FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jerry Schneider | PR/Media Relations
Professional Bowlers Association | 719 Second Avenue, Suite 701 | Seattle, WA 98104
Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Players Prepare
for DYDO Japan Cup 2010 April 22-25 in Tokyo
PBA represented for 25th consecutive year in event where PBA Tour players have won 22 times
SEATTLE, Wash. (April 19, 2010) � Recently-crowned Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. and defending champion Patrick Allen head a list of 20 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour players who will compete in the DYDO Japan Cup 2010 April 22-25 in Tokyo. Qualifying will take place at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel and match play at Tokyo Port Bowl.
It marks the 25th straight season that PBA Tour players have been invited to compete in the event which also includes 91 Japan Professional Bowlers Association players and 33 amateurs. In the 25 years that PBA players have been invited to the event it has been won 22 times by PBA pros and twice by JPBA players.
The PBA players earned their invitation through their performances in the 2008-09 season. While the invitational event ends the 2009-10 PBA Tour season, it has no bearing on season�s points races.
Allen won the 2009 Japan Cup, defeating 2008-09 Player of the Year Wes Malott, 247-214, last April. The win marked Allen�s 13th PBA Tour title and third international title. He won the 2008 World Tenpin Bowling Association World Championship Doubles and Team titles in Bangkok as a member of Team USA.
Joining Allen in the spotlight last year was fellow PBA Tour star Rhino Page, who threw the first perfect game in Japan Cup TV finals history and the 20th televised perfect game in PBA history. Page defeated Jeong Tae-Hwa of South Korea, 300-235, in the Round of 8. The perfect game earned Page a $100,000 bonus, matching the most prize money ever awarded to a PBA player who shot 300 on TV.
Allen will attempt to become the third player to successfully defend a Japan Cup. Tommy Jones won back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005 while Parker Bohn III won the Cup three consecutive years from 1998-2000.
Williams is making his 25th consecutive Japan Cup appearance, making him the only player to have appeared in every Japan Cup in its modern configuration. Williams has made seven championship round appearances and won the event twice including a 289-236 win over Pete Weber in 2006 which broke the all-time PBA Tour titles record.
For the record, Page � the youngest PBA Tour player in the field � was two years old the first year Williams bowled in the Japan Cup.
The 144-player field will bowl two six-game qualifying blocks at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel after which there will be a cut to the top 48 players who will move to Tokyo Port Bowl for best-of-seven-game match play eliminations to determine the top eight advancing to the championship round to be televised exclusively in Japan.
From 1968-73, a handful of PBA pros competed in what was known as the Japan Gold Cup. Winners from the Japan Gold Cup era include Don Johnson (1968), Dick Ritger (1969, �70), Jack Biondolillo (1971), Barry Asher (1972) and Don McCune (1973).
DYDO JAPAN CUP 2010 SCHEDULE
(All times local time in Tokyo)
THURSDAY, APRIL 22 (Shinagawa Prince Hotel)
2 p.m. - Press conference
3:30 p.m. - Official practice session
FRIDAY, APRIL 23 (Shinagawa Prince Hotel)
9:30 a.m. - Qualifying Round 1 (6 games)
1:45 p.m. - Qualifying Round 2 (6 games)
Top 48 advance to single-elimination match play; top 16 earn one �bye�
SATURDAY, APRIL 24 (Tokyo Port Bowl)
9 a.m. - Round of 48 (qualifiers 17-48; best of 7 games)
1 p.m. - Round of 32 (best of 7 games)
5 p.m. - Round of 16 (best of 7 games)
Eight survivors advance to TV finals
SUNDAY, APRIL 25 (Tokyo Port Bowl)
12:26 p.m. - Round of 8 (Match 1, one game)
12:52 p.m. - Round of 8 (Match 2, one game)
1:18 p.m. - Round of 8 (Match 3, one game)
1:44 p.m. - Round of 8 (Match 4, one game)
2:26 p.m. - Semifinal Match 1 (one game)
2:52 p.m. - Semifinal Match 2 (one game)
3:18 p.m. - Championship Match (one game)
PBA PLAYERS IN DYDO JAPAN CUP 2010 (in alphabetical order)
Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y.
Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas
Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J.
Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas
Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla.
Mike Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y.
Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C.
Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich.
Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio
Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas
Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind.
Bill O�Neill, Southampton, Pa.
Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla.
Sean Rash, Wichita, Kan.
Ronnie Russell, Camby, Ind.
Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas
Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y.
Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.
Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla.
About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is an organization of more than 3,800 of the best bowlers from 13 countries who compete in Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour, Regional and Senior Tour events. Nearly one million ESPN viewers watch PBA Tour on Sundays during the tour season and thousands watch PBA activities online by using PBA�s video streaming service, Xtra Frame. PBA sponsors include Barbasol, Bayer, Brunswick, Etonic, Flomax, GEICO, Go RVing, H&R Block, Lumber Liquidators, One A Day Men�s 50+ Multivitamin, Pepsi-Cola and the USBC, among others.
