Sunday, June 25 – CENTRAL LANES BOWLING CENTER, Tamuning, Guam
With an opening 299 game in the qualifiers, Jim Pinaula led a wire to wire romp at Central Lanes Sunday afternoon to claim his third Senior Bowler of the Month title this year. The veteran kegler led the 6 game qualifying round with a blistering 229 average with handicap followed by Manny Torre with a 206 average with handicap.
The shoot-out rounds began with 10th seed Terry Roberto beating out 6th seed Rick Ada and 8th seed Rudy Palaganas 208 to 176 and 161 respectively in the even number bracket. Meantime in the odd number bracket, 5th seed Ray Manibusan held off 9th seed Ben Taimanglo and 7th seed Rosen Miguel 208 to 190 and 168 respectively with handicap setting up a quarterfinals match with 4th seed Thelma Arriola.
Manibusan wasted no time for his title shot and disposed of Arriola 207-160. 3rd seed Pat Roberto took advantage of her 3 pin handicap to oust sister-in-law Terry 223-220 to get into the semifinals with veteran 2nd seed Manny Torre. Newly elected Guam Senior Bowlers Association vice-president Manibusan faced the unduly task of trying to stop hot handed Pinaula.
Again steady spare shooting from Roberto plus a 17 pin handicap advantage got the senior lady bowler a title shot by upsetting the hard striking Torre 185-165 with handicap. Pinaula on the other hand was having a harder time striking until the final 3 frames where he strung enough strikes to get Manibusan off his back 214-182 to make the championship final against Roberto.
The championship final was held on lane 19-20 which has been historically bad luck for Pinaula and to top it off, he was bowling against his lady team mate from his Friday night senior league. But the two were left to battle it out as warriors as both struggled in the opening frames. Pinaula focused on stringing strikes to make up the handicap deficit in the opening frames. Roberto’s strategy was to make good shots and make spares to stay with the hot handed Pinaula who was still pulling 200+ per game going into the finals.
But just like his game against Manibusan, Pinaula mustered enough roll on his Brunswick Mastermind bowling ball to string enough strikes over the final three frames to stop Roberto and win the June title 184-162. This was Pinaula’s 3rd win this year virtually sending him as the top seed in the December grand finals for the Senior Bowler of the Year.
The next monthly senior tournament will be at 11AM, Sunday, July 23rd at Central Lanes. This tournament is open to all bowlers aged 50 or will be 50 by December 31, 2017. This is a handicapped event with a cash prize going to the top four finishers. For more information contact Central Lanes bowling counter.
Guam Bowling 