Men's bowling competition between Europe and the United States
The Weber Cup Logo
The Weber Cup, named after professional ten-pin bowler Dick Weber, is a men's ten-pin bowling competition between Team Europe and Team USA.[1] It is often referred to as "bowling's equivalent of golf's Ryder Cup".[2] Each year, a team of five from the United States and a team of five from Europe bowl over three days.[3] The tournament includes a series of single, double, and team (baker) matches.
From 2007 onward, the competition plays 33 matches, and the first team to receive 17 points wins the tournament.
History and background
The Weber Cup is the annual ten-pin bowling championship between the United States and Europe. The Weber Cup is live on Sky Sports in the UK, and on many other international channels around the world. The Weber Cup championship begins every year in October.
For the first seven events, from 2000 to 2006, 35 matches were played. Each match is worth one point, and the first team to obtain 18 points wins the tournament.
All matches are played in a single lane arena, constructed for the event, with banked spectators on both sides.
2003
In 2003, missing their captain Tim Mack, and up against some vociferous Northern support, Team USA was never in contention as the Europeans went into the lead early on day one and never relinquished it.
After three barren years of total United States domination, Team Europe finally overcame the odds in November 2003, to lift the hallowed Weber Cup for the first time. It was a total triumph for captain Tomas Leandersson, who led from the front for all three days, putting in a sterling performance that saw his side over the line.
2004
Following Europe's recent success in golf's Ryder Cup earlier in the year, it was the ten-pin bowlers’ turn as they defeated their American counterparts in what was ultimately a one-sided battle at the Altrincham Leisure Centre.
The final score line of 18–11 was a fair reflection as Team Europe pulled away on the final day after the Americans kept them pinned back to a one-point lead at 11–10 after two days of play.
2005
In 2005, the Europeans staged a dramatic comeback after falling 14–16 behind. In front of a packed audience and live TV cameras, they won the first 4 singles games in the final session of play and took the title for the third successive year, 18–16. As in the previous year, Team Europe captain, Tomas Leandersson won the decisive point with a win over Team USA's Tony Manna Jr.
2006
In the closest tournament to date; Team USA won on the final evening of the contest, by 18–17.
After day two Team USA led with what looked like an unassailable 12–6 lead. Europe took the final day's first session 5–0 to get back into contention at 11–12, before leading 14-13 going into the final evening session.
Both teams were tied 17-17 going into the final decisive baker system game, at one point Team Europe led by over 30 pins, with Mack and Hoffman failing to strike. The game became close (11 pins) and then in the ninth frame Tore Torgersen left a difficult split and missed, giving Tommy Jones the opportunity to step up and seal the victory for the Americans, and he duly obliged.
2007
The 2007 Weber Cup, was again a close affair, with Team USA running out eventual winners 17–15, coming back from 14 to 10 before the start of the final session.
On day one, in the fifth match, Tommy Jones rolled the second ever perfect game in the tournament's history, against Team Europe captain Tomas Leandersson, and at close of play, the scores were tied at 4 matches apiece.
Day two was a day for the Americans, who won the Session 4–2 to take a 7–5 lead. Consolation for Team Europe came with the final Baker match, which they duly won. In the evening session, Team Europe fought back, to bring the scores back level at 9-9, again winning the final Baker match.
Team Europe started day three in blistering form, winning 5 of the 6 matches to take what looked like an unassailable 14–10 lead going into the final evening session, however Team USA had other ideas, and won seven of the eight games in the final session, with only Paul Moor for Team Europe winning his singles match against Team USA's captain Tim Mack.
This win extended Team USA's overall lead to 5–3 in the series.
2008
The 2008 Weber Cup took place once again at the Barnsley Metrodome, from 3 to 5 October 2008.
Both teams had familiar line-ups, which featured several Weber Cup veterans, including Tore Torgersen (Norway) for Team Europe, and Tim Mack for Team USA, who again captained his side.
Torgersen was joined by Paul Moor (England), who was playing in his fourth Weber Cup. Finland's Mika Koivuniemi and Osku Palermaa also returned, and making his debut in the competition was Dominic Barrett from England. Palermaa was given the captaincy for Team Europe for the first time, taking over from Sweden's Tomas Leandersson.
Team USA featured four stars of the PBA tour, with Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones and Jason Couch returning for more Weber Cup action. They were joined by Pete Weber, who made his first appearance in the tournament named after his late father, legendary PBA star Dick Weber.
Before the tournament, the overall score stood at 5–3 in favour of Team USA, so the Europeans were hoping for a win to prevent the gap extending further, however Team USA continued the trend of 3 consecutive wins, to make it 3 wins on the trot once more, just as they did in the first 3 tournaments. Team USA ultimately won 17–13, the largest margin of victory for 5 years. The winning point was won on the final baker team game.
The first session on Friday evening was shared, with both teams winning three points each, and on Saturday afternoon, Team Europe took the lead 7–5, before collapsing 5–1 in the evening session to trail 10–8 after the end of day two. Things did not improve for the Europeans on Sunday, and they continued to trail 14–10 after the afternoon session. The final session started brightly for Team Europe, as they won the first two points, however a strong team effort from the Americans thwarted any comeback as they won three of the last four points, including the final baker team game, to claim victory once more.
