【PBA】　USBC Senior Masters　【Final】

The Master of Majors

Tom Baker

Winning his fifth career Senior Tour title and his second major of the year, Hall of Famer Tom Baker battled through four more rounds of match play Friday to emerge as the 2006 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Senior Masters champion.

Baker averaged 230.13 for the tournament and a whopping 236.46 in match play, defeating Bob Kelly in the title match 645-575.

"I came in with the same thought process as yesterday and I felt pretty comfortable with the conditions out there," said Baker. "You just have to read what the lanes are telling you and make adjustments from there."

The Senior Masters title is Baker's fourth title this year, allowing him to join USBC Hall of Famer Pete Couture (Titusville, Fla.) and the 2003 USBC Senior Masters champion Dale Eagle (Tavares, Fla.) as the only Senior Tour players to win four titles in a single season.

Second place finisher Bob Kelly was undefeated in match play until losing the championship round semi-final to Baker 686-612. The Dayton, Ohio native is currently in the running for the 2006 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year award.

"This year has been a learning process for me," said Kelly. "I'm thrilled to be here and to be competitive with these great bowlers. It's what you aspire to."

　【PBA】　PBA Senior Northern California Classic　【Final】

A Dozen for Dickinson

Gary Dickinson

Gary Dickinson now stands alone as the second most celebrated titlist in Senior Tour history after winning the 2006 PBA Senior Northern California Classic Wednesday.

"I had a nice reaction and very few opens," said Dickinson. "That tenth frame (in game two of the championship match) may have been the only one."

Dickinson shot every game of match play over 200, his low game of the day a 204 in the second game of the round-of-16 match play. He defeated Ty Dawson (Sunnyvale, Calif.) in game three of the title match (267-235) after losing game two in a roll-off (215-215, 17-20) and taking the first game 245-212.

"It was just a really nice day and I either had a good game or guys had bad games," said Dickinson.

The native of Edmond, Okla., was tied with Gene Stus (11 titles each) for the distinction of second place all-time Senior Tour titlist, until tonight's victory set him apart. Dickinson needs only two more wins to tie first place Senior Tour titlist John Handegard (14 titles).

Right-hander Rohn Garr (Ridgedale, Mo.), seated 22nd after Tuesday's qualifying, came from a 2-0 deficit in both the round-of-32 and the round-of-24 to win those matches before falling to Kevin Croucher (Grants Pass, Ore.) in the round-of-16.

Defending champion Ross Packard (San Jose, Calif.) was eliminated in the round-of-24, losing to Ty Dawson, who moved on to defeat Ted Staikoff (Black Hawk, S.D.), Henry Gonzalez (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Tom Baker (King, N.C.) before falling to Gary Dickinson in the championship match.

Local Pro-shop owner and Senior Tour titlist Don Sylvia (Discovery Bay, Calif.) also advanced to the round-of-24 before facing elimination in the round-of-16 against four-time Senior Tour titlist Bob Chamberlain, who took the match 3-2.