After two weeks without a championship round appearance, Walter Ray Williams Jr. is back on track and adding to what is already one of the best starts to a season in his 25-year PBA Hall of Fame career.

The Denny's PBA Tour's all-time titles leader advanced to his fourth championship round in the last six weeks and will look to win title No. 44 Sunday as he defeated Billy Oatman, four-games-to-one, to advance to the championship round in the 2007 Great Lakes Classic at Spectrum Lanes.

Williams ended the run of the No. 1 seed Oatman, who led qualifying with a 249 average and went 8-0 in his first two matches in the Rounds of 32 and 16, averaging 259.13 over the eight games. But against Williams, Oatman struggled to regain the form and Williams averaged 251.60 over the five games to Oatman's, including a 225-204 win in game five.

The 48-year-old finished third in the United States Bowling Congress Masters, won the next week's Motor City Classic and made a third consecutive championship round when he finished second in the following week's Etonic Championship. After two weeks where he finished sixth and 45th, Williams is back in the finals and making his Tour-record 162nd career TV appearance.

Williams will face Mike Scroggins who defeated Mitch Beasley, 4-3, with an exciting 269-267 win in game seven.

The other semifinal features PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III taking on Chris Loshetter. Bohn advanced to his first championship round of the season and will look to break a 59-event winless streak which is the longest of his career. The 30-time titlist last won the 2005 El Paso Classic. Bohn, who defeated Mike Mineman, 4-1, will face Loschetter, who defeated Sean Rash, 4-3.

In the final PBA Women's Series event of the season, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard will look to become the only two-time PBA Women's Series champion as she defeated Kelly Kulick, 4-1. Dorin-Ballard barely snuck into match play as the No. 8 seed this week, then knocked off No. 1 Liz Johnson, 4-3, in the Round of 8. Dorin-Ballard won the inaugural PBA Women's Series event, the 2007 Motor City Classic.

Dorin-Ballard will face No. 6 Diandra Asbaty, who is not an exempt bowler on the PBA Women's Series, but was the second alternate and earned a spot in this week's event after both Wendy Macpherson and first alternate Robin Romeo withdrew. Asbaty defeated Tish Johnson, 4-3, with a 207-185 win in game seven.

　

　【JPBA】　全日本プロボウリング選手権大会　【予選後半】

　

　

山本　勲

全日本2連覇を目指す山本勲が24Gを241AVGの驚異のスコアでトップ。

After a sluggish start to the 2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour season, Billy Oatman finally has his groove back.

The 2006-07 PBA Rookie of the Year averaged over 249 Thursday to earn the top spot in match play with a 3,491 14-game pinfall in the Great Lakes Classic at Spectrum Lanes.

Last season, Oatman became the first African-American to win the PBA's Rookie of the Year award and at 41 years old also became the oldest bowler to win the award. He's looking to win his first career Denny's PBA Tour title this week after finishing second in last season's Motel 6 Classic in Henderson, Nev., for his best career finish.

This season, Oatman has been struggling, making match play just once in his first four events. He recovered Thursday with games of 299 and 300 in the second block to take the lead away from PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III.

"After practice yesterday I knew I had a pretty good shot, but I've been working on my mental game a lot lately and I said this week I won't let anything bother me," Oatman (Chicago) said. "I said whatever happens, happens. I was just trying to think 'free your mind and your body will follow.' I tried to just have fun and here I am averaging 249. It's unbelievable."

Oatman needed a big week to move up in the PBA World Point Rankings as he came into the week just 60th. The top 40 in points at the end of the season earn exemptions for the 2008-09 season. A high scoring pace this week has helped Oatman improve on that standing.

"I have no problems with a shootout," Oatman said. "I do not mind a carry contest, as long as I'm invited to the party."

Like Oatman, Bohn has struggled this season as he came into this week just 41st in the PBA World Point Rankings. The 30-time titlist has not won in his last 59 events which marks the longest title drought of his career.

Bohn (Jackson, N.J.) also shot one of the day's four 300 games and finished with 3,405, good for a 243.21 average.

Finishing third with 3,305 was rookie Rhino Page (Topeka, Kan.), who was been making a name for himself this season by advancing through the Denny's PBA Tour Qualifying Round four times in five tries. Page is looking to earn as exemption as the top non-exempt bowler in the PBA World Point Rankings, or via the top 40 in points. He came into this week 37th.

