Second seed Kathy Mandapat mustered enough magic Sunday afternoon to overcome hot handed fourth seed Jim McCoy in two straight games in a “first to 2 wins format, 201-182 and 244-205 to take the May Senior Bowler of the Month championship. It was McCoy’s second straight shot at the monthly bowling crown having fallen to Manny Tagle last month.
The four game qualifier had some high scores as Joe Murphy led this month’s pack with a blistering 913 total with handicap and a 213 average. The top eight shootout first round had sixth seed Jim Pinaula getting past eighth seed Buddy Saludo 217-202 while fifth seed Gene Bangayan overran seventh seed Manny Torre 245-183. The second round ended with Pinaula being stopped by third seed Nestor Valencia 240-222. In the other bracket, McCoy ended Bangayan’s title hopes 213-199.
In the semi-finals, McCoy upset top seed Murphy 227-187 and 234-183 as he had to beat the top seed twice in order to advance. The same story for Mandapat as she lost to Valencia 204-180, but came back to win 255-246 with handicap to make the finals.
Fighting fatigue and trouble stringing strikes, Mandapat stuck it out with good spare shooting and solid shot making to take the first game in the championship 201-182. With victory in her grasp, and a much needed encouragement from the sparse crowd, Mandapat finally put her focus when she needed it the most stringing strikes in the final frames and played a near error free game to beat McCoy for the title.
The victory also puts her on the list for the December Grand Finals. The December championship for Senior Bowler of the Year shall be held after the Asia Senior Bowlers Championship in Okinawa Japan. Interested bowlers can still vie for one of the Senior Team Guam spots provided they are 50 years of age by December 31, 2018 and are members of the Guam Senior Bowlers Association. Additional requirements are listed in the qualifying rules posted at Central Lanes.
Guam Bowling 