30
- July 2017
Walter Ray Williams Jr. Wins
2017 USBC Senior Masters
By Matt Cannizzaro or Aaron Smith
LAS VEGAS -
There isn't much United States Bowl-
ing Congress Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. of
Oxford, Florida, hasn't accomplished in his bowling
career, but he grabbed one more spot in the record
book Sunday by becoming the first competitor to win
the USBC Senior Masters and USBC Masters twice
apiece.
The 57-year-old right-hander entered the champion-
ship round at the 2017 Senior Masters as the top seed
and defeated left-hander Andy Neuer of Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania, 248-199, to claim the coveted title and
$16,000 top prize at the Sam's Town Bowling Center.
The championship meeting was a rematch of the title
tilt at the 1994 Bud Light Hall of Fame Championship,
where Neuer claimed his lone Professional Bowlers
Association Tour title.
This time, though, back-to-back splits in the fifth and
sixth frames proved to be the undoing for Neuer, while
Williams struck four consecutive times, starting in the
fourth frame, to pull away for good.
"I knew I had a pretty good reaction on the pair going
into the match," said Williams, also a member of the
PBA Hall of Fame. "The left lane was a lot tighter for
me, but it was the same way yesterday, so it wasn't too
much of a surprise. I had plenty of time to get lined up
and have a good read on what the pair was doing, so it
was just a matter of going out and executing and hop-
ing the pins fell."
On the way to his 7-0 record at Sam's Town this week,
Williams averaged more than 244, and his run included
a 707-626 win over defending champion Pete Weber of
St. Ann, Missouri, to earn the No. 1 seed for the step-
ladder.
Williams won his first Senior Masters title in 2014, also
in Las Vegas, and now is one of seven two-time win-
ners at the event. His Masters victories came in 2004
and 2010, both at the Reno National Bowling Stadium.
The win Sunday marked the 11th PBA50 Tour win for
Williams, who owns a record 47 PBA Tour titles..
"This is awesome, and it will help everything moving
forward in the season," said Williams, the runner-up at
the Senior Masters in 2010 and 2011. "Every win is
nice, and it's really nice to now have as many firsts as
seconds in this event. I also have a couple of seconds
in the Senior U.S. Open, so hopefully I can execute like
I have the past couple of days and get a win there,
too."
Neuer battled a challenging right lane throughout the
stepladder but capitalized on a great look on the left,
finishing each of his first three matches there, averag-
ing 253 along the way.
On the way to the meeting with Williams, Neuer fol-
lowed a first-frame split with seven consecutive strikes
to get past Weber, 247-213. He denied the hall of
famer the opportunity to become the event's first three-
time winner.
Weber won the Senior Masters in 2013 and was the
runner-up to Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela in 2015.
Weber has made the stepladder in each of his five Sen-
ior Masters appearances.
Neuer, the only left-hander to reach the championship
round this year, started the day with a pair of 256
games and wins against Bob Learn Jr. of Boynton
Beach, Florida, and Norm Duke of Clermont, Florida.
Duke and Neuer both started their match with four
consecutive strikes, before a 7-10 split in the fifth frame
slowed Duke's chance of becoming the third bowler in
history to win both the Masters and Senior Masters.
Neuer prevailed, 256-225.
Duke, a USBC and PBA Hall of Famer, is the 1993
Masters champion and owns 38 PBA Tour titles, includ-
ing seven majors. He also has four PBA50 Tour wins.
Neuer finished fifth in his Senior Masters debut in
2016 and started Sunday's stepladder with a 256-237
win over Learn, who rolled a perfect game in Satur-
day's shootout round to solidify his own spot in the
stepladder. Neuer and Duke also advanced through the
four-player shootout.
Neuer was the first to finish in his match against Learn
and left a 2-4-7 combination on his fill ball to give Learn
the chance to throw three strikes in the 10th frame to
win by a pin. Learn left a 9 pin on his first offering to fall
short.
The Senior Masters includes USBC members age 50
and older, and all 277 competitors bowled 15 games of
qualifying over three days to determine the 63 bowlers.
