Ron Mohr won the PBA Senior Decatur Open presented by Brunswick on Tuesday but PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. was the bigger winner.
While Mohr was bagging his eighth PBA Senior title, Williams was clinching his first Senior Player of the Year crown to go with his seven PBA Tour Player of the Year honors.
Williams lost in the Round of 16 at Decatur but clinched the POY crown when Mike Edwards also lost in that round.
“The guys that had a chance didn’t bowl all the tournaments this year so it would have been interesting to see how it would have turned out if they did,” Williams, Senior Tour Rookie of the Year in 2010, said in this PBA news release. “I would have liked to finish it off with a win or at least a better finish but the breaks didn’t go my way and I let it get to me a little bit today.”
It’s hard to say how Walter Ray will do on the PBA Tour in 2012-13 but I didn’t see much evidence the last two weeks that he had lost much of his legendary skills.
“I’m looking forward to the World Series and probably am going to give it another year on the PBA Tour and evaluate it after that,” Williams said in the PBA release. “It’s a little different bowling out here on the Senior Tour than the regular Tour but I’m encouraged by the season I had on the Senior Tour.”
Mohr, meanwhile, waltzed through match play without a loss. The 2011 and 2009 Senior Player of the Year defeated Harry Sullins 243-181 in the championship match to win his first title of the 2012 season.
“It really wasn’t realistic to expect I would have a season like last year,” Mohr said in the PBA release. “Plus, I was having trouble matching up my ball drilling layouts with the conditions for the first half of this season. It comes down to having to adjust and I really didn’t start making the right adjustments until about the middle of the season.”
I got to meet Mohr in Hammond and watch him up close for the first time and he is every bit as good as advertised.
How he might have done on the PBA Tour in the years he was working as an air traffic controller and bowling on Team USA is a fascinating debate topic.
Lennie Boresch Jr. of Kenosha lost a tough match in the Round of 8 to Wayne Webb, 258-256 and 239-234.
Dale Traber of Cedarburg lost a tough match in the Round of 16 to Darryl Bower, 211-211 (9-8), 214-225, 235-202, 206-234, 234-217.
Rick Minier, who finished second in Hammond last week, swept me 195-185, 228-227, 216-197 in the Round of 16 in a fun match that had a lot of "what might have been" in it for me.
Lanes 11-12 were similar to how Sunday’s practice session was for me, with more push in the midlane. In fact, it may have been the tightest pair I saw all week.
I started out going about as straight as I can just right of 15-board with a 500 Abralon Storm REIGN SUMPREME with a low pin. I had a decent look on lane 12, but lane 11 was brutally tight.
I opened with a 2-4-10 and was behind the entire game until Rick left an 8-10 on lane 11 in the eighth frame. Working on a double in the seventh and eighth, I got up in the ninth with a chance to close him out but left a weak 10 in the ninth. I spared it and still could have struck out in the 10th to close him out, but left a 2-5, with the 5-pin wiggling and getting set down by the pinsetter a little more separated from the 2-pin than normal. I tried to play a light conversion to avoid the chop and only got the 5-pin. Definitely should have just fired my spare ball straight at it. Rick then left a 10-pin and converted it to win.
The second game I switched to the high-pin VICTORY ROAD SOLID that I had used much of qualifying and had a nice look as I edged in closer to 20-board. Rick struck out the 10th for 228, forcing me to get the first strike to win. I rolled a very good shot but left a half 10-pin. A spare and strike on the fill ball made it a second disappointing close loss.
In game three, Rick recovered from an early split with a 5-bagger and I could not double until the 10th when the game was over. My only open was a 6-9-10 where I chopped off the 6-10. Yes, chopped off the 6-10. Yes, the lanes were tight this week!
Rick is one of those quality bowlers who isn’t a household name. He had a solid part-time PBA Tour career, won the Senior U.S. Open a few years back and his name dots the USBC Open Championships average lists.
He’s a straight player with deadly accuracy who seemingly always is in the hunt. There’s never shame in losing to a guy like that.
It was a fun couple of tournaments for me. I wish I could have bowled them without first bowling the grueling weekend at the Mary Tuebner Memorial Team Challenge — that took a toll on my creaky wrist and definitely impacted my shotmaking.
The conditions were tougher than I'd been told to expect, but I learned the one thing I was curious about: whether I might be able to win on the PBA Senior Tour. I definitely believe I can. In fact, I think I could have won Hammond if I hadn't run into lefty Hugh Miller on a tough pair for me in the Round of 8 there.
But that's bowling.
I look forward to bowling as many Senior Tour stops next year as my limited vacation time allows. The one certain goal on my schedule is the USBC Senior Masters and Senior U.S. Open, if they are held back-to-back in Las Vegas again.
