2018 Weber Cup Team Selections

source: bowlingdigital
Anthony Simonsen

source: bowlingdigital
Kyle Troup

source: bowlingdigital
L: Tommy Jones, R: Chris Barnes

source: Weber Cup
L to R: Dom Barrett, Martin Larsen, Jesper Svensson, Stu Williams

This year's Weber Cup will take place on June 15 - 17 at Arena MK, Milton Keynes. Team Europe looks to repeat for their sixth consecutive win. Team USA seeks their first win since 2012.

Team Europe's roster remains unchanged for the third year in a row.
Captain Dom Barrett, Martin Larsen, Jesper Svensson and Stu Williams.

Team USA has struggled badly the past three years and hopes to recapture glory days with the return of two former Weber Cup bowlers: Tommy Jones and Chris Barnes. Barnes will resume duties as Team USA's captain.

The only returning member from USA last year is Kyle Troup. This will be Troup's third Weber Cup. New to Weber Cup for Team USA is Anthony Simonsen. I like USA's combination of youth and experience, but not sure it will be enough to match Europe's chemistry, experience and fire power.

As an American, I'd like to see Team USA do well, but I'm partial to Team Europe. Based on the number of blog entries I've written on him over the years, it's been no secret how much I like Dom Barrett. I also think Europe is a better team and predict they will prevail. If they don't, I won't be heartbroken about it either.

Good luck to both teams.

Team Tang

source: PBA

For professional bowling fans who missed last week's USBC Masters, the winner of the tournament was no surprise (Jason Belmonte). But two of the finalists, brothers Darren and Michael Tang of San Francisco were.

The USBC Masters was Darren's second TV appearance within 3 months, only a few months after he got his PBA card. Michael is still an amateur.

To see how Team Tang made the stepladder finals, here's the shootout match with Martin Larsen and Bill O'Neill.

PWBA US Open Championship / Weber Cup 2016 - Congrats Team Europe

source: PWBA
Liz Johnson, 2016 PWBA US Open Champion

source: Weber Cup
L to R: Jesper Svensson, captain Dom Barrett, Stu Williams, Martin Larsen

Big day of bowling in Addison (Chicago area), Illinois and Manchester, England.

CBS Sports broadcasted live this morning the PWBA US Open Championship Finals.

Kudos to CBS Sports Network for bringing in Dave Lamont for the play-by-play call. He's very articulate and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear very much due to poor audio throughout the entire match.

Liz Johnson began as the #4 seed to step up the ladder to capture her 5th US Open title over longtime Team USA member Shannon Pluhowsky.

Special recognition to Singapore's Shayna Ng (2nd seed, 3rd place finish), New Hui Fen (3rd seed, 4th place finish) and Jazreel Tan (10th) for their strong Top 10 finish.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Team Europe for the 4th consecutive year won Weber Cup 19-11 over Team USA. As it was last year, Team Europe was the much stronger, more experienced team.

In my humblest of opinions, if Team USA is going to remain competitive in Weber Cup, they need to reassess the team selection. Maybe even bold enough to include a woman. And for those of you who regularly read this blog, you know I'm talking about Marshall Kent's girlfriend, Danielle McEwan.

Why? She's 24, got tons of international experience and has shown she's bowled well with men in PBA League and tournaments outside the United States. Without pointing fingers, let's just say the frequent flier miles for Team Europe are a lot higher than Team USA's.

Below is one of many Weber Cup matches from this past weekend. Big thanks to The European Bowling Channel for getting the videos so quickly to YouTube.



I'll close with the PWBA US Open semi-final match between Liz Johnson and Shayna Ng. I show this match because it was her third match in the stepladder to get her to the finals. She overcame a foul in the 10th frame and still won.

Thanks again to bowlingvideos4all for your tireless work to get these matches to YouTube as fast as you do.

Weber Cup 2016

source: Twitter @WeberCup
L: Parker Bohn III, R: Dom Barrett

On Friday, August 5, Weber Cup 2016 begins a series of bowling matches between Team Europe (host team) versus Team USA. First match is Baker format (each team member bowls 2 or more frames).

For Team Europe, Dom Barrett (captain), Martin Larsen, and Stuart Williams return from 2015. Sweden's Jesper Svensson will be making his Weber Cup debut. Earlier this year, Jesper was the youngest player at age 20 to win the PBA Tournament of Champions (see February 6, 2016 blog entry)

Team USA will have 2 returning members, Parker Bohn III (captain) and Wes Malott. Making their Weber Cup debuts are Marshall Kent and Kyle Troup.
NOTE: To the Weber Cup webmaster, the US states Marshall and Kyle are incorrectly listed. Marshall is from Washington, Kyle is from North Carolina.

I like that new blood has been brought in. Jesper is 21, Marshall is 23 and Kyle is 24. Last year, Team Europe pulverized (17-8, see October 21, 2015 entry) Team USA and I don't see that it'll be any different this year. Team Europe retained 3 of their 4 from 2015, which gives them a considerable advantage in depth and experience. However, I'd never count out Team USA as underdogs, especially with Marshall Kent.

The other notable change to Weber Cup this year is the World Bowling Tour point system. It was first shown on ESPN in February for the World Bowling Tour Championship (see February 21, 2016 entry).

As explained on Weber Cup's website:
World Bowling Scoring maintains the traditional 10-frame scoring format but awards 30 pins for a strike, 10 pins for a spare plus the pin fall of the first shot in the frame, and actual pin fall after two shots in an open frame. The maximum score is still 300 and this figure is based on the player receiving 10 consecutive strikes with no bonus pins being awarded in the 10th frame.

Like the 2-handed delivery, the WBT point system has its detractors. In my opinion, the sport needs to evolve in order to survive. With the PWBA in its second season and the PBA League now considered a success, evolution of the sport is happening whether you like it or not.

Weber Cup 2015

Team Europe L to R: Osku Palermaa, Dom Barrett, Stu Williams, Martin Larsen
source: Weber Cup

For the third consecutive year, Team Europe has captured the Weber Cup (named after bowling legend Dick Weber).

Team USA (Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill, Wes Malott and Parker Bohn III) was no match for Team Europe, winning in a rout, 17-4.

As mentioned in my July 28, 2013 blog entry, all of the U.S. Open Bowling finalists are sponsored by Storm Bowling. It's the same for Team Europe. Osku Palermaa, captain Dom Barrett and Martin Larsen are also sponsored by Storm. Stuart Williams is sponsored by Roto Grip, a brand Storm owns.

2015's matches are now available for viewing on YouTube via The European Bowling Channel.

Here's one of the matches between Dom Barrett and Bill O'Neill from Day 1.



A preview of 2013's Weber Cup is available on my October 12, 2013 blog entry.

Weber Cup XIV - 2013

image source: Weber Cup

UPDATE October 13, 2013 - Team Europe rallies to a 17-14 win over Team USA. Congratulations to Mika, Stu, Dom and Martin!

Battling as we speak is this year's Weber Cup match between Europe and the United States. The United States got off to blistering start, leading 5-1. Like the recent America's Cup, a big rally from Team Europe has surged them back into contention. Europe is only 2 matches down.

As of this blog entry, United States 10, Europe 8. First team to reach 17 points wins. Competition ends tomorrow.

This year's rosters:
Team USA (same as 2012): Chris Barnes, Bill O'Neill, Tommy Jones and Mike Fagan.
Team Europe: Mika Koivuniemi, Stuart Williams, Martin Larsen and Dominic Barrett.

Looking very forward to the video of the matches in early 2014.
Go USA!