Riga Kalfas (Florence, Ky.) finished fourth with 3,271 while PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker (King, N.C.) is fifth with 3,264. The 53-year-old Baker is the only exempt bowler who also bowls on the PBA Senior Tour. He was recently named the 2007 PBA Senior Player of the Year becoming the first bowler in history to win the award three consecutive years.

In addition to Baker, another elder-statesman made the cut to match play as 61-year-old Dale Eagle (Tavares, Fla.) finished 10th with 3,210. The 10-time PBA Senior Tour titlist advanced to the Round of 64 through Wednesday's Qualifying Round.

Oatman will face No. 32 Dave D'Entremont (Middleburg Heights, Ohio), who won a one-game roll-off against Mike DeVaney, 193-188, for the final spot in match play after the two tied with 3,304. Bohn will face No. 31 Brad Angelo who finished second in last week's CLR Windy City Classic.

Local favorite Mike Eaton Jr. (Wyoming, Mich.) finished seventh to advance to match play in the center his father owns. Eaton will face No. 26 Mike Mineman on Friday.

This week also features the fourth and final PBA Women's Series event, a special mini-tour sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) which features 16 of the best female bowlers in the world. Leading the field of 16 was Liz Johnson, who finished with 3,028.

Johnson, who won 11 titles on the now-defunct Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour, has a memorable history at Spectrum Lanes. In 2005, Johnson competed in the 2005 Banquet Open against the men and became the fist woman to advance to the championship round in a Denny's PBA Tour event. Johnson won her first match against Wes Malott that Sunday before falling to Tommy Jones in the title match to finish second.

Thought she came up short that week, the memory is still the most cherished in her illustrious career.

"This house will always bring back great memories," Johnson (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) said. "Without a doubt, I've won a lot of titles, but to make a men's TV show, that tops all of them. I won 11 times on the ladies' tour and won a bunch of other meaningful titles, but I've gotten more notoriety for that show and finishing second.

"It was just a very special moment in my life. Even when I've bowled poorly here, in the back of my mind I always think how good this place has been to me."

In this season's PBA Women's Series, Johnson has bowled as consistent as anyone despite not winning a title. She qualified third twice and fourth once in the previous three events, finishing fourth, fifth and second overall. She fell to Joy Esterson in the title match of the Lake County Indiana Classic two weeks ago, losing a one-ball sudden death roll-off for the title after the two tied at 226.

"I've been pretty consistent and today was probably the worst I've bowled and I'm leading somehow," Johnson said. "My timing was off all day but tomorrow is a new day and hopefully the pins drop in match play."

Finishing second was Olivia Sandham (Wichita, Kan.) with 3,025 followed by Amy Stolz (Castle Rock, Colo.) in third with 3,023.

Johnson will face 20-time PWBA champion Carolyn Dorin-Ballard in the Round of 8 Friday afternoon. Dorin-Ballard (North Richland Hills, Texas), who was out of the cut most of the day, fired a 249 the final game to earn the final spot by 39 pins.

Sandham will face Tish Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) while Stolz will face Diandra Asbaty (Chicago), who finished sixth. Asbaty was a late fill-in for Robin Romeo, who was already taking the place of exempt PBA Women's Series player Wendy Macpherson who took the week off. Asbaty bowled the Wednesday Qualifying Round against the men and missed the cut, but she took Romeo's spot when she injured her thumb Wednesday.

　

　【JPBA】　全日本プロボウリング選手権大会　【予選前半】

A tearful Robert Smith could hardly express Sunday how much his first Denny's PBA Tour title in almost four years meant to him.

Smith captured his seventh career title and his first since 2004, defeating a pesky Brad Angelo, 223-205, to win the 2007 CLR Windy City Classic at Hawthorn Lanes.

Smith missed almost the entire 2006-07 season due to a painful hip injury which left him unable to walk for two months. A year's worth of recovery, hard work and a switch to the Elite ball company led Smith back to a place some thought he might never return.

"The pain, the hip problem, taking the year off... all of it," Smith said, choking back tears. "All the hard work I put in, it was all worth it. It's a relief just to come back and bowl. The win is a bonus. I really think it's the start of a new era for me."

