Jason Belmonte has been knocked out of the 2021 Kia PBA Tournament of Champions at Bowlero Jupiter, falling in the semi-finals to eventual winner Francois Lavoie.
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Belmonte struggled to make inroads against the Canadian, failing to break 200 in a 220-194 loss.
Lavoie faced an elite line-up of opponents as he overcame the odds from the fifth seed to collect a cool $100,00 while making himself eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame.
He's now won five overall titles but three of those have been majors, indicating he saves his best for the big stage. Belmonte was understandably disappointed in the wake of the outcome.
"It's one of those games where you just couldn't see the shot shape," Belmonte said in a lengthy post on the champion's Facebook page.
"The pins fell a little more generously to the other guy ... it happens to us all."
"A week off and back for the World Series in Tampa."
An interesting element to the semi-final is Belmonte decided to use a different ball for the event, forecasting the oil pattern would play a little differently, a tactic that didn't quite pan out in the high-pressure stepladder playoff.
"The stronger ball theory was to control the back part of the lane, by controlling the front part more," he said.
"What was surprising to me was even with a strong ball, the change of direction to see it blend a little more rather than duck hook left. Lessons are still being learned."
The PBA Tour resumes on March 7 as the 2021 World Series of Bowling gets underway live on FloBowling with qualifying at the PBA Cheetah Championship.
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