Higgy’s Aquarium leads Team All-Events at 2024 USBC Open Championships
June 28, 2024
LAS VEGAS – Perennial powerhouse Higgy’s Aquarium of Lewis Center, Ohio, rolled to the top of the leaderboard in Team All-Events on Friday at the 2024 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, taking the lead by 139 pins.
The team – featuring Chad Roberts, Vincent Bellar, Tim Pfeifer, Joe Bailey and Daniel Higgins – averaged more than 227 across 45 games Thursday and Friday to post a 10,226 total at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
Top Score Bowling of Whitestown, Indiana, had held the lead since May 17 with 10,087.
Bellar, who rolled a 300 game to start the group’s team set Thursday, paced Higgy’s Aquarium in 2024 with a 2,111 all-events total. He was followed by Bailey (2,056), Pfeifer (2,051), Higgins (2,008) and Roberts (2,000).
The group also made a run at the lead in Regular Team competition Thursday before settling into a tie for fifth place with a 3,282 total. Trip 4 Pro Shop of St. Clair Shores, Michigan, leads with 3,363.
Higgy’s Aquarium started its team set with 1,222 – the second highest team game of the 2024 USBC Open Championships – before finishing with 1,005 and 1,055. Bellar rolled 723, while Pfeifer posted 672, Higgins had 656, Bailey finished with 638 and Roberts had 593.
As competition transitioned to doubles and singles Friday, the team fought some splits in Game 1 but bounced back with 1,218 in the second game to get ahead of the pace needed to take the lead. They finished doubles with 3,449.
They continued to get stronger in singles, highlighted by a 760 series from Bailey. They finished their final set with 3,495.
Higgy’s Aquarium averaged more than 231 as a team during doubles and singles.
Higgins, Roberts and Bailey have been together at the Open Championships since the 2015 event in El Paso, Texas.
In 2016, Higgy’s Aquarium won Team All-Events with a 10,041 total, while also recording a runner-up finish in Regular Team at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
They collected a second victory at the Open Championships during the 2019 event in Las Vegas, winning Regular Team with a 3,362 score. They also finished fourth in Team All-Events at the Bowling Plaza.
During that stretch, Higgy’s Aquarium also placed second in Team All-Events in 2017 and both Regular Team and Team All-Events in 2018.
Bellar made his debut with the team in 2021, and Pfeifer, a former member of Team USA and Junior Team USA, joined in 2022.
In their first time together on the lanes at the Open Championships, they finished fourth in Regular Team.
Watch the video below to hear from all five team members on their performance in Las Vegas.
Bellar’s 300 in team Thursday was the 1,000th perfect game in the 120-year history of the Open Championships.
The 29-year-old right-hander followed with games of 215 and 208 to close his set at the Bowling Plaza.
Bellar connected for the 27th perfect game at the 2024 event. It was the fourth 300 of the year in team competition.
Get Bellar’s reaction to his 300 game and much more in the video below.
The first 300 at the Open Championships was rolled during the 1913 event in Toledo, Ohio, by USBC Hall of Famer William Knox of Philadelphia.
Knox, the 1923 Regular All-Events champion with a then-record score of 2,019, posted his 300 in singles competition.
A total of 43 bowlers have recorded multiple 300s on the championship lanes, with three bowlers – Craig Szplett, David Cirigliano and Lee Vanderhoef – having thrown three perfect games at the tournament.
Of the 43 competitors with multiple 300s, three have connected for two perfect games during the same edition of the Open Championships – Kyle McCrackin (2002), Ron Bahr (2003) and David Ferguson (2006).
Bahr rolled back-to-back 300s to close his singles set with an 837 series at the 2003 event in Knoxville, Tennessee, to win the Regular Singles title.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
The team – featuring Chad Roberts, Vincent Bellar, Tim Pfeifer, Joe Bailey and Daniel Higgins – averaged more than 227 across 45 games Thursday and Friday to post a 10,226 total at the South Point Bowling Plaza.
Top Score Bowling of Whitestown, Indiana, had held the lead since May 17 with 10,087.
Bellar, who rolled a 300 game to start the group’s team set Thursday, paced Higgy’s Aquarium in 2024 with a 2,111 all-events total. He was followed by Bailey (2,056), Pfeifer (2,051), Higgins (2,008) and Roberts (2,000).
The group also made a run at the lead in Regular Team competition Thursday before settling into a tie for fifth place with a 3,282 total. Trip 4 Pro Shop of St. Clair Shores, Michigan, leads with 3,363.
Higgy’s Aquarium started its team set with 1,222 – the second highest team game of the 2024 USBC Open Championships – before finishing with 1,005 and 1,055. Bellar rolled 723, while Pfeifer posted 672, Higgins had 656, Bailey finished with 638 and Roberts had 593.
As competition transitioned to doubles and singles Friday, the team fought some splits in Game 1 but bounced back with 1,218 in the second game to get ahead of the pace needed to take the lead. They finished doubles with 3,449.
They continued to get stronger in singles, highlighted by a 760 series from Bailey. They finished their final set with 3,495.
Higgy’s Aquarium averaged more than 231 as a team during doubles and singles.
Higgins, Roberts and Bailey have been together at the Open Championships since the 2015 event in El Paso, Texas.
In 2016, Higgy’s Aquarium won Team All-Events with a 10,041 total, while also recording a runner-up finish in Regular Team at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.
They collected a second victory at the Open Championships during the 2019 event in Las Vegas, winning Regular Team with a 3,362 score. They also finished fourth in Team All-Events at the Bowling Plaza.
During that stretch, Higgy’s Aquarium also placed second in Team All-Events in 2017 and both Regular Team and Team All-Events in 2018.
Bellar made his debut with the team in 2021, and Pfeifer, a former member of Team USA and Junior Team USA, joined in 2022.
In their first time together on the lanes at the Open Championships, they finished fourth in Regular Team.
Watch the video below to hear from all five team members on their performance in Las Vegas.
Bellar’s 300 in team Thursday was the 1,000th perfect game in the 120-year history of the Open Championships.
The 29-year-old right-hander followed with games of 215 and 208 to close his set at the Bowling Plaza.
Bellar connected for the 27th perfect game at the 2024 event. It was the fourth 300 of the year in team competition.
Get Bellar’s reaction to his 300 game and much more in the video below.
The first 300 at the Open Championships was rolled during the 1913 event in Toledo, Ohio, by USBC Hall of Famer William Knox of Philadelphia.
Knox, the 1923 Regular All-Events champion with a then-record score of 2,019, posted his 300 in singles competition.
A total of 43 bowlers have recorded multiple 300s on the championship lanes, with three bowlers – Craig Szplett, David Cirigliano and Lee Vanderhoef – having thrown three perfect games at the tournament.
Of the 43 competitors with multiple 300s, three have connected for two perfect games during the same edition of the Open Championships – Kyle McCrackin (2002), Ron Bahr (2003) and David Ferguson (2006).
Bahr rolled back-to-back 300s to close his singles set with an 837 series at the 2003 event in Knoxville, Tennessee, to win the Regular Singles title.
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.