Belmonte has prime spot for pair of titles

In Jason Belmonte’s quest to add two more titles — including a record-tying 10th major — to his Professional Bowlers Association resume, he’ll have to sit and wait Sunday. Twice.

He was the runaway No. 1 qualifier for the Barbasol Players Championship at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, averaging a record 244.57 over the 30 games at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl. He parlayed that to be No. 1 along with partner Bill O’Neill for the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman Doubles Championship that will follow at 5 p.m.

That’s why, based on the stepladder finals in which No. 5 faces No. 4, the winner faces No. 3, that winner faces No. 2, and that winner faces No. 1, Belmonte has the opportunity to win two titles by bowling just two games.

“I kind of embrace it rather than fear it,” said the 34-year-old Australian, who is 5-5 as a No. 1 qualifier. “It’s a really cool experience. I mean, hundreds of thousands of bowlers around the world would love the experience of doing what I do for a living and have a chance to bowl on TV. So I’m certainly not scared of it.

“Obviously like every other human being in the world, doing something like that is quite nerve-racking. You do feel it, but I kind of enjoy that feeling. It lets me know I’m alive.”

Not that he’s a fan of this daily double. He said last week that he thought running the doubles tournament concurrently with the Players took away from the major. Yet he persevered as the defending champion of the Players, his first of three major titles in 2017 that left him one short of the 10 held by

Pete Weber and the late Earl Anthony. He has 16 titles overall.

And Belmonte — who uses a rare two-handed bowling motion — is still in his prime, so it’s doubtful his career will soon end. That means he is setting the bar for the tour’s rising 20-somethings such as Marshall Kent, 25, the No. 2 qualifier, and Kris Prather, 26, who is No. 3 on the Sunday stepladder.

“It’s something to aspire to,” said Kent, a four-time tour winner who finished second a week ago in the 60th Anniversary Classic in Indianapolis. “He’s putting up some numbers that are very hard to put up, and I think it kind of gives us more of a reason to work harder, train harder to try to get to that level where he’s at. It’s inspirational.”

Whether No. 4 qualifier Patrick Girard, 34, of Canada, or No. 5 Tom Smallwood, 40, from Saginaw, Michigan, gain a shot at Belmonte on Sunday remains to be seen. They will tangle in match one. It will be the third career stepladder appearance for Girard, from Jonquiere, Quebec.

Although final-five appearances have become commonplace for Belmonte, it will be just No. 16 for Smallwood, who has two national-event wins, including a major victory in the 2009 World Championship.

“I’m 40, and you never know when your last show is going to be,” Smallwood said. “Every show I make is special to me.”