COLUMBUS —John Weber has seen plenty of strange occurrences during his time as Professional Bowlers Association Tour, PBA50 Tour and regional tournament director.
So a string of power outages over a two-day period during the PBA60 Tristan’s T.A.P.S. Memorial at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl was a glitch, but not a cause for panic.
“We’ll get through it,” the 64-year-old St. Peters, Mo., resident said after Game 1 Sunday of the second qualifying round was completed around 6 p.m., three hours after the scheduled start.
The first power outage hit Saturday when the 103-player field was in Game 8 of the first qualifying round due to heavy storms in the area.
“Everything was saved, including where the pins were standing on about 14 of the lanes. All of the other frames were completed to a certain point,” Weber said. “Everyone had completed Game 7. Some guys were in frame one, and one pair was in the fifth frame. We will return to that point in the game for all of them after (Sunday’s) qualifying games.”
With the anticipated late finish, Weber decided to adjust Monday’s schedule prior to Game 8 of the second round. The original 9 a.m. start time for the Round of 32 will be moved to 10 a.m., with subsequent rounds beginning at 12:15 (round of 24), 2:30 (round of 16) and 4:45 p.m. (round of eight).
The stepladder finals now will begin at 7:30 p.m.
“With the lateness of the finish time (Sunday around midnight),” Weber said, “it would be better to give the early shift guys the opportunity for more sleep before match play begins in the morning (Monday).”
WITHDRAWALS: Three bowlers withdrew Saturday, two due to injury. Bob Learn Jr. has been troubled by a knee problem and stuck on the approach early in the round. Jerry Sikora suffered a hamstring injury during the PBA60 event in Jackson, Mich. “He was disappointed because he wanted to continue. He has been bowling well,” Weber said. Also withdrawing was Gary Zwiezinski.
GOEBEL HAD LEAD: Bryan Goebel held the lead after the first seven games with 1,617 total pinfall, just 16 pins ahead of Canada’s John Chapman, with John Kirker Jr. sitting third with 1,584. High game of the first round was 279 by Chapman and Bob Rudnick.
NO CHARGE: Want to see the PBA60 players live and in person? There is no gate admission for Monday’s match-play rounds and TV finals. The Round of 32 for match play begins at 10 a.m., with subsequent rounds at 11:15, 1:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. before the stepladder finals begin at 6:30 p.m. The finals also will air on BowlTV.
PRIZE FUND: First place will pay $7,500, with $4,500 for second. The last cash spot will earn $1,050.
TOUR SEASON: Weber said the PBA50 Tour as a whole had a solid season. “The hosts have been happy with us and all have invited us back in 2023,” Weber said. “These senior guys are just so good to work with. They all have personalities that the people and proprietors enjoy. We should be good to go in 2023.”
WHAT ABOUT NORM? One of the questions was whether the recently-retired Norm Duke would following Chris Barnes and Parker Bohn III, who dominated the PBA50 Tour this season, into the senior ranks. “I called Norm before our event at The Villages (Fla.) to see if he wanted to bowl. He asked me how much was on top, and I told him,” Weber said. “He told me to give him three days to think about it. It took him a day to call back and say he was not going to do it. Maybe after he relaxes a bit, we might see him.”
SCHLABACH WINS REGIONAL
Meanwhile on Saturday in Grove City, Goshen, Ind.,right-hander Michael Schlabach captured his second career regional title during the PBA Bowlero/Grove City Central Open.
Schlabach, 25, compiled a 6-2 mark during match play and finished with a 219.00 average through 16 games to claim the win. Schlabach was one-half of the doubles team that captured the member-nonmember title last season at Wabash Lanes in New Philadelphia.
Northfield’s Ryan Liederbach, who was second following qualifying, finished third overall, one spot ahead of five-time winner Graham Fach of Urbana. Both are lefties, with the former being a two-hander.
Brandon Kennard of Wapakoneta, a 23-year-old left-hander and the qualifying leader with 1,849 total pinfall after eight games, took second.
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