Tenpin’s own Tiger Woods

Jason Belmonte has taken the tenpin world by storm, becoming the first double-hander to win at elite level.

He returned to his native Australia last week after a “ridiculously good” stint abroad, highlighted by his Rookie of the Year selection on the big-time US pro tour.

But the 25-year-old from Orange won't be home for long.

“Belmo” will be back on the circuit soon, intent on winning more titles, building his sport’s profile and turning heads with his distinctive two-handed style, which is gaining converts around the world.

The entire Bolivian national team has been coached to bowl like their Australian “idol”, and a Finnish copycat is doing well on the European tour.

“Every time I travel these days there's always two or three new guys pop up with this style,” said Belmonte.

“It's very flattering. They'll say they watched me on YouTube or ESPN or Fox Sports, and they tried it and liked it, so that's really cool.

“Maybe down the road there will be 1000 of us two-handers and maybe then it will be a revolutionary style dominating the sport.

“Right now there are only a few two-handers, and we do well, but not well enough to say this is the best way to do it.”

Former Australian bowling national executive member Ted Simmons said “Lleyton Hewitt was once the only tennis player in the world wearing his cap backwards.

“Now the whole world is doing it. It might be the same with Belmo.”

Belmonte may not be famous in Australia, but he is making a serious mark in Asia, where bowlers make regular back-page headlines, and in the US, where he was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

“Could the bowling wonder from down under be our sport's answer to Tiger Woods?” asks US-based Bowlers Journal International in its latest edition.

“To put it bluntly, bowling is banking on Belmo,” it says. “He gives the PBA (Professional Bowling Association) a thoroughbred in the sports marketing derby that it could ride for a very long time.”

Belmonte was only 18 months old when he rolled his first ball at his parents’ bowling alley in Orange.

“I wasn't strong enough to use the 10 pound balls we had with one hand, so I would kind of push them with two hands,” he said.

“As I got a little bit older I would pick them up with two hands, and as the years went on I just never got rid of that style, and developed it into what it is today.”

“He always wanted to carry the ball himself, with no mum or dad helping him,” said his mother Marissa.

“If he wasn't brought up in Australia he probably would have had that coached out of him,” said national coach Chris Batson.

“We tend to let people go and do their thing, we're fairly innovative that way.”

The young Belmonte was competing at three, won a doubles event aged four, and by five he had bowled a 179 game.

The two-handed style seemed so natural to him that he broke his first trophy trying to “bend the guy's arm” into a two-handed position.

Now he has bowled 39 perfect 300 games with that style.

He has swept Asia and Europe, been twice named world bowler of the year, and made his big US breakthrough this year by winning the $US25,000 first prize in the Long Island Classic in New York.

The cream of bowlers can earn from $US100,000 ($A121,000) to $US350,000 ($A426,000) a year plus endorsements.

“But in a bad year it can be pretty tough to make a living,” said Belmonte.

“If you are not dominating, you definitely have a day job behind you.

“It's not like tennis and golf where middle ranking players earn a great living, too.

“You travel in economy, sit down the back of the plane, talk to the guy next to you and hope it goes well next week.”

And what about that trademark method?

Belmonte ignores the bowling ball’s thumb hole altogether, and by using his left hand to guide and spin the ball, he is able to generate hooking power very few one-handed bowlers can match.

“His ball hits 10 times harder than what you see on TV,” says American PBA hall-of-famer Pete Weber.

Belmonte also creates an extraordinarily high rate of revolutions, causing the ball to track like Shane Warne’s ball of the century off the equivalent of a “good length” on a bowling alley.

His method has been likened to Dick Fosbury's famous “flop” which revolutionised high jumping, but Belmonte sees a difference.

“Fosbury's style actually was the best way to do it,” he said. “My style is not necessarily the best way to do it, it's just another way. It just gives people another option to do something different.

“Is it better than one-handed? I can't say because I don't win everything I compete in.”

Belmonte hopes to become Australia’s first men’s world champion, to match the feat achieved by five Aussies in the women's game.

He also hopes one day to be remembered for his success in the lanes as well as his two-handed style.

“But hey,” he shrugs, “any bowler out there just wants to be remembered right now.”