16 eliminated)
  • 20 minutes after completion of previous round: Elimination Bracket (8 eliminated)
  • 20 minutes after completion of previous round: Elimination Bracket (8 eliminated)

Sunday, April 3

  • 3.00 am AEDT  Winners Bracket | Elimination Bracket (4 eliminated)
  • 20 minutes after completion of previous round: Winners Bracket | Elimination Bracket (4 eliminated)
  • 6.30 am AEDT Winners Bracket (two bowlers for No. 1 and No. 2 seed) | Elimination Bracket (2 eliminated)
  • 20 minutes after completion of previous round:  Elimination Bracket (four remaining contenders bowl for No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds for stepladder finals)

Monday, April 4

  • 3.00 am AEDT  Stepladder Finals

Roster

Lane Pairings

Live-Scoring

USBC Results & Info

How to Watch?

You can watch on bowltv.com by purchasing a 2022 Masters Ticket – more info here or streaming the action on FloBowling if you are a subscriber.

Keep you with all the latest at pba.com

PBA Player Standings/Rankings

Credit to the PBA for images used in this article

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