Alex Aguiar qualified 8th and Jon Van Hees 13th this week in the inaugural WTBA International Open, the first event created by the WTBA specifically for the World Bowling Tour, now in its second year. Under the rules of the tournament, this gave Van Hees a one-round bye and Aguiar a two-round bye in the finals, with Van Hees averaging just over 220 for 6 games to make the cut to Round 3. Aguiar averaged just under 221 for 6 games in Round 3 to finish 38 pins behind Walter Ray Williams Jr. for the third and final spot in the stepladder, while Van Hees averaged just over 208 for his final round. The stepladder is rounded out by top-seeded Liz Johnson and second seed Chris Barnes, who had a 300 game in the final game of Round 3 to move into position.

The stepladder will be contested on March 25 at the Brunswick Euro Challenge outside of Paris, France.

After surviving a match with Steven McCracken 595-541, Jon Van Hees was eliminated by Bryon Smith 703-602 (match play brackets were linked in a previous post) and, according to the tournament standings on PBA.com, finished in 8th place. Congrats to Jon on an impressive run in this major tournament. 😀

I’ll comment with the winner after the televised finals on ESPN.

(The match play brackets are linked in a previous post)

Jon Van Hees defeated Tom Baker 676-664 in his first match this morning, but then lost to Chris Warren 720-631 to move into the losers bracket. Jon awaits the winner of the match between Jack Jurek and Steven McCracken at press time.

According to the most recent published match play bracket, Jon Van Hees is through to Friday’s third winners bracket round in double-elimination match play after defeating Bryan Kretzer 669-660 (three-game, total pinfall matches) and Tom Daugherty 641-434. Alex Aguiar was eliminated in the first losers bracket round after losses to Nathan Bohr (672-657) and Robert Gotchall (670-628).

The PBA reported that New England bowlers Alex Aguiar (Dartmouth, MA, 11th) and Jon Van Hees (Charlestown, RI, T20th) have both qualified in the top 20 at the USBC Masters, taking place at the Sunset Station Strike Zone in Las Vegas. Match play gets underway later today, and I will continue to track their progress.

Congrats to Alex Aguiar on yet another NEBA title, this time the Cambridge Credit Counseling Invitational last weekend at the Norwich Bowling & Entertainment Center in Norwich, CT. The title is Alex’s 11th.

The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will conduct their annual mixed doubles tournament, open to members of the Brockton, Tri-City, and Foxvale associations, at Westgate Lanes on Feb. 25 & 26, with entries closing on Feb. 13. Entry forms are now available at the control desk.

NEBA reported that Jon Van Hees won his 5th NEBA title at Westgate Lanes this past weekend, defeating Matt Brockett in the championship match by a score of 245-200. As noted in the posted results, the Westgate Lanes league bowlers who cashed are as follows: Tony Bennett (who was in the semifinals), Ryan Evans, Danny Khuu, Stephen Dale Jr., Rich LeCain, Ed Roberts, Steve Travers, Alex Aguiar, Rai Doblmeier, and Ryan Yelle.

Congrats to Jon, Matt, and all of the Westgate Lanes cashers. 😀

The Northeast Amateur Tournament’s site reported that Wing Pau, whom I was able to determine is a bowler in the Coke Classic League, was the champion in their event held last Sunday at Westgate Lanes. Wing Pau defeated Paul Loberman, a bowler in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league, in the title match by a score (with handicaps) of 241-237. Also, for the Westgate Lanes bowlers that I know, Steve Travers and Azriel Nguyen were also in the top 8.

The NAT also reported a record 152 entries for this event, so we think they’ll be back. 😀

NEBA reported that Alex Aguiar claimed his tenth NEBA title Sunday in the Ebonite Tournament of Champions at AMF Lang’s Lanes in Cranston, RI. Alex, in convincing fashion, threw games of 277 and 267 to defeat Jon Van Hees in the two-game, total pinfall championship match by a score of 544-357. The posted standings and match play results also noted that Ed Roberts cashed in the tournament.

On Saturday, NEBA held a non-champions event, and, according to those results, Sean Richard, Dave Chalifoux, and Danny Khuu were the cashers who bowl in a league at Westgate Lanes. The event was won by Jim Bosse, who defeated Fero Williams, who was competing in his first NEBA tournament, 243-214 in the title match.

The Brockton Bowling Association has set the 50th annual championship tournament for March 17 & 18 and 24 & 25 at Westgate Lanes. As usual, four-man team, doubles, and singles events will be contested, with an optional all-events competition. More details, including an entry form, are available on the association’s website. Entries close on Feb. 27.

Note: The association has added $1 to the entry fee for each bowler in each event for expenses, but this is not reflected on the entry blank, where the total entry fees remitted need to be noted. I have alerted them of this oversight, and the entry blank will hopefully be corrected.

