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Veteran breakthrough nearly overshadowed

Veteran Dave D'Entremont won the PBA's season opener Sunday at Wichita, Kan., but Chris Barnes and Steve Hoskins provided the match of the tournament.

D'Entremont, from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, defeated Barnes 202-179 to earn his sixth title and $40,000. In the semifinals, D'Entremont powered past PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala 270-258, and Barnes beat defending champion Ryan Shafer of Elmira, N.Y., 265-260. Williams and Shafer tied for third and earned $10,000 each.

"Now I know the last five years haven't been wasted," D'Entremont said of his struggles since winning his last title in 1996. "There were a lot of doubts and depression during that time."

Barnes, former Team USA star from Dallas, and Hoskins, 10-time tour winner from Tarpon Springs, battled to the wire in the Round of 32 before Barnes prevailed 4-3 in the best-of-seven match play. In the seventh and deciding game, Barnes struck on his first ball in the 10th but left a 10-pin on his second. Hoskins needed a strike on his first ball to win but also left a 10-pin and lost 229-224.

It was homecoming for Barnes and Healey, both Wichita State University graduates.

"It's not often you average 250 and need a break from the other guy to win," Barnes said.

Shafer knocked off Clermont's Norm Duke 4-2, and Williams eased past Finland's Mika Koivuniemi 4-2 in the Round of 32. Clermont's Jason Couch and Stuart's Paul Koehler missed the cut in the 159-man field. Hoskins and Duke each earned $2,250.

The 20-stop tour moves to Blue Springs, Mo., for the Greater Kansas City Open. ESPN is airing the final from 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday.

JOHNSON VS JOHNSON: Tish Johnson of Northridge, Calif., won her 25th career title Oct. 10, defeating Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, N.Y., 246-187 in the $50,000 Greater Pasadena (Texas) Open.

Tish Johnson, inducted into the WIBC Hall of Fame after 22 years on the Professional Women's Bowling Association tour, said she thought about quitting, "but my friends encouraged me to stay with it."

Tish Johnson rolled seven straight strikes in the final to overwhelm Liz Johnson and collect $9,000.

The final will be aired at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 30 on ESPN2.

The tour is at Mesa, Ariz., for the Rollers and Pro Bowlers event, which ends Friday. The final will air 10 p.m. Monday.

MEMBERSHIP UP: The ABC reports a 3.9 percent increase in memberships after seven weeks of the 2002-03 season.

As of Oct. 4, 552,184 memberships had been processed compared to 531,285 a year earlier. Those figures come into focus when compared with the manual processing programs of past years. During the 1997-98 season, 28,993 memberships had been recorded by the first week in October.

"It's far too early to predict that our 23-year trend of membership decline is over," ABC executive director Roger Dalkin said, "but the early figures are a clear sign that the high-speed electronic membership services we have developed over the past few years are working."

-- Phil Gulick can be reached at xerxes8@msn.com.

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