Ever since he won his first title, Jason Belmonte had to get on the phone back to Orange with the good news.
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No longer.
With his family watching him compete for a title for the first time, Jason Belmonte was able to overcome an awkward spectator-free stepladder on Sunday to win the 2020 PBA World Championship.
Belmonte defeated Anthony Simonsen, 213-190, as only family and officials were watching in person at South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas due to coronavirus concerns.
The show was the final event of the 2020 PBA World Series of Bowling, which saw three events postponed until a to-be-determined date. The upcoming USBC Masters has also been postponed.
"For pretty much my whole bowling career, I've had to make a phone call at the end of it," Belmonte said.
"So to have them sitting 20 feet away... it was a very, very special moment. I actually barely remember the 10th frame. All I remember was I wanted to get back there and give them a hug."
While his wife and children Hugo, Aria and Sylvie were able to watch him win, spectators were greeted at the door with a sign that said "bowling plaza closed to the general public," creating a unique playing environment.
"It was really different, it was weird," Belmonte said.
"You almost were even more cautious to let out any emotion or any vocal just because I felt it would be even weirder yelling to an empty arena. Everything felt very internal."
Belmonte now has two major title victories this season and has taken the lead in the 2020 PBA Player of the Year race. He has 13 career major titles, three more than anyone else in history.
The championship match was a bit anticlimactic after Simonsen started with back-to-back opens. He left the 2-10 split in the first frame and followed it up with a 3-4-6-7-10 split in the second frame to fall behind by 24 pins, a deficit from which he would never recover.
Now that the PBA World Championship is over, what's next for the PBA Tour is still a bit up in the air. The next event, the USBC Masters, has been officially postponed.
The PBA Playoffs are supposed to begin April 6 and there has been no announcement yet as to the event's status.
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