岡野秀幸

　

伊藤健二

上位をイーグルボウルスタート組が占め、6月プロデビュー（プロテスト3位で合格）の伊藤健二がトップ。
※6G目に日置秀一（新人）、8G目に矢野金太が六甲でパーフェクト達成！

　

時本美津子

予選通過2位の時本が準決勝（232アベ）も爆発し、イーグルクラシック初制覇を目指してトップでラウンドロビンへ！2位は23回・24回大会に続く3勝目を狙う愛甲、3位に地元の声援を受けて好位置の柴村尚美、4位に準決勝227アベを残した大山、5位にイーグルクラシック勝の実績を持つ斉藤志、6位に今季初戦でラウンドロビン進出を果たした小須田、7位に全日本2連覇の竹内、そして8位に17位から飛び込んできた金城と多彩な顔ぶれが揃った。なお次点は3ピン足らずで昨年のランキング女王吉田となった。
なお3G目にパーフェクトを達成した金田は、後半失速し15位で終了。

　

柴村尚美

予選2日目（通算12G）が終了し、地元柴村尚美が昨日に続きトップをキープ、2位に10位から上がってきた斉藤美由紀、3位に第24回大会優勝以来勝ちから遠ざかっている愛甲恵子が好位置につけ、4位に昨年2勝を挙げている近藤文美がつけている。また鷲塚が18位→7位へ、時本が30位→11位、竹内が40位→15位と昨日より順位を上げた。なお2連覇を狙う中谷優子は17位→30位へ順位を下げ明日の巻き返しに期待！

　　【JPBA】　イーグルクラシックボウリングトーナメント　【男子・予選第２ステージ】

　

柴村尚美

　

　

岡部直治

Delutz Defers, Rowe Moves In

Tommy Delutz Jr. has become a staple on the PBA Tour since he began his Tour career with 30 events in 1991. Wednesday, however, Delutz was granted permission by the PBA to defer his exemption for the 2004-05 season after revealing that he needs surgery to repair damaged tendons in his right wrist.

"Injuries happen in all sports," said Delutz, a two-time PBA Tour title winner. "Unfortunately, I have one that will force me to sit out a year, and possibly may be career threatening."

Delutz will undergo surgery July 9 in New York City which will be performed by Dr. Martin Postner. "I put the fate the of my hand in (Postner's) hands," Delutz commented Wednesday.

His right wrist began to give him problems during last season's Japan Cup. There was just over two weeks between the completion of the Japan Cup and the start of the 2003-04 Tour season. That's when he noticed how serious the wrist problem could be.

"The first two weeks on Tour, I could see the tendon hopping over bone," Delutz said. "Then it just settled in a bad place."

If Delutz was hurting, it was hard to tell. He finished in the top 20 in five of his first six events of the regular season. His second half was highlighted by a 2nd place finish after an epic battle against Pete Weber in the 2004 PBA Medford Open. The wrist issues may have caught up with him down the stretch, as he averaged 222.36 in the first half of last season, and 211.89 in the second half.

Since the 2003-04 season ended, Delutz has bowled in a few regional events with his best finish a 6th place result in an East Regional event. The pain in his wrist has been a constant.

"Shaking someone's hand and moving a pot of spaghetti sauce around, it's become difficult," Delutz explained. "I can bowl pretty much at 60-percent, but I go to open a jar and I can't do it. If I had to bowl more than two days in a row, I couldn't move my hand."

Delutz is in a good frame of mind. He seems ready to handle the four to six weeks he'll need a cast on his right hand, and the possible six to eight months of rehab that follows.

"I have to look at things and keep things in perspective. I make a good living playing a kids' game," said Delutz. "It's not life threatening, possibly life altering. I have to stay positive."

The open spot created by Delutz' injury will be taken by Bill Rowe, an established international player from Canada. He finished 9th in the PBA Tour Trials, just 10 pins from the 8th and final exemption, but was named the first alternate.

Rowe had eyed the PBA Tour Trials as his ticket to join the Tour. He even took a month off from work before Tour Trials to practice, and bowl every day leading up to the competition.

He was on the outside of the PBA Tour, looking in, until Delutz was granted a deferment to the 2005-06 season.

"Obviously, I feel bad for Tommy and I wish him a speedy recovery," said Rowe. "I'm very excited about this opportunity, and I look forward to competing against the world's best bowlers."

Rowe is currently a general manager at Parkway Lanes in St .Catharines, Ontario, where he runs the pro shop and gives private lessons as well as leading weekly classes. That will soon change, as he'd like to bowl some PBA Regional events in the upcoming months.

"I really want to get focused on Tour, and bowl some regionals," said Rowe. "I just want to do everything a pro would do to make this year as professional as can be."

If one doubts Rowe can cut it on Tour, they just need to look at his international track record. He's been named the Canadian Bowler of the Year six times, and has won gold medals in the 1995 Pan Am Games and the 1996 Olympics, when bowling was a demonstration sport.

Rowe does have experience against some PBA Tour pros, having battled Patrick Healey Jr. and Chris Barnes in the late 1990's in international competitions.

"I look forward to seeing those guys again and competing against them at the pro level," Rowe explained. "The one match I'm looking forward to most is against Chris Barnes. We bowled against each other in the UAE in 1997, and I won. That same year, we bowled in Santo Domingo in a FIQ Masters final, and he won there."

　

　

姫路　麗

　

野々山路可

Final Eight Exempt Spots Set

When the dust finally settled Sunday, eight bowlers emerged from the pack of the PBA Tour Trials to take the final exemptions on the 2004-05 PBA Tour.

Leading the group was Mike Edwards, who finished with a 10,814 45-game pinfall, 593 pins ahead of 2nd place finisher Patrick Girard, Canada, with 10,248. Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., opened up his final day with games of 233, 289, 211, and 244 before finishing with 214, 279, 225, 278, and 237 to shoot 2,210 over nine games today.

"This was the best I've ever bowled in my life," said Edwards, who averaged 240.31 for the tournament. "I knew I had a second chance to make the Tour next year, and I wasn't going to give that away. It was just a dream five days fo