The PBA has reported that Alex Aguiar of the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league teamed with PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III (from Jackson, NJ) to win the West Region Member/Non-Member Doubles event at the World Series of Bowling at the South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas. Aguiar shot 204 and Bohn a 224 in the title match to defeat Brian Krezter of Dayton, OH and Jeff Fehr of Cincinnati by a score of 428-415. The duo upset top-seeded Mika Koivuniemi of Hartland, MI and Hyun Bum Kim of South Korea in the semifinal round by a 420-412 score to advance.

Congrats Alex!

NEBA reported that Alex Aguiar of the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league was a semifinalist in the event held on November 5 & 6 at Laurel Lanes in Plainville, CT. The preliminary results also had Danny Khuu, Richie Fulton, Tony Bennett, and Keith Tantillo cashing as Westgate Lanes league bowlers. The event was won by Rich Reynolds, who defeated Chris Carlson in the title match by a 249-246 score.

Congrats to all of the Westgate Lanes cashers. 😀

The October 2011 People’s Tournament scheduled for Westgate Lanes last Sunday was canceled for weather reasons. The November tournament previously scheduled for E. Providence Lanes has also been canceled, so the next People’s Tournament will be at Westgate Lanes on December 10 & 11.

Congratulations to Alex Aguiar, who finished second to PBA Tour exempt player Brad Angelo in the Miller High Life Scratch Challenge on Sunday at Strikers East in New Hampshire. Steve Hardy, the organizer of the tournament, told me via Facebook that Angelo won the title match by a score of 211-195. The official results also have Richie Fulton and Dave Chalifoux, both Westgate Lanes league bowlers, cashing in the tournament.

Today was my first association event as a director, the Bowler of the Year tournament. There were a handful of entries (competition from Steve Hardy’s scratch tournament in New Hampshire may have hurt turnout), but it turned out to be a fun day, and I was assisting the association by helping set up the scorers and changing scores where I could see the scoring needed changing.

In the end, Chris Carter, seeded second in the stepladder, was our champion, defeating Tim Major in the title match by a score of 247-224. Chris missed a 10 pin in the first frame, but then seized control of the match by running the next four strikes while Tim was struggling to find carry. Sean Richard finished third in the stepladder, and Dan Robinson, the recently-inducted association Hall of Famer, was fourth. It should be said that the first match of the stepladder was very entertaining, with Dan being as animated as I’ve ever seen him.

A full recap of the event is coming soon on the association website, and a photo of Chris and Tim has been posted on the association Facebook page. Congrats again, Chris! 😀

NEBA reported that Danny Khuu out of Westgate Lanes was the high qualifier for last weekend’s event at AMF Airway Lanes in Springfield, MA. As noted in the match play results, Khuu finished in the final eight. The event was won by Rob Greene, Jr., who defeated Chris Wood by a 258-211 score in the title match.

The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will hold their annual championship tournament, with singles and doubles events, at Westgate Lanes on November 19 and 20. Entry forms are available at the control desk, and entries close on November 10.

The People’s Tournament reported that Paris Cook (Westgate Lanes, 188 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Sept. 25 at AMF Auburn Lanes. Cook defeated Herb Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 180 avg.) in the championship match by a score (with handicaps) of 213-210. Besides Paris Cook, Westgate Lanes was well-represented in the top 8: April Raines (169 avg.) was a semifinalist, and Bill Kempton (185 avg.), Al Donato (195 avg.), and Mike Major (208 avg.) also picked up checks for making the round of 8.

The Brockton Bowling Association has set the annual Bowler of the Year tournament for October 23 at Westgate Lanes, starting at noon. A list of qualifiers is up on the association website at brocktonusbcba.com. This will be my first association event as a director, so I hope to see everyone. 😀

The TNBA Boston Bowling Senate will run a handicap singles tournament on October 15 & 16 at Westgate Lanes, with three squads on both days. Entry fee is $25, and re-entries are permitted. Note: Entrants must be certified by both the USBC and TNBA (TNBA membership cards can be purchased at the tournament site).

Ed Roberts finished in the top 16 in the September NEBA event held last weekend at Nutmeg Bowl in Connecticut, with Greg Flamand, Rich Fulton, and Danny Khuu also representing the Brockton association among the cashers. Storm DeVincent won his first NEBA title, defeating 13 time champion Bill Webb by a score of 234-196 in the title match. Full match play results can be found on NEBA’s website.

The People’s Tournament reported that Ricky Brigham (Sparetime Lanes {CT}, 167 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Aug. 7 at Westgate Lanes. In the title match, Brigham defeated George Jones (Hanscom Lanes, 209 avg.) by a score (with handicaps) of 219-194. For Westgate Lanes, Tyrone Thornton (188 avg.) and Mike Major (208 avg.) were in the final eight. Elsewhere in the Brockton association area, Herbert Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 180 avg.) and Charles Donovan (North Bowl, 190 avg.) were both semifinalists.

The PBA reported that George Tignor of Winchendon, MA finished 5th in this past weekend’s PBA East Region Colony Park Lanes Senior Open in York, PA, which was mentioned earlier in connection to a pro-am result. Brent Hunter of Glenville, PA won the event, which was contested on Regional Senior Pattern #1 (not the Viper, as had been reported to me earlier, though they may have used the Viper for the pro-am).