PBA

Barrett Wins In Kuwait For Eighth Title And $50k

Barrett Wins In Kuwait For Eighth Title And $50k

Dom Barrett delivered a perfect strike on his final shot to defeat Iceland's Arnar Jonsson, 278-277, to win the Kuwait International Open.

Nov 6, 2019 by Lucas Wiseman
Barrett Wins In Kuwait For Eighth Title And $50k
With no shot clock and one of the biggest shots of his life about to happen, England’s Dom Barrett took what felt like an eternity to throw his final shot at the World Bowling Tour/PBA 13th Kuwait International Open.

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With no shot clock and one of the biggest shots of his life about to happen, England’s Dom Barrett took what felt like an eternity to throw his final shot at the World Bowling Tour/PBA 13th Kuwait International Open.

The result was an absolutely perfect strike to secure his eighth career PBA Tour title, the $50,000 first-place prize and a 278-277 victory over Iceland’s Arnar Jonsson in the title match in Kuwait City.

To say Barrett loves competing in the Middle East might be an understatement. Of his eight PBA Tour titles, three of them have come in that part of the world. In addition to Wednesday’s victory, Barrett also won the Qatar Open in 2013 and 2014. Those three titles have been worth a combined $132,000.

Barrett entered the stepladder finals in Kuwait as the third seed and took down Venezuela’s Ildemaro Ruiz, 276-223, to move into the semifinal. He defeated Canada’s Mitch Hupe, 253-230, for the right to bowl for the title.

Jonsson, as the top seed, had to be defeated twice in the championship match and Barrett was up to the task. He won the first game 289-235 before winning the much closer deciding game.

In the final game, Jonsson got out the gates quick with strikes in his first four frames, while Barrett left and converted a four pin in the second frame.

Under World Bowling’s current frame scoring system, strings of strikes don’t matter at all, however, as it awards 30 pins for a strike, 10 pins plus count for a spare and count for opens.

Barrett wouldn’t miss again until the ninth frame when he left a flat 10 pin and converted it, giving Jonsson some hope. In the ninth and 10th frames, Jonsson buried must-have strikes to put the pressure on Barrett.

Jonsson’s strikes meant Barrett had to strike in the final frame to win and he was perfect.

The stepladder finals featured no U.S. bowlers as England, Iceland, Canada, Venezuela and Hong Kong (Michael Mak finished fifth) were represented.

In order to reach the stepladder, the five players survived a five-game round earlier Wednesday. Jonsson earned the top seed with a 1,360 total, a 272 average.

AJ Johnson nearly became the only U.S. player in the stepladder after he tied with Mak for the fifth spot with 1,287, a 257.40 average, but he lost a one-ball rolloff 10-8.

Before the main stepladder, a special stepladder was held for the top female bowlers this week. Danielle McEwan defeated Liz Johnson, 268-190, to win the $2,200 prize. Maria Jose Rodriguez finished third and Anna Andersson was fourth. In the main event, McEwan was the high female finisher in 12th place.

The Kuwait event also finalized the field for the World Bowling Tour Finals. Barrett's victory earned him a spot amongst the top three alongside Sean Rash and Johnson. They will be joined by Rafiq Ismael of Malaysia, Jonsson and Nick Pate in the competition Thursday in Kuwait.

World Bowling confirmed to FloBowling on Wednesday that the women's field for the World Bowling Tour Finals will consist of McEwan, Johnson, Rodriguez, Anderson, Cherie Tan and Clara Guerrero.

Stepladder Finals

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org

Seed BowlerCtryM1M2M3M4M5 Results
1 ARNAR JONSSONISL


235277 2nd
3 DOMINIC BARRETENG


289278 Champ









2 MITCH HUPECAN

230

 3rd
3 DOMINIC BARRETENG

253

 Advance









3 DOMINIC BARRETENG
276


 Advance
4 ILDEMARO RUIZVEN
223


 4th









4 ILDEMARO RUIZVEN275



 Advance
5 MICHAEL MAKHKG234



 5th

Women’s Stepladder Finals

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org 

Seed BowlerCtryM1M2M3 Results
1 DANIELLE MCEWANUSA

268 Champ
3 LIZ JOHNSONUSA

190 2nd







2 MARIA RODRIGUEZCOL
250
 3rd
3 LIZ JOHNSONUSA
257
 Advance







3 LIZ JOHNSONUSA279

 Advance
4 ANNA ANDERSSONSWE211

 4th

Round 3

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org

Pos BowlerCtryG1G2G3G4G5TotalAveDif
1 ARNAR JONSSONISL24627927927827813602720
2 MITCH HUPECAN2662452892662451311262.2-49
3 DOMINIC BARRETTENG2632572892342661309261.8-51
4 ILDEMARO RUIZVEN2552892682372571306261.2-54
5 MICHAEL MAKHKG2242882402462891287257.4-73
 Top 5 makes cut for Final Round







6 AJ JOHNSONUSA2562662332892431287257.4-73
7 STUART WILLIAMSENG2222572672572781281256.2-79
8 TOMMY JONESUSA2452232562882571269253.8-91
9 MARTIN LARSENSWE2662452312782441264252.8-96
10 MOSTAFA ALMOUSAWIKUW2452352582452771260252-100
11 SAM COOLEYAUS2332562672242781258251.6-102
12 DANIELLE MCEWAN (F)USA2322663002012551254250.8-106
13 THOMAS LARSENDEN2402572312892091226245.2-134
14 OSKU PALERMAAFIN2462552892062181214242.8-146
15 NICK PATEUSA2562102432772251211242.2-149
16 BRAD MILLERUSA2192322332332241141228.2-219