Ron Mohr Leads Qualifying of Mark Roth Senior Allentown Open

Ron Mohr is at it again. I blogged recently about how well he was doing on the PBA Senior Tour before taking time off in the middle of last season to care for his wife Linda who eventually died of cancer early this year, and how he rebounded from the devastating loss to take fourth, second, and first place respectively in the first three senior tournaments of this season.

Well, Mohr led all qualifiers going in to today's match play and championship rounds in the Mark Roth Senior Allentown Open in Allentown, PA and, as seemingly always these days, is a serious threat to win another title. Of course, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Harry Sullins, and Tom Baker who qualified second, third, and fifth respectively, along with a host of other outstanding players still left in the field, may have something to say about that. But the way Mohr is bowling now, he's going to be hard to beat.

If you get PBA Xtra Frame or think it might be high time to sign up, there's no better time than the present. Two rounds of match play have already been completed this morning, but you can watch those in the archives and catch the concluding match play and championship rounds live. "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark is calling the action and in the booth with him commentating are Johnny Petraglia Jr. and none other than the great Mark Roth.

You can click here for the qualifying results and here for the Round of 32 and Round of 24 match play results, and below is a short video of Mohr throwing one ball.

Belmonte Continues to Dazzle

What exciting times lie in store for Xtra Frame viewers this evening when the top 16 take to the lanes to do match play battle.

Jason Belmonte continued to distance himself from mere mortals by shooting 268-202-258-246-239-277-299 for his last seven games (and an incredible 815 for his last three games) to regain the lead (+1125). He came within a hair of shooting his third 300 of the tournament, and, remember, this is with plastic. His ball is hitting those pins like no one else's.

Behind him, in descending order, are Brian Ziesig (+1091), Walter Ray Williams Jr. (+1011), Bill O'Neill (+992), Michael Machuga (+951), Wayne Garber (+943), Jack Jurek +883), Mike Fagan (+868), Johnny Petraglia Jr. (+864), Parker Bohn III (+838), Jason Couch (+818), Ronnie Russell (+816), Alex Cavagnaro (+806), Rhino Page (+797), Robert Smith (+783), and last but not least, Chris Barnes (+774). Chris shot 268 in the position round to make the cut.

Johnny Petraglia Sr, who bowled and beat his son in the first match of the day, was in the top ten for awhile and hovered around the cut most of the morning until dropping down to 22nd at the end. But what a great week for the 63-year-old Hall of Famer.

Walter Ray Williams Jr., who led at times this morning and shot 299 one game, suffered a severely chipped ball toward the end of the Round of 32 and was left with only one ball with which to struggle through the remainder of the round. However, although each player is allowed only two balls for the entire tournament, having one of your balls break is an exception, and Walter will therefore be able to drill up another ball for tonight.

Another fact of interest is that Johnny Petraglia Jr. made the cut throwing his strike ball without his thumb.

Stay tuned for tonight's exciting action.

Johnny vs. Johnny

At 11 PM EDT today, the Round of 32 of the Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship will commence with match play, and PBA Xtra Frame will be there to bring it to you from start to finish along with expert commentary that will be about a lot more this time around than what equipment the players are using.

And its first featured match will be between Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia and his son Johnny Petraglia Jr. It's the first time they've made it into match play together. Father and son. Both lefties. Bowling each other in the first game of match play. I'm looking forward to it.