Mixed Doubles and Chris Barnes Challenge This Week

I'm not a big fan of pro doubles tournaments, and I despise the Baker format where players on a doubles team bowl alternate frames and, on five-member teams it's even worse with each player getting to bowl only two frames per game. But I'm still looking forward to match play today at the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles championship in Wheat Ridge, Colorado and to the televised final Sunday.

I'm also looking forward to the Chris Barnes Challenge match, if there is one, on Saturday afternoon. Barnes will take on the highest bidder up to $5,000 in a three game, total pins, winner-take-all match to be shown live on PBA Xtra Frame. This will be the second such match. The first one was held in Wichita, Kansas several months ago, and a college bowler ended up overcoming a large deficit after two games to beat Barnes. You can watch it on demand on Xtra Frame if you missed it the first time around.

As for the mixed doubles tournament, the teams were selected by pairing the top 16 qualifiers on the men's side of the aisle with the top 16 women in descending order of where they placed in qualifying so that, for instance, the first place man bowls with the first place woman. This means that Australian two-handed sensation and PBA Rookie of the Year Jason Belmonte, who led qualifying virtually the entire time, will be paired with Michelle Feldman. In other words, the guy who throws the most powerful ball on the men's tour will be bowling with the woman who throws the most powerful ball I've ever seen a woman throw in a real powerfest. They can line up off each other.

The other teams are:

2, Rhino Page - Shannon Pluhowsky
3, Tom Smallwood - Jodi Woessner
4, Eugene McCune - Kelly Kulick
5, Patrick Allen - Lindsay Baker
6, Wes Malott - Shannon O'Keefe
7, Steve Harman - Missy Bellinder
8, Mike Fagan - Brenda Edwards
9, Walter Ray Williams Jr. - Stefanie Nation
10, Chris Barnes - Liz Johnson
11, Stuart Williams - Tammy Boomershine
12, Brian Voss - Diandra Asbaty
13, Mika Koivuniemi - Wendy Macpherson
14, Jesse Buss - Elysia Current
15, Mitch Beasley - Laura Hardeman
16, Ritchie Allen - Clara Guerrero

Pete Weber came in 17th, just missing match play by only13 pins.

The field has an international flavor with Stuart Williams of England, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, and Clara Guerrero of Colombia in the top 16.

It should be fun watching them bowl 16 games of match play today live on Xtra Frame. The top five teams will advance to the televised stepladder finals on ESPN this Sunday.