Known on Tour as "Maximum Bob" because of his ball speed and rev rate which are the highest on Tour, Smith slowed things down all week due to the challenging Shark oil pattern, then on Sunday stood as far left as he could and launched the ball over the gutter cap, throwing the ball 14 feet in the air down the 60-foot lane.

"That's my trick and the guys all know it," Smith said. "The ball can't hook in the air."

The move resulted in a solid game against Angelo, who was coming off a 162-151 win over Chris Barnes in the semifinal in what was the third-lowest combined score in a televised match in Denny's PBA Tour history. Smith used a key four-bagger in the fifth through eighth frames to take control of the title match and his nine-spare in the ninth frame all but ended it.

Angelo came in as the No. 5 seed and was winless in 103 career events, but looked destined to finally break through with his first victory. He looked unstoppable in defeating No. 4 Ritchie Allen, 265-168, and No. 3 Mika Koivuniemi, 256-233, before he and Barnes got locked into an ugly match.

The two combined for seven splits and seven open frames, with Barnes accounting for five of the splits. The last came in the 10th frame when Barnes could have struck out to win the match, but he left the 6-7 split and opened, and Angelo marked in the 10th to win. The 162 gave Angelo the third-lowest winning score on TV in history.

Smith (Captain Cook, Hawaii) took home $25,000 for the win and an exemption for the 2008-09 season, while Angelo (Lockport, N.Y.) earned $13,000 for second. Barnes (Double Oak, Texas) took home $6,500 for third, Koivuniemi (Hartland, Mich.) earned $5,500 for fourth while Allen (Columbia, S.C.) earned $5,000 for fifth.

After a huge win over Pete Weber in the position round at Hawthorn Lanes Friday night, Robert Smith was satisfied with the thought of being the No. 3 seed for Sunday's championship round in the PBA Tour's CLR Windy City Classic.

Little did he know his 279 game had pushed him all the way from fifth in the standings to the top seed.

Smith defeated Weber, 279-226, in the No. 5 vs. No. 6 seeding match to finish with a 13-5 record and a 7,644 32-game pinfall to earn an automatic berth in the title match of Sunday's stepladder finals.

The six-time champion, who hasn't won since early in 2004, was leading the field with four games to go, but shot 186 and 202 over the next two games to drop down the standings. Before the final match against the PBA Hall of Famer Weber, he grabbed a new ball and took a risk.

"I grabbed that ball and just told myself to throw the ball as slow as I could and throw it to the right," Smith (Captain Cook, Hawaii) said. "I was taking a stab and it ended up being one of the best moves I made all week. I'm just overwhelmed."

Smith missed almost the entire 2006-07 season, deferring his exemption due to a hip and back injury. He is making his first championship round appearance since the Dydo Japan Cup 2006 to open the 2006-07 season.

In addition to Smith's big jump, the wild position round saw Chris Barnes move up to the No. 2 spot with a 237-182 win over Brad Angelo. Barnes' roommate, Mika Koivuniemi, dropped to the No. 3 seed, finishing with an 11-7 record. Koivuniemi defeated Ritchie Allen in the No. 1 vs. No. 2 match, which forced Allen from the top spot down to No. 4 after the 214-194 loss. Koivuniemi, a Finland native, is making his third championship round appearance in the first six events and will look to become the first two-time winner this season after taking the season-opening Dydo Japan Cup.

Earning the No. 5 seed was Angelo, who finished with a 12-6 record. Angelo will face Allen in the first match of the stepladder finals on Sunday. Like Smith, Allen - who had the best record of the day at 14-4 - also missed the 2006-07 season due to a hand injury. He'll look for his third career title while Angelo is seeking his first.

The winner of the first match will face Koivuniemi, with that winner advancing to face Barnes. The eight-time titlist advanced to the finals for the third consecutive week but is still looking for his first win of the season.

After three consecutive weeks of falling in the Round of 8 in single elimination match play events, Pete Weber is thankful for a switch this week to a round robin format.

Weber averaged 235.71 with a 3,300 14-game pinfall on Thanksgiving Thursday to lead the Round of 64 in the Denny's PBA Tour's CLR Windy City Classic at Hawthorn Lanes, taking the top spot heading into Friday's match play, where all pins from qualifying carry over.

