44-year-old bowled a 267 in the final round to claim $20,000 first-place prize

 

New York, NY – 44-year-old Romeo Gagenoiu of Romania won the first-ever PBA Global Showdown Powered by Lanetalk on Sunday defeating Tyler Whittle of Virginia Beach, Va. 267-213 in the Grand Finale. Gagenoiu outlasted five other finalists in a three-game eliminator format to win the first-place prize of $20,000.

Gagenoiu, who bowls out of IDM Bowling in Romania, described the win as “unbelievable” and a dream come true to win the tournament not only for himself but also for his country.

In the Grand Finale eliminator format, all six finalists bowled a single game from their home center with Gagenoiu posting the second-highest score in the first round. Norway’s Marius Kvitnes and Trygve Johansen rolled the two lowest scores, 225 and 223, respectively, and were knocked out first.

Four finalists advanced to the Semi-finals to bowl another game. Gagenoiu rolled a 289, the highest score of the competition, finishing first in the round. Ahmad Aidil of Malaysia and Ramon Hilferin of the Netherlands rolled the two lowest scores, 218 and 176, and were eliminated.

With two players remaining, the championship match was set between Gagenoiu, representing Romania, and Whittle, representing the United States while bowling at AMF Lynnhaven Lanes. Gagenoiu came out strong with three consecutive strikes and back-to-back spares in the fourth and fifth frames. While Whittle stayed closed in the first half of the match, Gagenoiu rolled six more strikes to easily claim victory.

Even with an early lead, Gagenoiu’s mindset never faltered, and credited his win to maintain his focus on making quality shots and hitting the pocket.

Now the PBA Global Showdown Champion and winner of $20,000, Gagenoiu, a taxi driver, will use the prize money to buy a new car.

The PBA Global Showdown brought in over 13,500 bowlers across 27 countries to compete for a prize fund of $50,000 sponsored by the PBA. The tournament, hosted on the Lanetalk app, featured four stages of the competition – Qualifying, Quarterfinals, Semi-finals, and the Grand Finale.

Competitors earned prizes along the way from sponsors KR Strikeforce and Motiv, with the top 15 bowlers earning cash prizes starting at $400.

Fans that missed the Grand Finale, can watch the competition on Facebook.

For more information on the PBA Global Showdown, please visit pba.com/showdown and like the official Facebook page - @PBAGlobalShowdown.

PBA Global Showdown Final Standings

  1. Romeo Gagenoiu, Romania
    • Earns $20,000
    • Home center: IDM Bowling
  2. Tyler Whittle, Virginia Beach, Va.
    • Earns $12,000
    • Home center: AMF Lynnhaven Lanes
  3. Ahmad Aidil, Malaysia
    • Earns $6,000
    • Home Center: Mega Mall Bowling Centre
  4. Ramon Hilferink, Netherlands
    • Earns $3,000
    • Home center: Bowling En Partycentrum `s-Heerenberg Netherlands
  5. Marius Kvitnes, Norway
    • Earns $2,000
    • Home center: TP Bowlingsenter
  6. Trygve Johansen, Norway
    • Earns $1,200
    • Home center: Evje Bowling

PBA Global Showdown Grand Finale Scores

Round 1
Aidil – 257
Gagenoiu – 247
Whittle – 239
Hilferink – 238
Kvitnes – 225 (eliminated)
Johansen – 223 (eliminated)

Semi-Finals
Gagenoiu – 289
Whittle – 226
Aidil – 218 (eliminated)
Hilferink – 176 (eliminated)

Championship
Gagenoiu – 267
Whittle – 213 (eliminated)

About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.

About Lanetalk
Lanetalk provides the leading global bowling platform for live scoring, statistics, training and online competitions. Founded 2011, Lanetalk has connected more than 700 bowling centers in 40 countries. The Lanetalk app is utilized by thousands of amateur and professional bowlers to track their scores to get insights and to bowl with anyone, anywhere. The giant statistics database includes more than 130 million games from around the world. The mobile app can be downloaded from Apple App Store or Google Play. For more information, please visit Lanetalk.com.

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