1 Walter Ray Williams Jr Oxford, FL $16,000.00
2 Andy Neuer (a) Lewisburg, PA
$9,000.00
3 Pete Weber St. Ann, MO
$7,000.00
4 Norm Duke Clermont, FL
$5,000.00
5 Bob Learn Jr. Boynton Beach, FL
$4,000.00
6 Tony Rodriguez Jr. R Cucamonga
$3,500.00
7 Mika Koivuniemi Hartland, MI
$3,000.00
8 Darryl Dempsey St. Petersburg, FL
$3,000.00
9 John Chovanec (a) Sugar Land, TX
$2,500.00
Brian LeClair Delmar, NY
$2,500.00
Lennie Boresch Kenosha, WI
$2,500.00
Paul McCordic SS Sugar Land, TX
$2,500.00
13 Scott Kraye (a) La Habra, CA
$2,000.00
Ron Mohr SS North Las Vegas, NV
$2,000.00
James Wallace (a) Hicksville, NY
$2,000.00
Doug Becker Clermont, FL
$2,000.00
17 Roger Kossert SS Lithia, FL
$1,500.00
Dana Wright St. Paul, MN
$1,500.00
Bryan Goebel Shawnee, KS
$1,500.00
Tish Johnson Colorado Springs, CO
$1,500.00
Joe Salvemini SS Yuba City, CA
$1,500.00
Junichi Yajima SS Japan
$1,500.00
David Smith (a) Fort Worth, TX
$1,500.00
Eddie Graham Centerville, OH
$1,500.00
Parker Bohn III Jackson, NJ
$1,350.00
Christer Petersson Sweden
$1,350.00
William Nichols SS Bella Vista, AR $1,350.00
Charles Vashaw (a) Deephaven, MN
$1,350.00
Marv Sargent Temecula, CA
$1,350.00
Ryan Shafer Horseheads, NY
$1,350.00
Sam Lantto Eden Prairie, MN
$1,350.00
Brian Kretzer Kettering, OH
$1,350.00
Hugh Miller SS Mercer Island, WA
$1,100.00
Andrew Frawley Australia
$1,100.00
Brian Cooper Henderson, NV
$1,100.00
Brian Voss Centennial, CO
$1,100.00
Chris Warren Grants Pass, OR
$1,100.00
Curt Rasnic (a) Fairborn, OH
$1,100.00
Scott Merritt Iowa City, IA
$1,100.00
Ernie Segura Taylor, MI
$1,100.00
John Debenedetta (a) Las Vegas, NV
$1,100.00
John Dougherty III Ft. Walton Beach, FL $1,100.00
Lewis Elting SS Carlsbad, CA
$1,100.00
Mark McCreary Livermore, CA
$1,100.00
Mark Williams Beaumont, TX
$1,100.00
Mike Scroggins Amarillo, TX
$1,100.00
Jeff Suma (a) SS Auburn Hills, MI
$1,100.00
Dave Sill Titusville, FL
$1,100.00
John Burkett Southlake, TX
$1,000.00
James Campbell (a) Clearwater, FL
$1,000.00
Gerald Sikora (a) Huron, SD
$1,000.00
David Cirigliano Phoenix, AZ
$1,000.00
Bruce Hall SS Westborough, MA
$1,000.00
Tim Shirlock Las Vegas, NV
$1,000.00
Amleto Monacelli Venezuela
$1,000.00
Billy Langford (a) Lone Grove, OK
$1,000.00
Mark Scroggins Canyon, TX
$1,000.00
Michael Haugen Jr. Phoenix, AZ
$1,000.00
Michael Tountas (a) Tucson, AZ
$1,000.00
Rick Minier SS Houston, TX
$1,000.00
Ricky Schissler Brighton, CO
$1,000.00
Ted Staikoff SS Black Hawk, SD
$1,000.00
Robert Worrall II (a) SS Co Springs, CO
$1,000.00
Kevin Croucher SS Grants Pass, OR
$1,000.00
Ed Silva SS Manteca, CA
$895.00
John Petraglia SS Jackson, NJ
$895.00
Timothy Myers SS Milwaukie, OR
$875.00
Paul Appling (a) SS Camarillo, CA
$875.00
Henry Dawson (a) Elma, WA
$860.00
Joseph Petrovich Tracy, CA
$850.00
2017 Super Senior Classic
From Page 28
1 Ron Mohr North Las Vegas, NV
$7,000.00
2 Junichi Yajima Japan
$5,500.00
3 John Petraglia Jackson, NJ
$4,000.00
4 Kevin Croucher Grants Pass, OR
$3,000.00
5 Paul McCordic Sugar Land, TX
$2,400.00
6 William Nichols Bella Vista, AR
$2,400.00
7 Dick Baker (a) Henderson, NV
$2,050.00
8 Thomas Baker King, NC
$2,050.00
9 Robert Reed (a) Weed, CA
$1,850.00
10 Warren Nelson Hemet, CA
$1,850.00
11 Ted Staikoff Black Hawk, SD
$1,650.00
12 Tom Carter Columbus, OH
$1,650.00
13 Mitch Vernon Olympia, WA
$1,500.00
14 Rich Cook Olympia, WA
$1,450.00
15 Gary Morgan Marietta, GA
$1,400.00
16 Darryl Bower Middletown, PA
$1,350.00
17 Mike Matosich Phoenix, AZ
$1,300.00
18 Steven Davis Manteca, CA
$1,250.00
19 Donald Blatchford Santa Monica, CA
$1,200.00
20 Terry Leong (a) Henderson, NV
$1,150.00
21 Russ Davies Las Vegas, NV
$1,100.00
22 John Dudak Orland Park, IL
$1,050.00
23 Randy Turner Shallowater, TX
$1,000.00
24 Kerry Painter Henderson, NV
$950.00
25 Gary Burke (a) San Diego, CA
$900.00
26 John Masiello (a) Kenmore, NY
$850.00
27 Koichiro Tamaki Japan
$800.00
28 Norbert Wetzel Fon Du Lac, WI
$750.00
29 Jim Heintz St. Charles, MO
$700.00
30 Jim Gordin Modesto, CA
$650.00
31 Jeff Jamison Boulder City, NV
$600.00
32 Max Shellabarger Layton, UT
$550.00
33 Marc Scherlis San Diego, CA
$500.00
34 Steve Kiss (a) Clackamas, OR
$450.00
35 Tim Dunbar (a) Largo, FL
$400.00
36 Vaughn Doody (a) Las Vegas, NV $300.00
