黒羽正行

5G目に田中真が大会3号のパーフェクト達成！

Petraglia defeated Hugh Miller, 226-213, to win the 2008 PBA Senior Jackson Open at Airport Lanes for his first since PBA Senior Tour title since 2001.

The 61-year-old PBA Hall of Famer was on the ropes in nearly all of his matches Tuesday, nearly squandering a 2-0 lead to Gary Hiday in the best-of-five Round of 24 and falling behind 1-0 in the best-of-three Round of 8 to Dale Traber. Things looked the most bleak in the title match against Miller, however, as Petraglia trailed by 40 pins in the sixth frame.

Miller, looking for his first career PBA Senior Tour title, struck in six of the first seven frames to open up a big lead, but he left the 4-6 split and opened in the eighth to open the door for Petraglia. The Manalapan, N.J., native responded with four consecutive strikes in the seventh through 10th frames to pull close.

A fifth consecutive strike would have forced Miller to double in the 10th, but Petraglia left a solid 8-pin, meaning Miller only needed a strike to win. Instead, Miller left the 3-6-7 split giving Petraglia the win.

"What an interesting win. I lost three different times today," Petraglia said. "Traber had me dead and I ended up winning. Hiday let me back in the match. And the last game I'm going on a 190 pace in the seventh frame and Hugh's bowling a 239. Then he leaves the 4-9. I had to get up and throw some big strikes there, but when something like that happens, you just have that feeling. You just feel like you're going to do it."

Petraglia indeed threw the big shots when he needed them, not only late in the match against Miller but throughout the day, showing why he won 14 times on the Denny's PBA Tour and was victorious five times in his first four years on the PBA Senior Tour.

"I've had a bunch of seconds since then so it's nice to win again," Petraglia said of the seven years since his last victory, which came in 2001 in Klamath Falls, Ore. "I lost in the title match twice last year, and last week in the Ladies and Legends with Shannon (O'Keefe) I thought we had a good shot to win and we finished third. It looked like the same thing was going to happen here so it's nice to have it turn around."

While he got some breaks along the way, Petraglia did his part to put himself in position to win.

"I bowled well all day and shot good scores," Petraglia said. "I bowled 13 games today and chopped one spare. All my other games were clean so it was a very good day."

Petraglia earned $8,000 for his victory while Miller (Seattle) took home $4,500. Keith Sharp (Orlando, Fla.) who fell to Miller in the semifinals, 237-200, to fall just shy of his second win in three events, and Kenny Parks (East Chicago, Ind.), who fell to Petraglia, 202-180, took home $3,000 each.