Smallwood topples Belmonte, 3 others for title
Talk about coming from way back, then having to knock off a giant at the end: Tom Smallwood’s PBA Barbasol Players Championship win Sunday over heavily favored Jason Belmonte was one for the storybook, and it was no fable.
Smallwood enduring the tournament’s customary face full of shaving cream for the winner was proof of that, as was the prolonged applause from a crowd that included his wife, his two young children and supporters from his hometown of Saginaw, Michigan.
“It’s not very often a Michigan guy gets this much applause here,” Smallwood said, drawing laughs.
But his victory — just the third of the 40-yearold’s career, but his second major — was serious. Belmonte had dominated the qualifying at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl and was going for a recordtying 10th major victory. Smallwood, on the other hand, had risen from 93rd after the first block of games Tuesday to claw his way into the top five in his final frame of qualifying Thursday night.
Then as the No. 5 qualifier, he had to knock off three others on the stepladder Sunday just to have the chance to take on Belmonte.
“He’s obviously the greatest bowler of my era,” Smallwood said of Belmonte. “You have to bowl a great game against him. But also, he’s human.”
Belmonte proved that when, up first in the 10th frame, he left the door open by knocking down just nine with his first roll. He spared, then struck with his last ball, but all Smallwood had to do was mark. He did that with his first roll, a strike, to take the trophy and $40,000 prize.
Belmonte, the defending champion, had the chance to bounce back later in the day because he and Bill O’Neill were the top-qualifying team for the Mark Roth/ Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship. They defeated the Tang brothers, Darren and Michael, in the finals, which goes down as the 17th career PBA win for Belmonte and the ninth for O’Neill.
But Belmonte went into the day chasing majors history.
“I was very disappointed about the major loss, and I’m not really entirely sure why, but it seemed to have hit me a little harder than I was expecting,” Belmonte said. He added, “That’s a couple of majors in a row now I haven’t been able to get that win.
“This one stung a little more. I went and had some time for myself, and when I came back, I really made a point to myself, ‘All right, that has to be forgotten. You’re bowling a doubles match now with one of your best mates. It’s time to win that with him.’”
For Smallwood, the big moment to regain composure came just before throwing that strike in the 10th that iced his win over Belmonte.
“I’m definitely shaking, I definitely have the nerves … (but) I’m not scared to throw it bad,” Smallwood said. “I’m not scared to fail, and I have all the faith in the world in myself to throw it.”
Smallwood had disposed of Patrick Girard 237-206 in the opener, then defeated No. 3 qualifier Kris Prather 236-235. Needing nine pins with his final throw against No. 2 Marshall Kent, he got just that, winning 225-224 to set up the match with Belmonte.
“I think it’s the best I’ve ever prepared as a team,” Smallwood said, referring to his Brunswick ball representatives. “We talked about it — it’s just so hard to keep it simple in this stuff. … I just tried to stay in the moment the whole time. Fortunately, nothing went too sideways on me.”