Haugen and PBA come up big winners at Red Rock By Dick Evans

We should all hope that the Professional Bowlers Association finishes the last seven tournaments of the 2007-08 Denny's season the same way that Michael Haugen Jr. finished the final four frames of the H&R Block Tournament of Champions.

And, at the same time let's pray that the PBA avoids being snake bitten like Chris Barnes is on national telecasts.

Chris Peters, one of the three former Microsoft executives who own the new PBA, was almost giddy when discussing the possibility that the PBA could actually make a small profit for the first time since they bought the struggling old PBA in 2000.

Even Fred Schreyer, Commissioner and CEO of the PBA since Sept. 2, 2005, was encouraged and said barring any disasters in the final seven weeks then the PBA could finish in the black.

But he warned that nothing surprising or bad could happen in the home stretch to make that possible.

And he made his statement after watching bad things happen to Chris Barnes in the final four frames of his championship match against Haugen.

I was sitting next to veteran bowling scribe Joe Lyou and he said "it's all over but the shouting" when Barnes started with three strikes, converted a single pin spare and then strung two more strikes.

Meanwhile Haugen appeared to be a lost bowler after two splits, two single pin spares and a strike in the first and fourth frames.

The giant automatic scorer over the TV pair at the beautiful Red Rock Lanes read Barnes 148 and Haugen 96 after six frames.

Then Haugen changed one of his bowling balls and struck in the seventh frame and Barnes failed to knock over the 10 pin on his first shot in the seventh frame. Barnes left the six pin in the eighth frame and Haugen struck again and suddenly the large crowd that had paid from $20 to $60 for a seat came to life and off their seats.

Confidence seem to flow out of Barnes in the ninth frame when he missed his spare shot at the 10 pin.

The crowd gasped...many of them had watched Barnes make 44 straight single-pin spare shots during the match-game portion of the tournament and since the PBA started keeping such statistics Barnes had only missed 78 in 2,383 attempts at single-pin spares during match-game competition.

You could see a confident smile cross Haugen's face when he got up in ninth frame and later admitted "I never expected him to miss that 10 pin, it pumped me up"

So pumped and confident that he threw a resounding strike in the ninth and followed with two more strikes in the 10th before leaving a single pin. Barnes was slow and deliberate when he stepped on the approach in the 10th knowing a strike and 10 pins on the next two balls would win the title and $50,000.

Unfortunately, he left the two pin, made his spare and needed a strike on his second ball for a 215-215 tie and a single-ball duel to win his second TofC title. Instead Barnes left another single pin and lost the match.

Maybe saying Barnes lost it is not fair or good journalism because Haugen actually climbed out of the gutter so to speak with five pressurized strikes in the final four frames – three more than he rolled in the first six frames.

And Haugen, who had suffered through 200 PBA tournaments before winning for the first time Nov. 18, had a word of advice for all bowlers: "Never give up."

Those three words could describe a game or career or a life.

Haugen has gone from an also-run pretender to the winner of almost $100,000 this season and with a shot at the PBA Bowler of the Year title by virtue of his two titles this year.

It was ironic that the 40-year-old said that he lived close to the Red Rock Casino/Hotel/Casino when it was being built.

No question about it, in some ways the Tournament of Champions has come a long way since it PBA founder Eddie Elias first announced the first TofC tournament in Akron, Ohio, back in 1962.

The Red Rock Lanes represent everything that is good about bowling...beautiful, spacious, both spectator and bowler friendly, a good snack bar and rest rooms that Mr. Clean would endorse.

It was such a great location that the PBA held two events at Red Rock in one week – the PBA Doubles competition preceded the Tournament of Champions event on the calendar schedule but the T of C was held live Sunday Jan. 27 while the TV taping of the doubles event followed and will be shown Feb. 3 at 2 p.m.

The players and tour personnel will get a week to relax before the next tournament Feb. 6-10 in El Paso.

"One of the things the players said last season was that they would like a week break in the second part of the season," Schreyer said. "A twenty week season is tough on everyone."

He also revealed that holding two tournaments in the same week was beneficial to the PBA from a monetary standpoint.

Dennis Mathews, bowling operations manager at the Red Rock, appeared happy with the two tournaments.

"We were very excited to host the Tournament of Champions," Matthews said. "We did fairly well at the gate and our pro-am event did excellent.

"We will have to crunch the numbers but so far we are excited about the possibility of being the future home of the T of C."

Fred Schreyer was of a similar mind. "This is a great, great venue, we would love to come back if we can work out the details."

If the TofC returned to the Red Rock next year, it would be part of the PBA's 50th anniversary celebration.

"I have told our staff that the focal point of the 2008-09 season will be celebrating the PBA's 50th anniversary," Schreyer said.

That last line is important..."celebrating the PBA's 50th anniversary."

At the beginning of the 2007-08 season a lot of Doubting Thomas – including myself – doubted that the three owners would accept another financial loss so it was a make-or-break season.

Schreyer figured out a way to make it a potentially profitable season...thank goodness.

Cross your fingers that only good things happen to the PBA in the last seven tournaments...like the 1.3 rating for the Jan. 20 ESPN telecast.

Hope springs eternal – if you don't believe me then ask Michael Haugen...a non-winner for 10 years who changed the agony of a pending defeat to the thrill of victory final six shots.

They were six shots that will be heard around the bowling world.

Email address: Evans121@aol.com