FAIRLAWN — The Professional Bowlers Tour again this season is checking the hardness of bowling balls for its tournament finalists.
“There’s been bowling balls that get softer over time, and we’re trying to eliminate those balls,” PBA/PBA50 Tour director John Weber said Tuesday during the KIA PBA Tournament of Champions at AMF Riviera Lanes.
“At the beginning of the season, our commissioner (Tom Clark) said we should gather our own data and make sure that the bowling balls are not too soft. They are coming out of the manufacturers fine. But the fact that they are getting softer over time is an issue.”
The effect of the softer ball is simple: it grips the lane better and can create a path through the oil pattern. The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) sets balls at 72 on the durometer (hardness measure) at room temperature (68 to 72 degrees), with each over 13 pounds being 27.002 inches maximum circumference and 26.7 inches minimum.
“There is a difference is durometers and temperatures, and we’re taking care of it the best that we can,” Weber added.
Balls for the five stepladder finalists are checked prior to each show. Weber said it takes about an hour to check 20 bowling balls, which makes it impossible to do a full field on a weekly basis.
Weber has taken over the position formerly held by Kirk Von Krueger, who retired and will be inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame this weekend. “Last picture I saw of him was on a beach somewhere,” Weber said.
The 63-year-old Weber also will continue his duties with the PBA50 Tour this summer.
“They are just a bunch of great guys out there for a vacation with some competition involved,” Weber said. “It’s a little different for them because they aren’t out there trying to make a living for the most part.”
But he is enjoying his new duties with the “junior” tour.
“The players are treating me well. We’re getting back to the way things used to be with the fans back in the building with a fuller schedule,” Weber said. “Bowlero has supported the tour financially and is selling more sponsors so the prize funds keep getting better.”
Will we see a 12-month PBA Tour again?
“That’s a few years down the road at this point, but if we have enough partners, who knows?” Weber added. “Weather doesn’t stop bowling.”
NOTEBOOK
WEBER WITHDRAWS: Ten-time major winner Pete Weber, who last won the TOC in 2013, withdrew after three games due to illness. He managed 222 in Game 1, but struggled to continue with flu-like symptoms.
BELMONTE’S ROLL: Through four events this season, Jason Belmonte has two titles (PBA Players Championship and The Storm Cup: David Small’s Kokomo Championship) and a third-place finish in the U.S. Open. He finished 33rd in The Storm Cup: David Small’s Best of the Best Championship as his only finish lower than third in four events. He leads all players in Kia PBA Playoffs points and The Storm Cup points and has to be considered the favorite entering the Tournament of Champions, which he already has won three times.
THREE JASONS: The first player to win three PBA Tournament of Champions titles was Mike Durbin (1972, 1982, 1984). The next was Jason Couch, who won three straight times (1999, 2000, 2002—the event wasn’t held in 2001). Belmonte joined Durbin and Couch with a win in 2019 to go with previous wins in 2014 and 2015. If Couch or Belmonte can win this year, he will become the first player ever to win the Tournament of Champions four times. A third Jason, three-time PBA Tour champion and reigning King of the Lanes Sterner, is also entered in the event and is looking his first PBA major title.
OTHER THAN BELMO: The two non-Belmontes to win so far this season — Simonsen in the U.S. Open and Jesper Svensson in The Storm Cup: David Small’s Best of the Best Championship —will seek their second titles of the year in the Tournament of Champions. Svensson is the youngest player ever to win the TOC, doing so in 2016 at 20 years, 357 days old. Simonsen finished second as the top seed in the 2021 TOC and would become the youngest player to win four majors (he already is the youngest to win one, two and three) if he can win this year.
NOTES: First place will be worth $100,000 for the 66-player field, with 24th paying $3,500. … Amleto Monacelli is the lone super senior (60-and-older) in the field along with 13 senior (50-and-older) players. … Wednesday’s second round begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door. Tickets for the remaining rounds also can be purchased at the door. … The field includes10 two-handed players and 11 left-handers along with righty Tom Smallwood, who throws thumbless.