Dan Knowlton Wins First Career PBA50 Title At PBA50 Ballard Championship
Jackson, Michigan – In his third season on the PBA50 Tour, Dan Knowlton achieved something he didn’t even expect. He won his first PBA50 title at the PBA50 Ballard Championship.
“It’s a dream I didn’t know I had,” the Florida native said. “I turned professional when I was 50. I am 52, and I never thought I would have a chance at a title.”
After qualifying third, Knowlton defeated Paul Fleming, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and John Janawicz to put himself in the best-of-three championship finals on Wednesday against lefty Troy Lint, who won his first title at the PBA Senior U.S. Open.
In the first game, Knowlton started with four strikes and kept the momentum throughout to earn the win, 228-201. In the second game, as both players continued to use urethane, Knowlton chopped a 2-4-5-8 in the third frame followed by a pocket 7-9 split for back-to-back open frames, but he wasn’t rattled.
“I felt really confident I was going to win that game even when I was down 30 early,” he said. “I just felt like I could get on a run, and I knew his look wasn’t very good. So, I tried to brush it off and get back to business.”
Lint was able to post strikes in the fourth thru seventh frames. Knowlton responded with five straight strikes after his open frames. With the lead in the eighth, Lint’s shot was wide resulting in the 3-7-9 split and an opening. Lint finished with 224 and Knowlton stepped up and delivered in fashion.
“I’ve gotten a bunch of top fives, but I just keep shooting myself in the foot. This time I didn’t,” he said. “I am just so glad I had the opportunity to double to win and did it.”
With his hands straight up in the air he celebrated the title along with his wife, Michelle, his parents, and his son who was on FaceTime.
“My parents have been my biggest supporters outside of my wife,” he said fighting back tears. “It’s awesome to have family here. It means everything.”
Knowlton is the fourth first-time PBA50 winner so far this season. His close friend Michael Haggitt got his first title at last week’s PBA50 South Shore Open.
“It’s really surreal,” Knowlton said. “We are pretty close to each other in standings and in total points. Just seems like we are neck-and-neck on just about everything, so I think it is pretty fitting we got titles back-to-back.”
Knowing the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions will be taking place only 30 minutes from his home in Florida, Knowlton has been competing in lots of tournaments this summer trying to get a title to qualify. Now that he will be getting a banner with his name on it, he also will get to sleep in his own bed when the final event of the season takes place at Orange Bowl Lanes in Lakeland, Florida.
The PBA50 World Series of Bowling will award another title Thursday. The PBA50 Monacelli Championship bracket match play will start at Noon ET with the Round of 16 and best-of-five matches followed by the Round of 8 and best-of-three-game matches. The two semifinals are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. with the championship to follow at 6 p.m.
You can watch all of the action on BowlTV.com.
BALLARD CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES
Game 1: Knowlton def. Lint, 228-201
Game 2: Knowlton def. Lint, 233-224
FINAL STANDINGS
- Dan Knowlton, $5,000
- Troy Lint, $3,000
- Tom Hess, $2,500
- John Janawicz, $2,500
Full standings – PBA50 Ballard Championship
Follow the PBA50 Monacelli Championship
More information on the PBA50 WSOB is available here.