Jason Belmonte
Jason Belmonte is an Australian professional ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for using the two-handed approach style to deliver his shot. He has won 32 PBA titles, including a record 15 major championships; he is only one of eight bowlers in PBA tour history to achieve 30 wins, making him the only 30-time winner in PBA Tour history who is not currently a member of the PBA Hall of Fame.
Belmonte is one of two bowlers in PBA history to have won the Super Slam, winning all five PBA major titles. He is the all-time leader in both USBC Masters and PBA Tournament of Champions titles, winning each event four times. He is also the only three-time winner of the PBA Players Championship.
Belmonte has been named PBA Player of the Year seven times, tying the record previously set by Walter Ray Williams Jr., and he is one of five bowlers to win that award in three consecutive seasons. He won all seven PoY awards in a ten-season stretch, during which he became the most dominant player on tour.
Belmonte accumulated $1 million in career PBA earnings faster than any player in history, surpassed the $1.5 million mark PBA earnings during the 2019 season, and eclipsed $2 million in PBA earnings during the 2022 season. Belmonte has at least 27 career 300 games in PBA Tour events through 2023, including the PBA's 21st nationally televised 300 in 2012, as well as the 34th nationally televised 300 over ten years later in 2022. He rolled another televised 300 game in the 2023 PBA Tour Finals to become the only player in PBA history with three televised perfect games. He is considered one of the greatest bowlers of all time.
Belmonte is perhaps the most well-marketed bowler of all time, owing in part to his popularisation of two-handed bowling. He is a member of the Storm, 3G Shoes and Vise Grips pro staffs. Storm has collaborated with Belmonte to develop the "Signature" line of bowling balls, which bear the Belmo nickname and silhouette logo.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours for significant service to tenpin bowling at the elite level.
Early life
Jason Belmonte was born on 29 July 1983 in Orange, New South Wales, Australia. His father Aldo opened the Orange Ten Pin Bowl when Jason was a toddler. As a result, Jason started rolling a ball at 18 months old. Interviewed in 2009, he commented: "The only problem for me though was as an 18-month-old baby boy lifting a nine- to 10-pound bowling ball... it was a little hard, so like all babies I pushed the ball with two hands." In doing so he developed a two-handed style which he uses today, placing only two fingers and no thumb in the ball to produce more revolutions. He reports having tried one-handed bowling when he was 7, but concluded that it "sucked".Professional growth
When Belmonte first joined the PBA, he focused on power. After studying other professionals who "had the ability to make the ball dance", he simplified his delivery: decreasing his rev rate, ball speed, and approach speed; eliminating a "kangaroo hop"; and releasing from a more stable position. As a result, his accuracy in hitting the pocket improved while he continued to strike with 20% lower rev rate.In 2022, his parents' bowling centre installed a ball tracking system that records ball path, speed, and rev rate, Belmonte saying "it's scarily accurate". As of 2023, Belmonte travels with about 15 bowling balls of various construction.
Noting Belmonte's recognition within the bowling industry and controversy over his two-handed style which some have called cheating, GQ magazine said in 2023 that Belmonte had become both an elder statesman at 39 and a polarising figure. He remarked on his sometime loneliness—also spending six months of the year away from family—but said "there’s an abundance of love there" as well.
Titles
Belmonte has won one European Bowling Tour title, the Brunswick Euro Challenge, held in Greece. He also won the World Tenpin Masters championship in 2007. In September 2010, he defeated American Sean Rash in the finals to earn the 2010 Korea Cup title.On the PBA Tour, Belmonte owns 32 titles, including his first title at the Bowling Foundation Long Island Classic, and three titles in the 2011–12 season. After making the televised finals in five of six PBA majors without winning, he defeated Wes Malott to capture his first PBA major title: the 2012–13 USBC Masters. He captured his third major at the 2014 Barbasol Tournament of Champions, again defeating Malott in the title match. On 8 February 2015, Belmonte became the first bowler to win three consecutive USBC Masters tournaments after defeating No. 1 seeded AJ Johnson. On 15 February 2015, he defeated No. 1 seed Rhino Page to capture his second consecutive Barbasol Tournament of Champions title, and his second major title in two weeks. After winning three major titles in 2017, including an unprecedented fourth USBC Masters, Belmonte stood in second place on the all-time PBA majors list with nine, behind only Earl Anthony and Pete Weber, who both have ten. He won the first major of 2019, the PBA Tournament of Champions, to tie the record with ten majors. One month later, Belmonte won the 2019 PBA World Championship, making him the all-time major titles leader. In February 2020, Belmonte won the U.S. Open to claim the "super slam", the second in PBA history after Mike Aulby.
