Mika Koivuniemi made history Sunday afternoon, rolling the 16th televised 300 game in PBA history to beat Clermont's Jason Couch 300-248 in the wild-card match. Koivuniemi went on to defeat Patrick Allen 259-237 to win the Cambridge Credit Classic at Windsor Locks, Conn.
Koivuniemi rolled 31 strikes in 35 frames over three games to earn his third career title. His payoff was huge, $40,000 for the title, $10,000 in PBA incentives and $20,000 from sponsor Cambridge Credit Counseling for the perfect game. Allen took home $20,000.
"It's unbelievable," Koivuniemi said. "It's going to hit me in a couple of hours. It's a nice thing, but my focus was to win the tournament."
The victory sends Koivuniemi into the Tournament of Champions at Uncasville, Conn., this week, with the finals at 1 Sunday on ESPN.
Koivuniemi advanced to the final by defeating Peter Hernandez of Miami 277-206 in the second semifinal. Koivuniemi struck in 11 of his 12 frames. In the first semifinal, Allen defeated Eric Forkel 236-183. Hernandez and Forkel won $10,000 for their third-place finishes and Couch earned $9,000.
Ten players, including Hernandez, Mike Aulby and Johnny Petraglia, rolled 300 games during the first round and Allen rolled a pair of 300s in the second round. Ten-time tour winner Steve Hoskins of Tarpon Springs is one of the 16 who has rolled a perfect game during a televised match.
Hoskins and Randy Pedersen of Fort Lauderdale missed the second-round cut by five pins. Also missing the cut to the top 32 were Dale Eagle of Tavares, Ocala's Walter Ray Williams and Roger Bowker, Titusville's Jason Hurd and Tampa's Don Yoshihara. Orlando's Chris Hayden, formerly of Tampa, defeated Amleto Monacelli and Robert Smith before losing to Allen in the round of eight.
HEALEY SCORES: Patrick Healey struck in five of the first six frames to beat Ryan Shafer 235-214 in the PBA Geico Open championship match at West Babylon, N.Y., on Nov. 30.
Shafer defeated Chris Johnson 245-244 in the first semifinal. Healey stopped Jeff Lizzi 259-184 in the other semifinal.
Healey earned his second title and $40,000, Shafer $20,000 and Lizzi and Johnson each $10,000. Tommy Delutz took home $9,000.
Hoskins held second place through the first two qualifying rounds and credited recent success to being able to play his game.
"This is the first time all year that I can throw the ball the way I want to," said Hoskins, who averaged 232 over 18 games. "The past few weeks I've had to make adjustments and didn't really feel comfortable, but I think I've set myself up really well for match play."
Hoskins defeated Brian Waliczek then lost to Brad Angelo in the round of 16. Pedersen lost to Pete Weber in the round of 16 and Yoshihara missed the second-round cut.
Clermont's Norm Duke, who missed two weeks this year with an upper arm injury, withdrew for the second time this season after completing five games in the opening round.
PBA NOTES: Hall of Famer Steve Cook has entered the Medford Open Jan. 14-18 and the Reno Open Jan. 25-29. They will mark his first tour events since the 1993 Tournament of Champions. That was the same weekend he was inducted into the Hall. ... Hall of Famer Dave Soutar of Bradenton and Dale Eagle are senior tour entrants and Yoshihara is a regional entrant in the Tournament of Champions this weekend. Florida entries include Steve Wilson, Couch, Duke, Williams, Hayden and Pedersen. ... Going into the Cambridge Credit Classic, Chris Barnes led money winners with $77,050 this season. Shafer was second at $67,250 and Allen third at $63,550. ... Johnson leads tour rookies in points (50,870) and earnings ($28,750) and Tim Mack leads in average (217.65).
