Australia’s Jason Belmonte was named the 2012-13 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year today during a special live presentation on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

In earning his first Player of the Year honor, Belmonte won two titles, including the USBC Masters – his first major – and had runner-up finishes in three other major championships: the 2012 PBA World Championship, U.S. Open and 2013 PBA Tournament of Champions. He won the George Young High Average Award, scoring at a 228.81 pace over 422 games, and the Harry Smith Point Leader Award with 238,903 points. The only major statistical category he didn’t win was earnings, where his $186,465 total ranked third behind 2011-12 Player of the Year Sean Rash’s $248,317 and Mika Koivuniemi’s $227,851.

Belmonte, known for his unique two-handed delivery, joined Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli and Finland’s Koivuniemi as the only foreign-born players to win the PBA’s highest annual competition honor. He was also the first two-handed player to win the award.

“This award has a lot of meaning for me because it represents the fact that you can do it your way and be successful,” Belmonte said. “I’ve taken a lot of criticism but I’m a firm believer in pinning your ears back and going for your dreams.”

Belmonte, who owns seven career titles, captured Harry Golden Rookie of the Year honors after winning his first title during the 2008-09 season.

“This is an honor every player wants to win but something you can never plan for,” Belmonte added. ”There’s no deadline to achieve it, only a massive bonus for your career if you do.”

Also finishing among the top three in Player of the Year voting was Rash, Montgomery, Ill., who was trying for his second consecutive honor, and Weber, a 51-year-old PBA Hall of Famer from St. Ann, Mo., who was hoping to win the crown for the first time in his career. Belmonte received his award live on Xtra Frame at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich., where the Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions gets underway on Saturday.

Rash won two PBA International Tour titles in Kuwait and Thailand, and made TV shows in the 2012 and ’13 PBA World Championships and the 2013 TOC. In addition to leading the earnings list, Rash finished third in average and competition points.

Weber, a 37-time PBA Tour champion, won the 2013 Tournament of Champions for his record-tying 10th career major and finished third in the 2013 U.S. Open (an event he has won a record five times) and third in the 2013 PBA World Championship. Weber was also a member of the PBA league New York City WTT KingPins team that won the inaugural Elias Cup.

During the Xtra Frame presentation, PBA Commissioner Tom Clark also presented the PBA Rookie of the Year Award to E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind.; the 2013 Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award to Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y. (Eugene McCune of Munster, Ind., accepted on behalf of Shafer), and the inaugural Tony Reyes Community Service Award to PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J.

The end-of-season awards announcements culminate an expanded 14-month campaign that began in November 2012 and ended Dec. 31, 2013, as the PBA returned to a traditional calendar year season that began on Jan. 1.