Based on a points system that took into account standard titles, major titles, top-five finishes and Player of the Year awards, Belmonte easily ranked #1 on the PBA's 2025 "Best 25 PBA Players of the Last 25 Seasons" list. His 450.5 points were over 100 more than second-ranked E. J. Tackett.
Bowling career
Amateur and international accomplishments
Aged seventeen, Belmonte became the first Junior Australian to bowl a 300 game overseas. He also took five gold medals at the 2000 Junior National Championships, was selected for the Youth Australia team, and also held a place in this team in 2002 and 2004. Belmonte was awarded the 2001 Orange Junior Sportsperson of the Year and won the 2002 Senior Award. He also was awarded the Orange Sportsperson of the Year award in both 2002 and 2003. Belmonte won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Championships in Scotland. Belmonte competed in Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs tournaments such as the World Tenpin Bowling Association and Asian FIQ championships. He won a silver medal at the WTBA World Youth Championships in Thailand. Later in the year, he was selected in the Australian Open men's team, where he remains to the present time.In 2004, Belmonte took three gold, one silver and one bronze the Asian Youth FIQ in Hong Kong and followed this up in the World Youth FIQ titles in Guam with a gold in the singles and a gold in all events. He won the prestigious 2004 Bowler of the Year award, voted by the Board of Directors of the World Bowlers Writers' Association.
Belmonte was invited to participate in the 2005 World Tenpin Masters in England where he was defeated in the semi-finals. In this event, he made history by bowling the first-ever 300 game in the event. The game was filmed by Matchroom Sport. In 2007, Belmonte was once again invited to take part in the World Tenpin Masters, held at the Barnsley Metrodome. After defeating the defending champion Chris Barnes of the United States in the semi-finals, Belmonte went on to defeat England's Paul Moor in the finals where he rolled the event's second-ever 300 game. Belmonte rolled 23 out of a possible 24 strikes to win the event with a 566 score for two games, against Moor's 524.
Belmonte represented Australia in the 2006 World Youth Championships in Berlin. He was part of the team to take the gold medal in the Team Event and went on to make the Masters after finishing in sixth place in the All Events. He was defeated in the second step of the Masters by the eventual winner, Mads Sandbaekken from Norway. He also competed in the adult version on the same year at Men's World Championship at the Asiad Bowling Center in Busan, Korea and went on to make the Masters match-play after finishing 4th. He lost to eventual winner Biboy Rivera from Philippines to take the bronze medal.
Belmonte participated in the 2007 World Ranking Masters and after qualifying in second position, was defeated in the quarter finals by eventual runner-up Peter Ljung from Sweden, 2–0, finishing in sixth place.
In 2011, in the World Bowling Tour, Belmonte defeated good friend and PBA Player Mike Fagan, a two-game match scoring 511–505, to win the PTT World Bowling Tour Thailand 2011.
In 2022, Belmonte defeated Kyle Troup, 259-236, to win the 2022 Devil's Lair Tasmania.
AMF World Cup
Jason Belmonte competed in the 2004 AMF World Cup in Singapore and led all five days of qualifying events. He finished in fifth place after being knocked out in the quarter final.Belmonte competed again in the 2007 AMF World Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia where he was also lead qualifier. He finished runner-up after he was defeated in the final by Bill Hoffman. As a result, Belmonte won the country rankings for Australia with Ann-Maree Putney, who won the trophy in the women's world cup.
In his third appearance in the 2011 AMF World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa he was crowned as AMF Bowling World Cup champion.
His first match was against Mykhaylo Kalika. Belmonte won the first game 237–203 and Kalika won the second game 248–266. Belmonte would win the deciding game 266–185.
Jason Belmonte then came up against first seed Tommy Jones. Jones would win the first game 259–279 with Belmonte winning the second, 247–216. After Jones opened in the eighth frame, Belmonte defeated him in the third game 259–236 and became the first Australian man to take the title.
His three-game total of 765 was a new finals record, beating the previous mark of 764 by Petter Hansen, set in Singapore in 2004.
Belmonte stated "I was a long way in the lead in 2004 in Singapore, and got knocked in the quarters," he said, "and again I led the field in St Petersburg in 2007 and then I lost in the final. So I was happy to go in as number two seed this time".