Jason Belmonte is an Australian professional bowler. He is one of the
professional bowlers that I really admire and idolized. Jason was born
on July 29, 1983 in Orange, New South Wales, Australia. Jason is popularly
known for his rare two handed "shovel" style to deliver his shot. It's rare
because he's the only one who delivers that kind of shot among professional
bowlers. It's a very difficult shot. I've tried it so many times and I find it really
difficult. Jason perfected that style because he started holding a bowling ball
as early as 18 months old. He's father owned the Orange Tenpin Bowl. As a
to toddler, Jason pushed the bowling ball with his two hands. In doing so, he
developed that two handed style as he grow up and until today, placing only
two fingers and no thumb in the ball to produce more revolutions. He started
competing at the age of three, winning his first event at the age of four. He had
an average of 117 at age five and a high game of 179.
Jason Belmonte has won one European Bowling Tour title, and the Brunswick
Euro Challenge, held in Greece. He also won the World Tenpin Masters
Championships in 2007, and owns four PBA Tour titles, including the Bowling
Foundation Long Island Classic (2009), 11-12 GEICO Shark Open, 11-12
World Series of Bowling Chameleon Open, and the Pepsi PBA Elite Players
Championship (2012). In September 2010, he defeated American Sean Rash in
the finals to earn the 2010 Korea Cup title.
At age 17, Jason became the first Junior Australian to roll a perfect game
overseas. He also took five Gold medals at the 2000 Junior National
Championships. He was a member of the Youth Australian team in 2000,2002 and 2004. He was also awarded the Orange Sportsperson of the Year award in 2002
and 2003. Belmonte won one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals at the 2002
Commonwealth Championships in Scotland and a silver medal at the WTBA World Youth Championships in Thailand. Later in the year, he was selected in the
Australian Open men's team where he remains to the present.
In 2004, Belmonte took three gold, one silver and one bronze in the Asian Youth FIQ in Hong Kong and followed this up in the World Youth FIQ titles in Guam with a gold in the singles and a gold in all events. He also competed in the 2004 AMF World Cup in Singapore where he was lead qualifier and never lost the lead in five days of qualifying events, finishing in 5th place after being knocked out in the quarter final. He won the prestigious 2004 Bowler of the Year award, voted by the Board of Directors of the World Bowlers Writers' Association. Belmonte was invited to participate in the 2005 World Tenpin Masters in England where he was defeated in the semi-finals. In this event, he made history by bowling the first-ever 300 game in the event.
Belmonte represented Australia in the 2006 World Youth Championships in Berlin. He was part of the team to take the gold medal in the Team Event and went on to make the Masters after finishing in sixth place in the All Events. He was defeated in the second step of the Masters by the eventual winner, Mads Sandbaekken from Norway. In 2007, Belmonte was once again invited to take part in the World Tenpin Masters, held at the Barnsley Metrodome. After defeating the defending champion Chris Barnes of the United States in the semi-finals, Belmonte went on to defeat England's Paul Moor in the finals where he rolled the event's second-ever 300 game. Belmonte rolled 23 out of a possible 24 strikes to win the event with a 566 score for two games, against Moor's 524.
Belmonte participated in the 2007 World Ranking Masters and after qualifying in second position, was defeated in the quarter finals by eventual runner-up Peter Ljung from Sweden, 2-0 (190-258, 158-279), finishing in sixth place.
In 2009, Belmonte won the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic PBA event in his PBA TV finals debut. As the second seed, he defeated Bill O'Neill, and went on to defeat number one seed Michael Fagan 215-201 for his first PBA title. The title earned Belmonte "exempt" status for the 2009 – 10 PBA Tour, and he was also named the 2008 – 09 PBA Rookie of the Year.
2010 marked his first season as an exempt PBA bowler. Belmonte qualified for the TV finals in three events, but did not win a tournament. He came close at the GEICO Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship on 28 March 2010. Finishing as the top qualifier, he faced Brian Ziesig in the finals. Ziesig was a non-exempt amateur who had to qualify via the TQR round. The two were tied at the end of the regulation game, 247-247, which sent the championship to a sudden-death, one-ball roll off. Belmonte's high flush shot on his first attempt left a solid 7-pin standing for a count of 9. Ziesig then threw a strike to dash Belmonte's hopes and take the title.
In the 2010-11 season, Belmonte appeared in 10 of 12 PBA events, making match-play 9 times and appearing on TV 4 times. Without a victory, he had earnings of US$62,950. while averaging 218.82 pins per game. In his first three years on tour, Belmonte cashed in 33 of 37 tournaments, making match-play a total of 25 times, with 8 television appearances; and earnings of US$187,420. During 2011, on the World Bowling Tour, Belmonte defeated good friend and fellow PBA Player Michael Fagan, 300-205, to win the 2011 Thailand Open.
Belmonte won his second, third and fourth PBA titles at the PBA's "World Series of Bowling" in November, 2011 taking the trophies in the Chameleon Open, GEICO Shark Open and the Pepsi PBA Elite Players Championship. Belmonte also rolled a nationally-televised 300 game in the quarterfinals of the PBA World Championship, broadcast on 8 January 2012 in North America; however, he did not go on to win the tournament. Despite his three titles in the 2011-12 season, Belmonte did not win the PBA Player of the Year honors. The award was won by Sean Rash in an extremely close vote (Rash received 29% of the vote to Belmonte's 26.6%).
Belmo as his nickname is married to Kimberly and have two children, daughter Aria and son Hugo. He has a total career earnings in the PBA of $ 327,545.00