In the first three single elimination events this season, Weber has fallen all three times in the best-of-seven games Round of 8, twice to all-time Denny's PBA Tour title leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. and last week to eight-time champion Chris Barnes. This week, the match play format features a nine-game round robin block Friday morning with the top 16 advancing to bowl another nine-game block Friday evening. Pinfall carries over from qualifying with bowlers earning 30 bonus pins for each win and 15 for each tie on top of their pinfall from each match.

"I'm not at all frustrated with the last three weeks," Weber (St. Ann, Mo.) said. "In Buffalo, I bowled just as well as Walter Ray did, I just got nine more times than he did. It was the same thing in Merrillville last week. I bowled as well as Barnes except for the first game, and I was in every game. I know what comes around goes around though. I figure if I keep making the top eight, I'm going to get there eventually."

Last season, Weber got off to what he called the best start of his 27-year career, finishing second in the Dydo Japan Cup, sixth in the 2006 USBC Masters and winning the fourth event, the Etonic Championship. The PBA Hall of Famer and 34-time titlist is off to another great start with three consecutive seventh-place finishes, but has yet to break through with his first championship round appearance.

"Last year was such a great start with Japan and the Masters and this season it's been the same with the only exception being that I bowled poorly in Japan," Weber, who won four PBA Regional Tour events this summer, said. "But I still bowled well at the Masters this year and I feel like I've carried over from this summer. As long as I feel like I'm throwing the ball well I won't be taking any weeks off."

On Thursday, Weber was consistent throughout the 14 games with just two games under 220 and a high of 278 in game 11. He finished strong with a 255 in game 14 to finish an even 500 pins over par (an average of 200 per game).

Finishing second with 3,222 was Danny Wiseman (Baltimore) an 11-time Denny's PBA Tour champion who won the 2002 Miller High Life Open at Hawthorn Lanes. Steve Jaros, from nearby Yorkville, Ill., finished third with 3,203. The seven-time champion is off to a hot start this season as he finished second in the 2007 USBC Masters, the first of four Majors this season.

In fourth is Chris Warren (Grants Pass, Ore.), a five-time champion looking for his first win since 1992, followed by Barnes (Double Oak, Texas) who will look to make it three consecutive championship round appearances after finishing fourth and third the last two weeks.

Exactly 365 days after falling just short of winning his first career title in honor of his dying grandmother, Michael Haugen Jr. returned to Lake County Indiana and finally captured that elusive Denny's PBA Tour victory.

Haugen, who fell in the semifinals of last season's 2006 Lake County Indiana Classic and lost his grandmother minutes later, defeated Wes Malott, 247-239, to win the 2007 Lake County Indiana Classic pres. by United Way at Stardust Bowl II for his first title in 200 career events.

The 40-year-old Haugen nearly lost his exemption two seasons ago when he failed to finish in the top 40 of the 2005-06 PBA World Point Rankings. He regained his spot on Tour by finishing second in the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials at Stardust Bowl I in nearby Hammond, Ind. A few months later, Haugen made the finals of the Lake County Indiana Classic in Hammond, but fell to Norm Duke 279-233.

Exactly a year later, Haugen advanced to his first title match since 2003 with a narrow 194-192 win over Todd Book. He then watched as Malott could have struck with his first ball in the 10th of the title match to win. Instead, Malott left a 10-pin to give Haugen the victory.

"At first, I just wanted to make sure nothing came out of the back," Haugen (Cave Creek, Ariz.) said of his reaction to Malott's ringing 10-pin. "Then it donned on me that he needed the first one, and after that it was just relief. You hate to see anyone lose on a shot like that, but I'll take it. It's not like I bowled a bad game."

Haugen made a key ball change after the semifinal match, when he struggled on the right lane.

"The only thing I was thinking going into the title match was that the right lane was going to be key because I didn't throw very good shots on that lane in the semifinal," Haugen said. "I changed balls and thought, 'If this ball can hold the pocket for me and I can strike on the right lane, I think I can get it done.' I struck four out of five times on that lane (in the title match) so it turned out to be a huge change."

Haugen wasn't the only bowler on Sunday whose fate was determined by their opponent's final shot. In the third of four PBA Women's Series events, Joy Esterson defeated Liz Johnson, 10-7, in a one-ball sudden death roll-off after they tied at 226.

