With no shot clock and one of the biggest shots of his life about to happen, England’s Dom Barrett took what felt like an eternity to throw his final shot at the World Bowling Tour/PBA 13^th Kuwait International Open.

The result was an absolutely perfect strike to secure his eighth career PBA Tour title, the $50,000 first-place prize and a 278-277 victory over Iceland’s Arnar Jonsson in the title match in Kuwait City.

To say Barrett loves competing in the Middle East might be an understatement. Of his eight PBA Tour titles, three of them have come in that part of the world. In addition to Wednesday’s victory, Barrett also won the Qatar Open in 2013 and 2014. Those three titles have been worth a combined $132,000.

Unbelievable match! Dom Barrett strikes in the tenth to seal it by 1 from Arnar Jonsson to win the WBT PBA Kuwait International Open 2019.

— World Bowling (@WorldBowling) November 6, 2019

Barrett entered the stepladder finals in Kuwait as the third seed and took down Venezuela’s Ildemaro Ruiz, 276-223, to move into the semifinal. He defeated Canada’s Mitch Hupe, 253-230, for the right to bowl for the title.

Jonsson, as the top seed, had to be defeated twice in the championship match and Barrett was up to the task. He won the first game 289-235 before winning the much closer deciding game.

In the final game, Jonsson got out the gates quick with strikes in his first four frames, while Barrett left and converted a four pin in the second frame.

Under World Bowling’s current frame scoring system, strings of strikes don’t matter at all, however, as it awards 30 pins for a strike, 10 pins plus count for a spare and count for opens.

Barrett wouldn’t miss again until the ninth frame when he left a flat 10 pin and converted it, giving Jonsson some hope. In the ninth and 10^th frames, Jonsson buried must-have strikes to put the pressure on Barrett.

Jonsson’s strikes meant Barrett had to strike in the final frame to win and he was perfect.

This is what Dom Barrett had to say after his win at the Kuwait Open.

— World Bowling (@WorldBowling) November 6, 2019

The stepladder finals featured no U.S. bowlers as England, Iceland, Canada, Venezuela and Hong Kong (Michael Mak finished fifth) were represented.

In order to reach the stepladder, the five players survived a five-game round earlier Wednesday. Jonsson earned the top seed with a 1,360 total, a 272 average.

AJ Johnson nearly became the only U.S. player in the stepladder after he tied with Mak for the fifth spot with 1,287, a 257.40 average, but he lost a one-ball rolloff 10-8.

Before the main stepladder, a special stepladder was held for the top female bowlers this week. Danielle McEwan defeated Liz Johnson, 268-190, to win the $2,200 prize. Maria Jose Rodriguez finished third and Anna Andersson was fourth. In the main event, McEwan was the high female finisher in 12^th place.

The Kuwait event also finalized the field for the World Bowling Tour Finals. Barrett's victory earned him a spot amongst the top three alongside Sean Rash and Johnson. They will be joined by Rafiq Ismael of Malaysia, Jonsson and Nick Pate in the competition Thursday in Kuwait.

World Bowling confirmed to FloBowling on Wednesday that the women's field for the World Bowling Tour Finals will consist of McEwan, Johnson, Rodriguez, Anderson, Cherie Tan and Clara Guerrero.

Stepladder Finals

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org

Women’s Stepladder Finals

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org 

Round 3

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org