LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Rookie Scott Norton of Costa Mesa, Calif. defeated Sean Rash of Wichita, Kan. 256-181 to win the Chameleon Championship title at South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

The left-hander dazzled the crowd when he strung the first seven strikes of the match in a fiery performance full of fist pumps and gritted teeth. Sean Rash, who had climbed over Osku Palermaa of Finland, Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas and Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas to make it into the title match, floundered down the stretch with several open frames in a losing effort.

Rash left the 4-6-7-10 split in the seventh frame and the 2-8-10 split in the eighth while attention shifted to Norton’s bid for a 300 game and its accompanying $10,000 bonus. But Norton tugged his shot in the eighth frame and the ball came up high. He converted the 4-7 spare on his way to a $15,000 top prize.

“It feels pretty amazing,” Norton said of the win. “I’ve worked a long time for this and my mom and I have worked together a lot, and it’s just an unbelievable feeling. I had to choke back a couple tears.”

Norton’s mother, USBC Hall of Famer Virginia Norton, enjoyed a front row seat to the show that Scott put on en route to his first PBA Tour title. A great competitor herself with many accolades to her credit, she nonetheless found her role as spectator to be one of the toughest experiences she has ever had on the lanes.

“It’s tougher to sit on the sidelines because you have no control over anything,” she said.

Before Norton stormed onto the set, the Chameleon Championship finals seemed more like a Sean Rash exhibition. The 2007 USBC Masters champion rode a five-bagger to victory over two-hander Osku Palermaa of Finland, 236-211 in the opening match and went on to dominate Chris Barnes in the next game, 227-175.

Barnes struggled mightily to find his strike shot, opening the third and sixth frames while Rash overcame a missed ten-pin in the third frame with a four-bagger and struck out in the tenth for a convincing victory.

Former PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott also failed to find an answer to Rash’s dominance. Malott opened the second frame and played catch-up the rest of the way as Rash continued to pound the pocket, defeating Malott 235-217.

Norton, who works as an attorney off the lanes, admits that balancing his law practice with a pro bowling career is not easy, but it’s a balancing act that he plans to continue.

“I plan on bowling the west coast swing and all the stuff on the east coast as well,” Norton says. “I just have to find a way to make it happen!”