PBA SENIOR DECATUR OPEN, PRESENTED BY BRUNSWICK
Spare Time Lanes, Decatur, IL
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Winners from the round of 4.
Single elimination, single game match play.
Loser earns $4,000. Winner earns $7,500.
#1 Harry Sullins 181
#7 Ron Mohr 243
Winner - Ron Mohr
ROUND OF 4
Winners from the round of 8.
Single elimination, single game match play.
Losers eliminated, earn $2,500.
#1 Harry Sullins 257
#4 Wayne Webb 237
Winner - Harry Sullins
#7 Ron Mohr 222
#11 Michael Henry 175
Winner - Ron Mohr
ROUND OF 8
Winners from the round of 8.
Single elimination, best-of-three games match play.
Losers eliminated, earn $1,700.
#1 Harry Sullins 214 216 245
#9 Sammy Ventura 237 183 236
Winner - Harry Sullins
#5 Lennie Boresch 256 234
#4 Wayne Webb 258 239
Winner - Wayne Webb
#7 Ron Mohr 279 244
#18 Darryl Bower 247 205
Winner - Ron Mohr
#11 Michael Henry 189 211
#19 Rick Minier 170 203
Winner Michael Henry
ROUND OF 16
Winners from the round of 16 and Qualifiers 1-8.
Single elimination, best-of-five games match play.
Losers eliminated, earn $1,300.
#16 Tom Baker 212 223 249 266 193
#1 Harry Sullins 219 226 223 227 206
Winner - Harry Sullins
#9 Sammy Ventura 189 235 168 244 256
#8 W.R. Williams Jr. 289 216 213 239 223
Winner - Sanny Ventura
#5 Lennie Boresch 200 200 218 178 234
#28 Kenny Parks 192 180 219 211 188
Winner - Lennie Boresch
#3 Mark Williams 215 228 177 214
#19 Rick Minier 224 152 236 246
Winner - Rick Minier
#11 Michael Henry 249 225 234 209 237
#6 Mike Edwards 214 258 180 218 231
Winner - Michael Henry
#23 Mike Mineman 212 193 213
#7 Ron Mohr 236 224 214
Winner - Ron Mohr
#6 Bob Learn Jr. 217 212 176 197
#18 Darryl Bower 213 223 183 231
Winner - Darryl Bower
#4 Wayne Webb 183 214 246
#20 Amleto Monacelli 167 199 234
Winner - Wayne Webb
ROUND OF 24
Winners from the round of 32 and Qualifiers 9-16.
Single elimination, best-of-five games match play.
Losers eliminated, earn $1,150.
#32 Kevin Humble 159 199 169 199 180
#16 Tom Baker 169 197 186 191 247
Winner - Tom Baker
#24 David Axon 221 224 226 179 203
#9 Sammy Ventura 201 226 216 180 215
Winner - Sam Ventura
#12 Ricky Beck 190 211 200 145 211
#28 Kenny Parks 237 188 190 213 212
Winner - Kenny Parks
#13 Peter Knopp 184 181 185
#20 Amleto Monacelli 214 236 216
Winner - Amleto Monacelli
#18 Darryl Bower 211W(9-8) 214 235 206 234
#15 Dale Traber 211 225 202 234 217
Winner - Darryl Bower
#23 Mike Mineman 215 202 218 248
#10 Charlie Tapp 194 204 169 209
Winner - Mike Mineman
#11 Michael Henry 259 227 248
#27 Dennis Lane 233 215 190
Winner - Michael Henry
#14 Jeff Richgels 185 227 195
#19 Rick Minier 195 228 219
Winner - Rick Minier
ROUND OF 32
Qualifiers 17-32.
Single elimination, best-of-five games match play.
Losers eliminated, earn $1,050.
#17 Tom Adcock 178 191 224 193 190
#32 Kevin Humble 234 165 168 205 203
Winner - Kevin Humble
#25 Dale Eagle 221 192 233 224 210
#24 David Axon 205 213 234 195 218
Winner - David Axon
#21 Dale Csuhta 193 213 258 164 223
#28 Kenny Parks 194 177 224 247 300
Winner - Kenny Parks
#29 William Keenan Jr. 211 224 204 225 189
#20 Amleto Monacelli 195 239 196 232 234
Winner - Amleto Monacelli
#18 Darryl Bower 184 211 212 190 249
#31 Ron Winger 201 185 205 244 230
Winner - Darryl Bower
#26 Kent Wagner 158 205 259 226 200
#23 Mike Mineman 176 256 236 178 206
Winner - Mike Mineman
#22 Robert Harvey 235 183 189 190 195
#27 Dennis Lane 182 192 152 254 205
Winner - Dennis Lane
#30 Don Sylvia 199 208 205 170
#19 Rick Minier 252 189 220 191
Winner - Rick Minier
