Tom Hess won the 3rd annual 2-pattern La Crosse Open sponsored by La Crescent Wine & Spirit at Pla-Mor Lanes on Saturday.

In a tight finish that saw big moves made in the last couple of games, Hess earned the top seed with 2,280 for 10 games, just 39 pins ahead of 8^th place Steven Brinkman.

Hess rose to the top position from the 16th and final spot to make the cut to the semifinals at 1,343 for six games. 

Geoff Schewe was second at 2,275, defending champion Eric Fritton third at 2,269, Zach Woelfel fourth at 2,267 and Andy Mills fifth with 2,262.

Tony Oliva at 2,257 and Ken Duffield at 2,251 just missed the stepladder finals.

The 95-player field — just one shy of capacity despite the big snowstorm that hit the Midwest Friday night into Saturday morning — bowled six games with the top 16 advancing to the 4-game semifinals and 17^th-32^nd cashing. Chad Maas was 17^th at 1,340 and Matt Krueger 32^nd at 1,288.

In the stepladder, Woelfel opened with a 300-243 win over Mills, then beat Fritton 202-199 before falling to Schewe 214-212 in the match to advance to the title match.  

Hess then beat Schewe 206-193 to earn the $2,000 top prize.

Second was $1,500, third $1,000, fourth $800 and fifth $650.

The PDF of the full results is attached to the end of this story.

Here is what Hess posted on Facebook after his win:
"Wow what a day!!! Ball change to throw the last 4 in qualifying to sneak in to top 16 in 16th place. Went 239-246-207-245 in semi's to be the top seed for the stepladder and won my match. 2015 La Crosse Open sponsored by La Crescent Wine and Spirits Champion. Sorry Sean Rash and Chuck Gardner it's a Crown bottle not captain. Thanks again to everyone at the plant in Muskegon...all the hard work is paying off!!! Thanks to Nick Heilman and the staff at Pla-Mor Lanes for hosting such an awesome event. ‪#‎TeamRadical‬ ‪#‎Vise‬ ‪#‎LogoInfusion‬ ‪#‎BowlersConnection‬ ‪#‎BowleramaLanes‬ ‪#‎WeAreBowling‬ ‪#‎Bowl4Life "‬

My preview of the tournament is here.