Jason Belmonte records 29th Professional Bowlers Association title at Texas

Another successful ladder-climb delivered Belmonte his 29^th PBA title on Sunday (March 20) - The Storm Cup: PBA Lubbock Sports Open.

Leading the field after 16 games, Belmonte slipped to second place after two more games and then third after the final two-game advancer match that saw the field cut to four of the tour's top players.

In the stepladder final, Belmonte jumped out of the blocks with a 246-221 victory over Sweden's Jesper Svensson and next clinched a cliff-hanger 202-201 win over Texan Sean Lavery-Spahr.

He then defeated top-seed EJ Tackett who, despite a valiant effort in a bid to gain his first title this year, was overwhelmed by Belmonte in a thrilling final match, 253-245.

In the championship match, Belmonte needed two strikes in the 10th after Tackett left a solid 9 pin that gave Belmonte a chance.

"I don't think we will ever see a more solid 9 pin in our lives," Belmonte said of Tackett's bad break to pba.com. "In these situations, it can be a coin flip. I had just a little bit more luck than he did."

The PBA Lubbock Sports Open is Belmonte's 29th PBA title and fourth this year, including the Storm Cup: Kokomo Championship title. He sits on top of The Storm Cup points list and is inching closer to a likely 7th PBA Player of the Year accolade.

Next event Belmonte has his sights set on is the PBA Colorado Springs Open, the third and final tournament in the 2022 Storm Cup series which gets underway with 12 games of qualifying on Wednesday March 20 (local time in Indiana).

The next day, the top 24 then bowl two more rounds of six games before the cut to the top four players who advance to the stepladder final matches on Thursday evening (Indiana time).

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