Working hand in hand with Ambros Inc., Storm Bowling Products Inc., and PinPoint Guam, Central Lanes Bowling Center hosted their first qualifying tournament since the pandemic which culminated in the event finale on August 1, 2021. Qualifying was held from July 25- 31, 2021. All week-long, bowlers were jockeying for an opportunity to compete in the top 24 for the finals event held last Sunday at high noon. A mixture of seasoned bowlers and new faces came to qualify for the tournament. However, due to a tie between Bruce Calip and Jaeceline Espiritu on the last day of the qualifying week, the top 25 bowlers proceeded to the finals event.
The top 25 bowlers from the qualifying rounds competed over eight games. Thereafter, the field was cut to the final five bowlers who competed in a step ladder format. With the first few rounds in play, Gregory Borja, RJ Santos, and Brian Manibusan led the pack. However, Cesar Villanueva Jr. did not let that get to him as he zoned in and shot all the way up from 11th to 2nd place with his 280-scratch score on the 6th game. Bowlers were getting restless and began dropping out by game seven. Villanueva Jr was able to keep his momentum as he emerged as the top seed after the eighth game with a combined score of 1785 including handicap.
The top 5 from the eight-game set advanced to the step ladder rounds. Jeremiah Camacho, Brain Manibusan, and RJ Santos, who were 3rd, 4th, and 5th place respectively, had to bowl their way to the top. Jeremiah Camacho emerged from the shoot-out to advance to the second round against 2nd seed Gregory Borja. However, Gregory Borja defeated the 19-year-old Youth National Team kegler in the semi-final round to advance to the tournament finals against top seed Villanueva Jr.
The finals contest was a must beat top seed twice format. In a close contest, Borja took the first game from the top seed extending the series to the rubber-match game. In the winner take-all rubber match, Villanueva Jr. went into a striking rampage to claim the Bud Light x Storm Summer Tournament title along with the $1,000.00 first place prize with a score of 258-236. Borja takes the second-place prize of $500.00, Camacho’s third place finish earned him $300.00, Manibusan was awarded a Storm IQ Tour Nano Bowling Ball while Santos took the fifth-place prize of $150.00.
Guam Bowling 