By BILL SNIER
FAIRLAWN — It’s been two weeks since Gary Haines had his life-changing moment.
He still is coming to grips with the reality of the situation.
“The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I think I’ve been at work maybe three days in three weeks,” said Haines, who shocked the bowling world in capturing the 2025 USBC Masters at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich., by going 7-1 overall in match play.
Prior to the win, the 36-year-old Babylon, N.Y., left-hander had just one regional title — a non-champions event. He also owns five regional runner-up finishes.
It came when the top-seeded Haines lost his first match to Anthony Simonsen 207-172 after going 6-0 in match play. But in the double-elimination match-play format, Haines had to lose twice to not win the title.
He won Round 2, 192-186.
Life has been a whirlwind ever since for the power plant operator for National Grid, who refers to his life as “Homer Simpson-like.”
“The attention is really new to me. I’ve just had a lot of different people coming up to me to talk, which is new,” said Haines, who is making his first PBA Tournament of Champions appearance this week at AMF Riviera Lanes.
“I’m the quiet guy, the operator in a power plant. I”m not a social butterfly. But it’s cool and it’s different. The love and support has been amazing. I walked in the bowling alley back home (AMF Babylon Lanes) and got a standing ovation. They replayed the last two frames, which was really cool.”
Despite now having a 10-year PBA Tour exemption, Haines does not have an inflated opinion of his own talent. After finishing 107th at the PBA Players Championship, he took ninth at regional over the weekend in Woodlawn, Md., while bowling 16 games on Sunday.
“I don’t think just because I won a major tournament that I’m one of the best in the world. It’s something where I know I can compete out here,” Haines said. “There’s days when the timing is there and days when the timing is not. I was fortunate to have the lead when the timing was on.”
During his matches against Simonsen, Haines had six Brooklyn strikes to keep his run alive. That seemed to stir up social media critics, similar to a year ago when Boog Krol recorded his first PBA victory.
“I really never looked at the comments until late. I just peaked at them after every show. But for every bad one, there were about 400 or 500 good responses,” Haines said. “It really doesn’t matter much to me because they are harping on everyone.
“They are just keyboard warriors with nothing else to do.”
It’s not like Haines hasn’t enjoyed success before. He does have a 300 to his credit in the USBC National Championships in Syracuse, N.Y., and solid regional performances.
“I’ve always felt better than average, but not quite among the best in the world,” Haines said. “But when I’m there, I can compete and I think I’ve shown that.”
This week, it’s a new center and experience for Haines.
“I’ve bowled a lot more lately than I have in a while. I felt a little fatigue on Sunday so I cut my practice session a little short (Monday),” Haines said. “This is a surface I bowl on at home. Maybe if I can get comfortable, I can put some shots together here.”
But the win — at least for now — is not going to change his philosophy about bowling on the PBA Tour.
In fact, he had not planned to bowl the Tournament of Champions PTQ to attempt to qualify for the field despite being eligible with his regional win.
“Let’s face it … I can’t afford to quit my job and just run out here. I’m not one of those 20-year-olds who can sacrifice a few years. I have a career to think about,” said Haines, who had made the Masters cut twice previously without a match victory.
“I will plan to bowl all of the majors except for the World Series, because I have to take off too much time from work. I will pick and choose from there.”
But everyone will remember that one win — and the special kiss he gave his wife following the advice of Brunswick ball rep, Dino Castillo, in the final match.
“After I won my first match, I was like, ‘all right, we have something here,’ ” Haines said. “But never in my dreams did it think I would go 6-0, end up on TV and win there.
“But it has definitely given me something to think about in the future.”
It was not a good start however for Haines, who had just two games over 200 and stands 62nd in the field with 1,176 (196.0 average).
ROUND ONE
Evansville, Ind., left-hander Matt Sanders, who shot one of the two 300s during the opening qualifying round, holds the lead after the first six games of the PBA Tournament of Champions. Sanders, who shot 300 in Game 4, is at 1,464, 15 pins ahead of 2022 TOC champion Dom Barrett, a 39-year-old English right-hander.
Others in the top five include a pair of PTQ qualifiers — Nate Purches (1,437) and Matt Zweig (1,430) — and Swedish left-hander Jesper Svensson (1,427). There are three lefties in the top 10 after Round 1.
Kevin McCune had the other 300 in Game 4 and stands seventh overall (1,419).
The cut after the opening round was at 1,325 (220.83 average).
NOTEBOOK
SENIORS IN FIELD: Champions do not pay an entry fee for this event. PBA50 winners must go through the PTQ to earn spots, while senior players who won on the regular tour do get spots. There are nine seniors in the field, including Chris Barnes, Mitch Beasley, Tom Daugherty, Tom Hess, Brian Himmler, Mika Koivuniemi, Robert Lawrence (the lone super senior — age 60 and older), Eugene McCune and Robert Smith. Only Carleton Chambers and Randy Weiss bowled as seniors in the PTQ, but neither qualified for the main field.
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for the event are $15 for an all-day pass Tuesday through Thursday or $10 per session. Tickets for the two stepladder finals at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday are available online at:https://vivenu.com/seller/professional-bowlers-association-eyvv for ticket information.
PRO-AM: Monday’s pro-am dew 94 participants, including 45 youth bowlers. During the handicapped event, players received strikes in the third, sixth and ninth frames over their three game series. In the youth event, Benjamin Venus finished with the top series of 786, followed by Eamon Bieger (744). Olivia Davies (703), Roman Floimonte (703), Collin Mertz (695) and Zachary Abbott (692). Abbott, a Lake High School senior, had the high actual series with 692. In the adult division, Mark Moffett led with 757, followed by Joel empicki (756), Faith Smith (710), Alex Dahn (694) and Mike Ware (671). Results are unofficial and combined with pro scores to detemine placers.
PRO CLINIC: The PBA held a high school bowling clinic Sunday with nearly 20 schools participating in the event.
NOTEBOOK: The field was at 64 players to start the morning round. … The pattern was the 2025 Don Johnson 44 oil pattern. … Fairport Harbor’s Casey Cohagan was as high as seventh after two games but finished the first round in 45th with 1,274 (212.33 average). … Among other notables, defending champion Marshall Kent is 25th (1,323), Jason Belmont is 31st (1,303) and EJ Tackett is 34th (1,297). … Sean Rash and Bill O’Neill, who will be inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame on Friday, are 32nd and 35th, respectively, after the first round. .. The second round of qualifying begins at 6 p.m., with Wednesday’s final qualifying round starting at 11 a.m. when the cut to the top 24 will be determined for match play.