DYDO JAPAN CUP 2009 BEGINS LATER THIS WEEK
Seattle, WA - 4/20/2009


DYDO JAPAN CUP 2009 – QUICK FACTS
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Bowling Center/Tokyo Metro Gymnasium (championship round)
Tokyo, Japan
April 23 - 26, 2009

DYDO JAPAN CUP 2009 – BY THE NUMBERS
Field Size – 144
PBA Entries – 20
JPBA Entries – 90
Amateur Entries – 34

DYDO JAPAN CUP 2009 – FORMAT
- 144 bowlers bowl two six-game qualifying blocks
- Cut to top 48
- Round of 48 - Players qualifying #17 - #48 (best 3 of 5)
- Round of 32 - Round of 48 winners & Players seeded #1 – 16 (best 3 of 5)
- Round of 16 – Best 3 of 5
- Top 8 advance to championship round at Tokyo Metro Gymnasium

PBA REPRESENTATIVES IN DYDO JAPAN CUP 2009 (20):
Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y.
Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas
Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J.
Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla.
Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill.
Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C.
Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich.
Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio
Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas
Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind.
Bill O’Neill, Levittown, Pa.
Rhino Page, Topeka, Kan.
Sean Rash, Wichita, Kan.
Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas
Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y.
Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo.
Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla.
Danny Wiseman, Baltimore
Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind.

PBA & JAPAN CUP
The PBA returns to Tokyo to participate in the DYDO Japan Cup for the 24th straight season. The event, which has been inviting PBA professionals since 1985, has been won 21 times by PBA pros and twice by JPBA pros.

This marks the third consecutive year that qualifying will take place at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel with the finals being held at the Tokyo Metro Gymnasium. The Tokyo Port Bowl hosted the event from 1985-2005/06.

From 1968-73, PBA pros competed in what was known as the Japan Gold Cup at Star Lanes. Winners from the Japan Gold Cup include Don Johnson (1968), Dick Ritger (1969, ’70), Jack Biondolillo (1971), Barry Asher (1972) and Don McCune (1973).

MIKA LOOKS FOR REPEAT
Mika Koivuniemi won the most recent Dydo Japan Cup by defeating Mike Wolfe, 200-178, in September, 2007. The win marked Koivuniemi’s eighth Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour title and a tournament championship in 11 different countries.

This week, Koivuniemi will attempt to become only the third player in PBA history to successfully defend his title in Japan. Most recently Tommy Jones won back-to-back Japan Cup titles winning in both 2004 and 2005 while Parker Bohn III won the Cup three consecutive years from 1998-2000.

WILLIAMS NO STRANGER TO JAPAN CUP
Walter Ray Williams Jr. is making his 24th consecutive appearance in the DYDO Japan Cup, making him the only player to have appeared in every Japan Cup since 1985. Williams has made seven championship round appearances and won the event twice including a 289-236 win over Pete Weber in 2006-07 which broke the all-time PBA Tour titles record.

ALL-TIME APPEARANCES IN JAPAN CUP
Walter Ray Williams – 23
Norm Duke – 17
Parker Bohn III – 16
Pete Weber – 15
Amleto Monacelli – 14

O’NEILL LOOKS FOR FIRST TITLE
Bill O’Neill is coming off a career season in which he finished second on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour point list, led the Tour in average and tied Chris Barnes for the second most championship rounds appearances by any player this season. The one thing that did escape O’Neill this year was capturing his first career title. O’Neill looks to join two other PBA players who picked up their first career title at the Japan Cup.

In 2004, Tommy Jones won his first career title at the Japan Cup which set off a two-season stretch in which Jones broke the PBA record for shortest time between first and 10th titles; his 10th victory came just two years, six months and seven days after his first, breaking Dick Weber’s 45-year-old record by just four days.

The only other player in PBA history to win his first career title at the Japan Cup is PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli, who captured his first title at the 1987 Oronamin C Japan Cup. Monacelli, who recently made the championship round at the Lumber Liquidators 66th U.S. Open, has won 19 career Tour titles and is the only foreign-born player elected to the PBA Hall of Fame.

MCCUNE, PAGE MAKING FIRST APPEARNCE
Of the 20 PBA professionals competing this week, both Eugene McCune and Rhino Page are making their first appearance in the Japan Cup. If either picks up the title this week, they’ll join Steve Wilson (1996), Doug Kent (1997) and Robert Smith (2002-03) as the only players to win the Cup title in their first appearance in Japan.

PAST JAPAN CUP CHAMPIONS:
1985 – Ken Taniguchi
1986 – Pete Weber
1987 – Amleto Monacelli
1988 – Takeo Sakai
1989 – Randy Pedersen
1990 – Chris Warren
1991 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1992 – Parker Bohn III
1993 – Pete Weber
1994 – Brian Voss
1995 – Amleto Monacelli
1996 – Steve Wilson
1997 – Doug Kent
1998 – Parker Bohn III
1999 – Parker Bohn III
2000 – Parker Bohn III
2001-02 – Bob Learn Jr.
2002-03 – Robert Smith
2003-04 – Chris Barnes
2004-05 – Tommy Jones
2005-06 – Tommy Jones
2006-07 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2007-08 – Mika Koivuniemi