Liz Johnson (l.), Cheektowaga, N.Y., the only woman to ever bowl in a PBA national title match and amateur
Aumi Guerra (r.), Dominican Republic have qualified through the PBA Tour Qualifying Round Wednesday rounding out the 64-player field competing in the National Bowling Stadium Championship on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour.
Lonnie Waliczek, a 2-time PBA champion from Wichita, Kan. led the TQR with 1624 seven-game total and an average of 232.00. Johnson was 20 pins behind in second place. The top 6 PBA members plus the best mateur (Guerra) advanced to the main event.
Wes Malott (pictured left), the hottest player in professional bowling, used a combination of soaring confidence and a never quit attitude to take the lead into Friday night's final Round of match play in the Professional Bowlers Association's H&R Block Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes. Malott, who has won two of the last five Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour events and has advanced to the ESPN television finals in five consecutive singles events, won six of his eight matches Friday afternoon and tied in the other two to finish with a 40-game total of 9,864 pins (238.4 average) and a seven-pin lead over Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas.
After rolling a pair of 289 games earlier in the round, Rhino Page (pictured with his parents), closed the opening Round of match play with a perfect game Thursday night to take the lead in the Professional Bowlers Association's H&R Block Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes. Page (pictured with his parents), bowling in his first Tournament of Champions, finished the fourth round averaging 240.3 for his 32 games taking a 23–pin lead over Mike Scroggins. The top 24 will bowl two more eight-game match play rounds Friday, after which the top four will advance to Sunday's stepladder finals.
Wes Malott (l.) continued his torrid streak, charging into the lead in the PBA's H&R Block Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Thursday afternoon. The right-hander finished 24 games of qualifying with 5,822 pins for a three-pin lead over the second-hottest player on the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour, Patrick Allen. Malott is seeking his third title and fifth TV appearance in the past six events. Allen is in the hunt for his fifth consecutive TV final. Missing from the field of 24 advancing to match play Thursday evening is Norm Duke, who came into the Tournament of Champions hoping to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive major title. 
Mike DeVaney (pictured left) of San Diego would like to make his second career Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title a big one. DeVaney, who won his only PBA Tour title six years ago in Tacoma, Wash., finished the second round of qualifying in the Professional Bowlers Association H&R Block Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes Thursday with a 287 game for a 3,909 total and a 29-pin lead over first-round leader Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y. After Thursday's final qualifying round, the field of 60 PBA champions will be cut to the top 24. 
Norm Duke (pictured left) of Clermont, Fla., has already accomplished a feat no other professional bowler has equaled, and he's anxiously awaiting the opportunity to add to it when the H&R Block Tournament of Champions gets underway at Red Rock Lanes Wednesday on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. Duke, the first Professional Bowlers Association competitor in 50 years to win three consecutive "major" titles, is the headliner in a field of 60 PBA champions who will do battle for the $50,000 first prize and a three-year Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exemption.
With 11 out of 20 tournaments in the books, Wes Malott (l.) and Norm Duke (r.) have positioned themselves 1 and 2 in the 2008-09 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year race. As the only two-time champions this season; Malott and Duke lead the three major categories. Malott is the current point ranking leader with 160,256 points and has the highest average of 224.66. Heading into the Tournament of Champions with a $50,000 Grand Prize to the winner, Duke is the earnings leader with $93,820. 
The most talented contemporary stars of the Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour will face off against some of the legends of the sport when the PBA H&R Block Tournament of Champions gets underway Wednesday at Red Rock Lanes. At stake in the second “major” championship on the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour is a $50,000 first prize and a three-year exemption to compete on the PBA Tour. The centerpiece of the PBA’s 50th anniversary celebration week in Las Vegas will feature a 60-player field of PBA champions. Leading the pack of current stars will be Norm Duke, who will be trying to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive “major” title.
Patrick Allen (l.) will try for back-to-back Lumber Liquidators PBA titles Sunday in the ESPN-televised finals of the Bayer Earl Anthony Classic at Lava Lanes, but he'll have to win three matches to do it. Allen, fresh off a victory in the National Bowling Stadium Championship in Reno, Nev., qualified fourth for Sunday's finals behind top qualifier Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill and Wes Malott. In the final PBA Women's Series event of the season, newly-elected USBC Hall of Famer Wendy Macpherson (r.) will try for her first Women's Series title against rising star Stefanie Nation.
Ronnie Russell (l.) of Indianapolis, Ind., earned the top seed for match play in the PBA Bayer Earl Anthony Medford Classic, finishing with a 3197 14-game pinfall and a 228.36 average after Round of 64 qualifying Thursday at Lava Lanes in Medforf, Ore.. Russell will join 31 other players who advanced to match play on Friday. The Medford stop also features the seventh and final PBA Women's Series event of the season. Earning the top seed after Thursday's Round of 16 was Jodi Woessner (r.) of Oregon, Ohio who finished with a 2882 pinfall (205.86 average).
Many considered Walter Ray Williams Jr. (pictured left) of Ocala, Fla. the heavy favorite as the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour unveiled its first multiple-pattern event at the National Bowling Stadium Championship. The all-time PBA titles leader, charged to the top of the leader board with 7673 pinfall total including a field-best 13-5 match play record and will seek his unprecedented 46th career title as the tournament leader and top seed for Sunday's live ESPN final round. Joining Williams in the stepladder final at 10 a.m. PT are No. 2 Wes Malott, No. 3 Chris Barnes, No. 4 Patrick Allen and No. 5 Bill O'Neill. 
Norm Duke and Liz Johnson target to become the first PBA Mixed Doubles Champions since 1998 as the duo earned the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals of the PBA Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship Tuesday at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. The finals will be taped for broadcast on Sunday Jan. 11 at approximately 1 p.m. PT at the National Bowling Stadium to air on ESPN Sunday Feb. 1 at 2:00 pm ET, marking the first time a PBA Tour Mixed Doubles event has ever been televised.
In 1964 Don Carter became the first athlete in any sport to sign a $1 million promotional contract. In the early 1970's Paula Carter, the "Blonde Bombshell", hit the professional bowling lanes on her way to a Hall of Fame career. Together, Don and Paula Carter became one of sport's first power couples, on and off the lanes. The Carters' legacy will be celebrated on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour as the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship gets underway at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. Jan. 4-6, 2009.
Baltimore has been very good to both Rhino Page and Jodi Woessner and Sunday proved no different as each claimed titles in Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship at AMF Country Club Lanes, the eighth stop of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. Top seed Page defeated No. 2 seed Wes Malott, 197-189, to claim his second career title. In the PBA Women's Series, sponsored by the USBC, No. 2 seed Jodi Woessner defeated last week's champion and top seed Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, 247-189.
Rhino Page (l.) ended up edging out Wes Malott by 72 pins for the No. 1 seed in Sunday's live televised ESPN finals of the Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship, the eighth stop of the 2008-09 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. No. 4 seed Patrick Allen will face No. 3 seed Parker Bohn III in the first men's stepladder match. In the Women's Series, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (r.) and Jodi Woessner finished No. 1 and 2, respectively, to earn spots in Sunday's live ESPN finals. 