Jason Belmonte

About Jason Belmonte

Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983 in Orange, New South Wales), an Australian ten-pin bowler, is a professional player on the PBA Tour in the United States and world circuits. He is known for using the rare two handed "shovel" style to deliver his shot. He has won 11 PBA titles, including four major tournaments.

Titles:

 European Bowling Tour Title:

Belmonte has won one European Bowling Tour title, the Brunswick Euro Challenge, held in Greece. He also won the World Tenpin Masters championship in 2007. In September 2010, he defeated American Sean Rash in the finals to earn the 2010 Korea Cup title.

Barbasol Tournament of Champions:

On the PBA Tour, Belmonte owns eleven titles, including his first title at the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic (2009), and three titles in the 2011–12 season (GEICO Shark Open, World Series of Bowling Chameleon Open, and the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship). After making the televised finals in five of six PBA majors without winning, he defeated Wes Malott to capture his first PBA major title: the 2012–13 USBC Masters. He captured his second major at the 2014 Barbasol Tournament of Champions, again defeating Malott in the title match. On February 8, 2015, Belmonte became the first bowler to win three consecutive USBC Masters tournaments after defeating No. 1 seeded AJ Johnson.

Jason Belmonte Achievements

PBA Tour

2008–09: Rookie of the Year:

In 2009, Belmonte won the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic PBA Tour event in his PBA TV finals debut. As the second seed, he defeated Bill O'Neill, and went on to defeat number one seed Mike Fagan 215–201 for his first PBA title. The title earned Belmonte "exempt" status for the 2009–10 PBA Tour, and he was also named the 2008–09 PBA Rookie of the Year.

2009–10:

2009–10 marked his first season as an exempt PBA bowler. Belmonte qualified for the TV finals in three events, but did not win a tournament. He came close at the GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship on 28 March 2010. Finishing as the top qualifier, he faced Brian Ziesig in the finals. Ziesig was a non-exempt amateur who had to qualify via the TQR round. The two were tied at the end of the regulation game, 247–247, which sent the championship to a sudden-death, one-ball rolloff. Belmonte's high flush shot on his first attempt left a solid 7-pin standing for a count of 9. Ziesig then threw a strike to dash Belmonte's hopes and take the title.

2010–11:

In the 2010–11 season, Belmonte appeared in 10 of 12 PBA events, making match-play 9 times and appearing on TV 4 times. Without a victory, he had earnings of US$62,950. while averaging 218.82 pins per game. In his first three years on tour, Belmonte cashed in 33 of 37 tournaments, making match-play a total of 25 times, with 8 television appearance; and earnings of US$187,420.

2011–12: Return to victory:

Belmonte won his second, third and fourth PBA titles at the PBA's "World Series of Bowling" in November, 2011, taking the trophies in the Chameleon Open, GEICO Shark Open and the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship.Belmonte also rolled a nationally-televised 300 game in the quarterfinals of the PBA World Championship, broadcast on 8 January 2012 in North America; however, he did not go on to win the tournament.Despite his three titles in the 2011–12 season, Belmonte did not win the PBA Player of the Year honors. The award was won by Sean Rash in an extremely close vote (Rash received 29% of the vote to Belmonte's 26.6%).

With his home crowd watching, Belmonte defeated Sean Rash in a best-of-three final (174–172, 223–255, 256–243) for his fifth PBA title at the 2012 Australian Masters in Sydney, Australia.

2012–13: Player of the Year:

On 24 February 2013, Belmonte won his sixth PBA Tour title and first PBA major at the USBC Masters in North Brunswick, NJ. Belmonte finished with six consecutive strikes in the dramatic final match to top Wes Malott, 258–245.Belmonte won a second title on the 2012–13 season, his seventh overall, at the PBA Lucas Oil Bear Open in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.He was runner-up to Wes Malott in the 2013 Bowling's U.S. Open. It marked Jason's seventh appearance in the TV finals of a major over the last eight major tournaments.

2014: Major success:

Belmonte won the first tournament of the 2014 PBA season, the Barbasol Tournament of Champions in Allen Park, Michigan, which marked his second major tournament win and eighth title overall. As he did in his first major championship win, Belmonte defeated Wes Malott, this time in a 219–218 single game match.Jason continued his dominance on 23 February 2014, when he became the first player to repeat as USBC Masters champion in nearly 50 years, and also the first player in history to win a major as the 5th seed, defeating every rival in the championship stepladder final. (Billy Welu won back-to-back Masters in 1964–65.) This was Belmonte's ninth PBA title and third major.He captured his tenth title winning the Oklahoma Open during the PBA's summer swing.

2015:

Jason again won the USBC Masters on February 8, 2015, defeating amateur A.J. Johnson, a surprise #1 seed, in the final match, 202-157. In doing so, Belmonte joined Mike Aulby as the only three-time winners of this tournament, while becoming the only player to win the Masters in three consecutive seasons.