ESPN Live and Taped Broadcasts Set for Sunday January 11



RENO, NEV. (January 7, 2009) — Bowling fans will be treated to a pair of nationally-televised Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour events on Sunday Jan. 11 at the National Bowling Stadium. Tickets are free and doors are open to the public at 8 a.m. PT.



The bowling doubleheader starts with ESPN’s live final round coverage of The National Bowling Stadium Championship at 10 a.m. PT. This program will be the first time that multiple oil patterns will be used during the tournament and on the telecast, featuring the PBA Experience Shark pattern on the left lane and the PBA Experience Cheetah pattern on the right lane. Bowlers will face the challenge of negotiating each oil pattern by determining equipment choices and lane play strategy on every alternating shot.



Qualifying and match play rounds for the National Bowling Stadium Championship take place Jan. 7-9. Tickets for the opening rounds are free. Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C. is the defending champion, winning the 2008 Constructionjobs.com Championship at the National Bowling Stadium on Jan. 6, 2008. Jones defeated Patrick Allen 254-214 to win his 11th career title on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour.



The final round of the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship will be taped for broadcast on Sunday at approximately 1 p.m. PT at the National Bowling Stadium following the live telecast. The final round is scheduled to air on ESPN Sunday Feb. 1 at 2:00 pm ET, marking the first time a PBA Tour Mixed Doubles event has ever been televised.



Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla. And Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y. advanced as the top seeds for the stepladder finals during mixed doubles tournament qualifying and match play rounds at the National Bowling Stadium Jan. 4-6. Sean Rash, Wichita, Kan. and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, N. Richland Hills, Tex. qualified in second position. Ranking third was the mixed doubles team of Steve Harman, Indianapolis and Jennifer Petrick, Canton, Ohio. The fourth-seeded Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa and Laura Hardeman, Chula Vista, Calif. with fifth-seeded Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y. and Shannon Pluhowsky, Phoenix round out the field for the stepladder finals of the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles Championship.



Sixty-four players from the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour and 32 players from the PBA Women’s Series (16 PBA Women’s Series Exempt Players + 16 of the next highest qualifiers from the PBA Women’s Series Tour Trials) each bowled 14 qualifying games at the National Bowling Stadium. The top 16 from each group were combined to form 16 mixed doubles teams which advanced to match play.



After match play, the top five doubles finalists advanced to stepladder competition. No. 5 qualifiers Angelo/Pluhowsky will face No. 4 seeded Hess/Hardeman. The winners will face No. 3 team Harman/Petrick. The winner of that match will face No. 2 qualifiers Rash/Dorin-Ballard, with the winner of that match will face No. 1 seeded Duke/Johnson in the championship match.





About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) features the best bowlers in the world competing in National, Regional and Senior Tour events. The organization has more than 4,000 members spanning 13 countries, and nearly one million viewers tune-in to watch the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour every Sunday on ESPN throughout the season. PBA sponsors include Bayer, Brunswick, CLR, Denny's, Etonic, Flomax, GEICO, Go RVing, H&R Block, Lumber Liquidators, Motel 6, Pepsi-Cola and the USBC, among others. For more information on the PBA, log on to www.pba.com.