2009
A close-fought contest between the two teams, with the debut of Martin Laarsen into the European team, team Europe started to pull away from the USA towards the end. Tommy Jones completed his hat-trick of 300 games with three in three years at the Weber Cup
2010
The contest was full of drama with a baker game consisting of a European victory 156 - 154, one of the lowest scores in Weber Cup history. The teams were formed up of four players on each team meaning the dropping of Martin Larsen from Europe and Jason Couch from the USA. The tournament was won by the Europeans, captained once again by Osku Palermaa.
2004 Weber Cup - Team Europe win, Altrincham Leisure Centre, Greater Manchester, England.
2003 Weber Cup - Team Europe win, Altrincham Leisure Centre, Greater Manchester, England.
2002 Weber Cup - Team USA win, Ponds Forge International Center, Sheffield, England.
2001 Weber Cup - Team USA win, Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, England
2000 Weber Cup - Team USA win, Inaugural event in Warsaw, Poland.
Related Research Articles
A bowler is someone participating in the sport of bowling, either as an amateur or professional. In American ten-pin bowling, a bowler is most commonly a member of a team of three to six people. Most bowling leagues limit the number of team members to five, with alternates available as needed.
The QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, previously known as the International Masters and AMF Bowling World Cup, is an annual Ten-pin bowling championship sponsored by QubicaAMF Worldwide, and the largest in bowling in terms of number of participating nations. Each nation chooses one male and/or one female bowler to represent them in the tournament, and in the majority of cases, this is done by running a qualifying tournament, the winners of which are chosen.
The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qualifications to be invited.
Tore Torgersen was one of the world's leading ten-pin bowlers. He is born in Stavanger, Norway but lives in Sweden.
Dominic “Dom” Simon Barrett is one of England's leading ten-pin bowlers. He competes in world events and on the PBA Tour, where he has won ten titles. This total includes three PBA major titles: the PBA World Championship (2013), the U.S. Open (2018) and the Tournament of Champions (2022), which makes him one of nine triple crown winners in PBA history and the first European player to accomplish the feat. He has been the ranking winner on the European Bowling Tour (EBT) in three seasons and is also the only player to have been named as ‘World Bowling Writers’ bowler of the year three consecutive times. He is nicknamed "The Dominator".
Chris Barnes is an American professional bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), who currently competes on both the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. He has also competed internationally as a member of Team USA.
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 31 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.
Tomas Leandersson was a Swedish ten-pin bowler.
The 36th Ryder Cup Matches were held 22–24 September 2006 in Ireland at the Palmer Course of the K Club in Straffan, County Kildare, west of Dublin. It was the first time the event was played in Ireland.
Mika Juhani Koivuniemi is a Finnish professional ten-pin bowler and bowling coach. He competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour in the United States, and won bowling titles in 21 different countries during his career. He is a two-time PBA Player of the Year, one of only three players born outside the USA to win that award. Koivuniemi is the second international player and first European ever elected to the PBA Hall of Fame; he was inducted in 2019. He is also a member of the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame and Finland Bowling Hall of Fame.
The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were held September 19–21, 2008, in the United States at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Team USA won 161⁄2 – 111⁄2 to end the streak of three successive victories for Europe. This was USA's largest margin of victory since 1981 and the first time since 1979 that the Americans had held the lead after every session of play. The team captains were Paul Azinger for the US and Nick Faldo for Europe.
Osku Palermaa is a Finnish Ten-pin bowler now living in Partille, Sweden. He is a competitor on the European Bowling Tour, World Bowling Tour, and PBA Tour.
The 2007 Weber Cup, took place from October 19 to 21 at the Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England.
This is a recap of the 2010–11 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the Tour's 52nd season and consisted of 12 title events.
This is a recap of the 2011–12 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It is the tour's 53rd season, and the third straight season in which all of the first half events were condensed into the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB). The season consisted of 15 title events. This is also the final season in which the PBA is using an "exempt" player list. The "exempt" status for touring players will not be carried into the 2012–13 season.
The 42nd Ryder Cup Matches were held in France from 28 to 30 September 2018 on the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Guyancourt, a suburb southwest of Paris. It was the second Ryder Cup to be held in Continental Europe, after the 1997 contest, which was held in Spain. The United States were the defending champions, but had lost the last five matches in Europe, having last won there in 1993. Europe regained the Ryder Cup, winning by 171⁄2 points to 101⁄2.
Tom Daugherty is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Riverview, Florida. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), having joined in 2001. He is one of the few PBA bowlers to successfully use the one-handed no-thumb delivery. Although Daugherty has won four PBA Tour titles and 22 PBA Regional titles, he is perhaps best known for rolling a nationally-televised 100 game at the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions, the lowest score ever bowled in a televised PBA event.
The 43rd Ryder Cup Matches were held in the United States from September 24–26, 2021, on the Straits course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin. Europe was the holder of the Ryder Cup after its win over the United States in 2018 at Le Golf National.
The 2021 Mosconi Cup was the 28th edition of an annual nine-ball pool tournament between teams representing Europe and the United States. It took place between 7 and 10 December 2021 at the Alexandra Palace in London, marking the second consecutive year that the tournament had been staged in England, and the first time since 2002 that the event did not alternate annually between the US and Europe. Sponsored by British online car retailer Cazoo, it was broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and on networks worldwide.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
