John Burkett Wins PBA60 Roth Championship
Columbus, Ohio – John Burkett proved that when you combine passion, dedication and hard work, good things happen. The tall right-hander was consistent in the PBA60 Roth Championship on the 43-foot Roth oil pattern that presented a lot of challenges for other bowlers. After earning the top overall seed in qualifying, he found himself in the No. 5 position after match play, heading into the stepladder finals on Saturday.
Burkett knew controlling his ball speed would again be the key to his success. It was something he spent a lot of time working on during the winter with good friend and fellow PBA50 bowler Paul Fleming. Burkett maintained his speed while relying on just one ball for all four games as he successfully climbed the ladder to win his first PBA60 title, and second career senior title. He averaged 234 and defeated Parker Bohn III in the championship match, 246-168.
“It is absolutely satisfying. My dream was to bowl with these guys when I was young. Baseball took me away from that, but it was a good thing. Now to be able to come out here and compete with all of these guys is such a gift,” said Burkett, who spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball as a pitcher. “It’s amazing to bowl against these guys and to beat someone like Parker for a title is crazy. To think 30 years ago I was watching him on TV and admiring him. Now to bowl against him and actually bowl well enough to beat him is satisfying.”
He credits his wife for always supporting his baseball and now bowling career. He doesn’t bowl full-time because he enjoys being home with her in Texas, too. And when he is home, he also uses his two home bowling lanes to make sure he is prepared when it is time to compete. That definitely has worked out for him, and he loves the adrenaline rush of the competition.
“Every game is pressure packed out here. It’s a long road with a lot of great bowlers to go through. That is why I said (after my first PBA50 title in 2022) it was the number one accomplishment in my athletic career because it is just so difficult to win. To do it once was great. You don’t know if it was an accident or not and I was able to prove that it wasn’t,” he said. “I always feel I belong, and I am competitive, but winning is a different deal. I never thought they were that hard all week, but the scores were low. Whenever you have a look that nobody else has, that is when you have got to win. You have to execute no matter how good of a look you have, but you want to get it done on those weeks when you have a really good chance.”
He was thrilled to see his hard work pay dividends in front of his longtime friend, Tommy Sposaro, who was helping him out this week.
“He was basically my mentor growing up on the bowling side of things. It is fantastic to have him here and to be able to win with him here was awesome,” Burkett said. “He is leaving tomorrow, so I got it done just in time.”
Burkett planned to celebrate the win with a couple of glasses of Cabernet. He knew he would sleep well because he was exhausted after a long day of bowling.
In his opening match against Amleto Monacelli, Burkett had six strikes in the first seven frames, while Monacelli had two open frames. Despite back-to-back open frames of his own in the eighth and ninth frames, Burkett got the win, 219-181.
Next up for Burkett was a rematch against Bo Goergen, who defeated him in match play. Both players looked comfortable on the lanes in Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl. Burkett started with a spare followed by four strikes as Goergen went strike, spare then five in a row to take the lead. It came down to the final frames. Burkett picked up a 10-pin in the ninth, struck then watched as his delivery went wide right leaving the 2-7-8-10 split. He got three for 237. Needing 19 pins in the 10th for the win, Goergen’s first shot went high leaving the 4-7, which he picked up. On his next shot, his ball stayed to the right leaving a 6-count for 235.
“Bo was playing more direct, and when you are throwing it straight up the lane like that the ball breaks lose a bit, like it did and went high. I knew 8 was not a gimme,” Burkett said. “I knew he would think about giving it more room and speed, as the lanes were not easy. It did not take much this week to lose the front of the lane and skid by and that is what happened to him.”
In the semifinal match against No. 3 seed Dennis Rakauskas, Burkett stayed clean and consistent. He started with an opening double followed by two spares. Rakauskas unfortunately struggled to find a decent look with just one strike through five frames. Burkett responded with four straight strikes holding a commanding lead. Rakauskas finished strong with four strikes in the final five frames for 198 to Burkett’s 234.
Bohn III, who won the PBA60 Webb Championship on July 3, started the championship match with strike, spare, strike, spare before a split in the fifth and two spares. Burkett began the match with three straight strikes then three straight spares. He then rolled the next four strikes on the way to the 246-168 finish.
Next up, the top 18 overall bowlers after qualifying in the Webb and Roth Championship will compete in the PBA60 World Championship. The top 5 are Amleto Monacelli, John Burkett, Parker Bohn III, Don Breeden and Brian LeClair. They will bowl two six-game blocks of match play, starting at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET on Sunday. The final six-games of match play will start at 11 a.m. ET on Monday. The top 5 will advance to the stepladder finals at 6 p.m. ET Monday for the chance to win a major title.
You can watch the entire PBA60 WSOB on BowlTV.
Championship Round Scores
Match 1: Burkett def. Monacelli, 219-181
Match 2: Burkett def. Goergen, 237-235
Match 3: Burkett def. Rakauskas, 234-198
Championship match: Burkett def. Bohn III, 246-168
PBA60 Roth Championship Final Standings:
- John Burkett, $5,000
- Parker Bohn III, $2,500
- Dennis Rakauskas, $1,800
- Bo Goergen, $1,400
- Amleto Monacelli, $1,200
Final standings - PBA60 Roth Championship
PBA60 World Championship Match Play Advancers:
- Amleto Monacelli, 3,465 (+265)
- John Burkett, 3,440 (+240)
- Parker Bohn III, 3,439 (+239)
- Don Breeden, 3,429 (+229)
- Brian LeClair, 3,420 (+220)
- Lennie Boresch Jr., 3,408 (+208)
- Chris Warren, 3,406 (+206)
- Pete Weber, 3,397 (+197)
- Jack Jurek, 3,376 (+176)
- Larry Verble, 3,373 (+173)
- Wayne Webb, 3,364 (+164)
- Bryan Goebel, 3,352 (+152)
- C K Moore, 3,330 (+130)
- Tom Carter, 3,324 (+124)
- Robert Reed Sr., 3,288 (+88)
- Skip Pavone, 3,288 (+88)
- Sam Maccarone 3,282 (+82)
- Bo Goergen, 3,276 (+76)