ARIZONA INVITATIONAL

champs and finalists

        San Diego invaded Phoenix with championship performances, as Brandon Rother and Jon Abigania each earned $1,000 scholarships as winners of the 27th annual JBT Arizona Conference Invitational, held at Let It Roll.

        After five qualifying games, sixteen bowlers in each division advanced to exciting triple-elimination matchplay.  Kendall Bollea impressed by leading the stacked scratch division, but struggled in matchplay enroute to a 12th place finish.  Rother raced through that opening, getting through six rounds undefeated before Keith Ylvisaker stopped him to stay alive.  In round eight, Keith eliminated Josh Molloy, which proved pivotal as Cesar Padilla lasted one round longer, and that combined with the two highest games of the tournament, was enough for Padilla to leap Josh on the season-long points and earn Bowler of the Year honors.  In the end, Ylvisaker tenaciously hung on to the final two, but beating Rother twice was too much for anyone on this day, as the Californian won the first game to earn his 7th career title and the $1,000 top prize.

        With sister Katelyn off at Team USA events, and brother Josh having an unusually quiet day, littlest brother Jon was left to carry the Abigania family honor, and boy did he, earning the top handicap seed and burning through five rounds undefeated before JT Verde stopped his run.  They would meet again often as the other two-loss bowlers knocked each other out, with RJ Pointon in fifth (plenty to earn Bowler of the Year honors), Gage Baker in fourth, and finally, JT in third as Jon finally eliminated him in round ten.  That left 8 seed Christian Ortega sneaking through with two losses to try and beat Jon twice.  Abigania started the last game strong and when Christian couldn't catch up, Jon claimed the fifth title of his young JBT career and the $1,000 windfall.

        Since Kendall was the top seed in scratch, she also earned the top spot in Girls Scratch and U17, but her opponents there were up to challenge, as Daryus Alo claimed the U17 win, and Jadeyn Mabry won her first in Girls Scratch.  Huge thanks as always to Let It Roll for the top-notch hosting job, all of our sponsors for making the Tour as we know it possible, and everyone for making the season exciting from first shot to last.  This is the fifth and final Invitational tour-wide, so the field is now set for the Touring Players Championship, with over $20,000 in scholarships and our all-conference awards up for grabs!   

Date: Saturday June 24, 2023  (This is ONE tournament that is one day long, open only to those who qualified for it based on their performance this season (see below). 

Start Time: Bowling begins at 10 AM.

Re-entries?:  There's only one qualifying squad, so there are no re-entries this event..

Reservations:  Please email director@bowljbt.com to reserve a spot.  The tournament will not sell out- if you qualified, we will have room for you, but please still email us so we can plan an efficient event.   You can prepay (not required) at the 'Prepaying' section of this website. 

Eligibility: The AZ Invitational is open to anyone who EITHER had a top-4 finish in an AZ Conference event this season, OR the top 32 in the AZ Conference points standings after the last regular season AZ Conference event (5/6-7 in Tucson).  Also, simultaneous with the main Invitational are the Girls Scratch and U17 Invitationals;  (it is possible you may qualify for only the Girls and/or U17 Invites but not the main Invite; in that case you still bowl the qualifying round but cannot make the main Invite cut).   Visit the 'statistics' section of the website to check on your points.

Format: Qualifying round is 5 games.  The top 5 season-long point scorers earn a bye into the finals (but are still playing for their seeding within the finals). The next 11 bowlers also qualify for the finals, so 16 total bowlers.  Finals are triple elimination matchplay- keep bowling until you lose three times, which will eventually leave only one bowler- the champion- standing.

Divisions/ Averages:  Scratch or handicap.  It is the bowlers' choice of division, regardless of which division you bowled in to qualify for this event.

Points:  This event counts for TRIPLE Arizona and All-Conference points.  After the Invitational, the top 20 in the final AZ Conference points standings advance to the Touring Players Championship, July 27-30 in Las Vegas, with $2,500 first place scholarships.   Visit the 'statistics' section of the website to check on your points.

Entry fee: $60.  Scholarship brackets are available for $2 each.  Raffle tickets for Ebonite bowling balls, and our PowerBowl and '27' jackpots, are available on-site. 

Sponsor Incentive bonuses:  1) IAM Bowling: Bowlers making the final match of an event (scratch or handicap) wearing an IAM patch (good), any IAM shirt (better), or an IAM JBT shirt (best) earn point bonuses towards a $5,000 IAM incentive jackpot.  (The IAM patch is requested to be worn by all bowlers).   2) Virtue Bowling: Bowlers making the final match of an event (scratch or handicap, win or lose), using a Virtue Bowling shirt or patch, and a Virtue drilled ball, earn a $25 Virtue gift card.  

Scholarships: 1:6 in each division earn scholarships, scratch and handicap.  Minimum prizes are $1,000, $500, $250, $125, $100.  The top 5 in points heading into the event earn a minimum $60 scholarship regardless of finish in the event.

Lane conditions: conditions vary from event to event, and are not posted prior to the event (unless otherwise announced).  Some events do not post the pattern until after qualifying.  Be ready for anything- it makes you a better bowler!  Check out previous patterns and corresponding cut scores at the 'lane conditions' section of this website.

Dress code:  Anything goes EXCEPT tank tops, gym shorts, clothing promoting alcohol, drugs, or firearms, or excessively ripped or short clothing, subject solely to the director's discretion.  However, bowlers wearing slacks or dress shorts/skirts, and a 'name shirt' or PBA-style 'dye-sub' shirt, or college or high school team shirt, earn an extra 10 points on their season-long points total.  If you're not sure about dress code, check with us.  If you're new to us, the vast majority of the bowlers do dress in the 'bonus' dress code, and those points become very important, so plan accordingly.

We hope you qualify for this prestigious event- do not miss it if you do!