Oscar managed to spare and a strike in his last frame to end with 237 forcing Belmonte to strike out. The Aussie responsed to the challenge to bring home a double in the tenth and eleventh frames to edge out a narrow victory over Oscar with 244.
"The biggest satisfaction was finding a strike in the tenth and elevnth frames to secure the win," said the 26-year-old PBA Tour winner and 2008-09 PBA Rookie of the Year, Belmonte. "I changed my bowling ball in the sixth frame and I missed the pocket and I thought I had made the wrong decision.
"But fortunately, the strikes started to come back thereafter. I've always enjoyed bowling in the tour especially in the knockout format which brings the best out of you. Now I've to think about going for the final stop in Hong Kong in order to earn more points to secure a place in the Grand Slam.
The champion posted the highest game of the tour with a 280-195 victory over Macau leg champion, Joshua Chow of Hong Kong in the first round. He also shot another high game when he defeated Rudy Goenawan of Indonesia, 265-173 in the second semi-finals to book his place in the finals.
Oscar took out last year's tour first runnerup, Phiriyahbhoon P. of Thailand, 188-177 to advance in the finals to face Belmonte. Oscar also ousted fellow-compatriots, Hengky Susanto, 256-180 in Round 2 and top seed Ryan Lalisang, 205-174 in Round 1. |