The match was dead even heading into the 10th frame when Esterson struck all three times, forcing Johnson to do the same to tie. Johnson then struck three times to send the match to a roll off. In the roll off, Esterson chose to start and she put the pressure on Johnson with a strike. Johnson was unable to match, knocking down just seven pins to give Esterson her first PBA Women's Series victory.

"I'm just numb about the whole thing," Esterson (Annapolis, Md.) said. "It's been three weeks of what I felt was great bowing and what I thought was the best I could have done."

Esterson has bowled as well as any of the 16 women on the mini tour, which has been running concurrently with Denny's PBA Tour events. In last week's Etonic Championship, she led all 64 men and 16 women in the 14 games of qualifying, before falling in match play in the Round of 8.

In the title match against Johnson on Sunday, she made a big move just before the 10th frame, moving a few boards right to get lined up after going light with her two previous shots.

Whereas Esterson and Johnson were even throughout their title match, Haugen and Malott traded leads in the men's match. Haugen took the early lead with five strikes in the first six frames before back-to-back nine spares gave Malott an opening. Malott took advantage by striking five consecutive times to take the lead. Haugen kept the pressure on by striking with his last four shots, which put Malott in the position of needing a strike to win.

Haugen earned $25,000 and an exemption for the 2008-09 season for his win, along with a berth in the 2008 H&R Block Tournament of Champions in January. Malott earned $13,000 for second while Barnes (Double Oak, Texas), who fell to Malott, 268-228, in the semifinals, and Book (Cantonment, Fla.) took home $6,000 each for third and fourth, respectively.

Esterson pocketed $10,000 for her win while Johnson (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) took home $6,000.

Two years ago in Hammond, Ind., Michael Haugen Jr. got his job back. One year ago in Hammond, he made a championship round appearance in honor of his dying grandmother. This week in nearby Merrillville, Ind., Haugen will look for a special three-peat in the area with his first career Denny's PBA Tour title.

Haugen defeated Sean Rash, four-games-to-one, in the Round of 8 Friday to advance to the championship round of the 2007 Lake County Indiana Classic presented by United Way at Stardust Bowl II.

Haugen, an 11-year Tour veteran, failed to qualify for the Tour in 2005-06 via the PBA World Point Rankings and was on the verge of losing his job until a second-place finish in the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials at Stardust Bowl I in Hammond.

Last year at Stardust Bowl I, Haugen made his first championship round in over two years when he made the finals of the 2006 Lake County Indiana Classic. With his grandmother hanging on to watch him try and win his first title, Haugen fell to Norm Duke, 279-233.

On Sunday, Haugen will try again for his first title in 200 career events.

"The first year here was for an exemption, last year was for my grandmother and this year is for me," Haugen (Cave Creek, Ariz.) said. "It was such a relief to get my job back at Tour Trials and then to come back last year and feel comfortable knowing I had bowled well in the center was huge. Everyone has been saying, 'It's destiny and this is your week.' Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But winning would mean everything to me. It's what I've always dreamed of and it really solidifies everything."

Haugen will face another great success story from the Lake County area as last year's Tour Trials leader, Todd Book (Cantonment, Fla.), ended the run of PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. (Ocala, Fla..) The 36-year rookie earned his first career exemption at Stardust Bowl II this summer by leading four of the five days of the Tour Trials. He stopped Williams from making his fourth consecutive championship round appearance with a 4-2 win.

In the other semifinal Sunday, Chris Barnes (Double Oak, Texas) will face Wes Malott (Argyle, Texas), who defeated Steve Jaros, 4-3. Barnes is making back-to-back championship rounds after finishing fourth in last week's Etonic Championship. Barnes defeated PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber, 4-1.

On the women's side, Joy Esterson (Annapolis, Md.) finally broke through with her first championship round appearance in the four-week PBA Women's Series. Esterson led both the men and women in qualifying in last week's Etonic Championship but fell to Kelly Kulick, 4-1, in the Round of 8. Esterson got some revenge on Kulick in the Round of 4 Friday night, knocking her out with a 4-2 win.

Esterson will face Liz Johnson (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) in the third PBA Women's Series title match. Johnson, who made history in 2005 as the first woman ever to make the finals of a Denny's PBA Tour event, defeated Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, 4-3.

Tommy Jones and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard earned the top seeds for match play in their respective sides of the tournament, leading qualifying in the 2007 Lake County Indiana Classic presented by United Way at Stardust Bowl II.