Bowling

Jaros makes most of last tour events

By PHIL GULICK
Published April 21, 2005

Steve Jaros clinched a two-season tour exemption when he captured the PBA Dexter Tournament of Champions Sunday, defeating Clermont's Norm Duke 248-242 at Uncasville, Conn.

Jaros, of Yorkville, Ill., converted a 2-pin in his first frame before striking in frames 2-7. Duke fell behind early, failing to convert a 7-10 split in the third frame. He rebounded by striking on seven straight shots, forcing Jaros to mark in the 10th to win his first career major. Jaros earned $100,000 and Duke $30,000.

"Last week was a huge weight off my shoulders," said Jaros, who finished 22nd in the PBA Denny's World Championship. "That helped give me a bit of an edge this week. Coming into this week on such a big upswing really made a difference."

Duke barely advanced to the title match, knocking out ESPN color analyst Randy Pedersen of Fort Lauderdale 256-255 in the semifinals. In the first semifinal, Jaros beat non-exempt PBA member and 10-time title winner Bryan Goebel of Shawnee, Kan., 247-186. Pedersen and Goebel each won $10,000.

Duke beat Tommy Jones of Greenville, S.C., 3-0 in the round of 16, then stopped Brian Himmler of Cincinnati 3-1 in the round of eight. Pedersen beat Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J., 3-1 in the round of 16 and Ryan Shafer of Elmira, N.Y., 3-1 in the round of eight.

Titusville's Jason Hurd was beaten by Jaros 3-0, and Ocala's Walter Ray Williams Jr. lost to Shafer 3-2 in the round of 16. Pedersen defeated Clermont's Jason Couch 3-0 and Bohn eliminated Orlando's Chris Hayden in the round of 32.

The Dexter tournament wrapped up the PBA's 2005 season. The PBA seniors opened their tour this week with the Empire State Open at Latham, N.Y. The senior tour is not televised and results may be found at www.pba.com

RICHEST POT: Chris Barnes of Flower Mound, Texas, took home the richest prize in PBA history, winning $200,000 by defeating Tommy Jones of Mauldin, S.C., in the final of the made-for-TV PBA Roll to Riches last week at Fort Worth, Texas.

The final round consisted of a Race to Six Strikes, with the first bowler striking six times taking home the title. Barnes struck in all six of his frames; Jones failed to strike with his first two shots. The $200,000 Barnes won does not count toward official PBA Tour earnings, but brings his season earnings to $394,300. COLLEGE CHALLENGE: The Kansas men's and Pikeville College women's teams will look to repeat as national champions when the USBC Intercollegiate Bowling Championships hit the boards this weekend at Rockford, Ill. Central Florida's men's and women's squads are among the 32 teams competing.

Competition begins today with 32 Baker System games to determine seeds for the double-elimination, match-play format Friday. Semifinals and finals in both divisions will be Saturday.

Other qualifiers in the women's division are Erie (N.Y.) Community College, Fresno State, Kansas, Lindenwood (Mo.), Maryland-Eastern Shore, McKendree (Ill.), Morehead State, Newman (Kan.), Penn State, Purdue, West Texas A&M, Missouri Baptist, Wichita State and Western Illinois.

Other men's squads are Saginaw Valley State, UNLV, Newman (Kan.), Pikeville (Ky.), Toledo, Erie (N.Y.) Community College, Fresno State, Lindenwood (Mo.), Morehead State, Nebraska, Penn State, Vincennes (Ind.), West Texas A&M and Western Illinois.

WIBC INVASION: Nearly 40,000 competitors will visit Tulsa, Okla., by the time the 2005 WIBC Championship Tournament finishes June 24.

The tournament has five divisions: Classic for bowlers with averages of 190 and above, Division 1 for averages of 170-189, Division 2 for 150-169, Division 3 for 131-149 and Division 4 for 130 and below. Kim DiBenedetto of Santa Clara, Calif., bowled a 288 to give her team, Miche's Mob, the lead in the Classic Division after the first week of the tournament. DiBenedetto, with two 300 games in her 25-year career, was not overwhelmed by the attention she got as she started her final game of the three-game set with 10 strikes. "I'd been there before," said the expectant mother. "I got a little nervous because it was so quiet."

Tina Becke of Carol Stream, Ill., and Tracy Holman of Carpentersville, Ill., led the Classic doubles with a 1,188, and Holman was the singles leader with a 638.

Laura Strauss of North Fort Myers and Melissa Strauss of Jacksonville headed the Division 1 doubles with a 1,158.

Daily tournament updates can be found at www.bowl.com

Phil Gulick can be reached at xerxes8@msn.com

[Last modified April 21, 2005, 01:06:12]