Amateur Morgan wins his first PBA Senior title in Northern California Classic

    07/04/08

    2008 PBA Senior Tour #7

    Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood Calif., United States (June 29 - July 2, 2008)

    2008PBAS07NickMorgan.jpg Nick Morgan, an amateur bowler from Sacramento, Calif., won his first Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Senior Tour title at Harvest Park Bowl Wednesday when he defeated Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., 247-227, in the championship match of the PBA Senior Northern California Classic.

    Realizing a dream that began in his junior bowling days, Morgan was thrilled with his victory. The University of California-Davis collegiate bowling coach has tasted success in the collegiate ranks and as a past winner in the High Roller 40-and-over division, but, “This one definitely tops them all by far.”

    Like many PBA Seniors, Morgan has lived a “normal” life, raising a family and working for UPS for the last 25 years, but competing at the highest level has always been on his mind.

    "I’m close to retirement at UPS and I plan to bowl the PBA Senior Tour when that time comes,” he said. “The Senior Tour seems to be going in the right direction.”

    Morgan attributed his success in Brentwood to playing a straighter line to the pocket than most of the other players. “Straighter was greater this week,” he said. “I played dead straight all day and I made some good ball changes along the way. I never lost a single game all day.”

    Morgan, seeded No. 3 into match play based upon his qualifying standing, started his title run with a 3-0 best-of-five-game sweep of reigning three-time Senior Player of the Year Tom Baker, King N.C., in the Round of 16.

    He then disposed of Scott Hansel-Farrell, Stockton, Calif., 2-0, in a best-of-three match, and PBA Senior Tour champion Rohn Morton, Vancouver, Wash., 245-236, in the single-game Round of 4.

    Traber was the final victim before Morgan collected his championship trophy and $8,000 first place check.

    The PBA Senior Tour will take a month-long break before completing its season with the PBA Senior Hammond Open at Olympia Lanes in Hammond, Ind., Aug. 4-7, and the PBA Senior Decatur Open at Spare Time Lanes in Decatur, Ill., Aug. 9-12.


    PBA Senior Northern California Classic


    Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood Calif., United States (June 29 - July 2, 2008)

    Championship Match


    Single-game match. Winner earns $8,000. Loser earns $4,500.

    #3 Nick Morgan, Sacramento, Calif. def. #13 Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., 247-227.

    Round of 4


    Single-game matches. Losers eliminated, earn $3,000.

    #13 Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., def. #8 Robert Harvey, Boise, Idaho, 268-224
    #3 Nick Morgan, Sacramento, Calif., def. #7 Rohn Morton, Vancouver, Wash., 245-236.


    Round of 8


    Single elimination, best of three games. Losers eliminated, earn $1,700.




    Round of 16


    Winners of the Round of 24 and qualifiers 1-8. Single elimination, best-of-five games match play. Losers eliminated, earn $1300.




    Round of 24


    Winners of the Round of 32 and qualifiers 9-16. Single elimination, best-of-five games match play. Losers eliminated, earn $1150.




    Round of 32


    Qualifiers 17-32. Single elimination, best-of-five games match play. Losers eliminated, earn $1050.




    Mohr is red hot and on top in PBA Senior Northern California Classic


    2008PBAS07RonMohr.jpg The scoring pace at Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood, Calif., was red hot through the qualifying rounds, as was Ron Mohr, Eagle River, Ak., who averaged 252 for his 16 qualifying games.

    Mohr retained the lead he had earned yesterday shooting games today of 248, 267, 230, 289, 257, 246, 237, and 204. Mohr's comment on the 204 finish, "It wasn't exactly the finish I wanted. I couldn't get around the corner and I left a pocket 7-10 (split) but I'll take the 800 over (pins above a 200 average). I did make a ball change for the first three games because the back-ends seemed snappier today and then I went back to what I used yesterday".

    Mohr's top-eight qualifying finish allows him to bypass the first two rounds of bracketed match play and head directly into the "Round of 16", which is scheduled for tomorrow at 1 p.m. PST. Mohr also enjoyed picking up his first PBA 300 game yesterday. The only thing that would improve on his week would be winning his first PBA Senior Tour title.

    Given Mohr's impressive track record to this point, winning that title definitely seems achievable but it certainly won't be an easy task. Also heading into the match play rounds, which begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. PST, are three PBA Hall of Fame bowlers who will try taking the top spot from Mohr.

    Wayne Webb, Sacramento Calif., holder of 20 Denny's PBA Tour titles and the winner of the PBA Senior U.S. Open two weeks ago has qualified 15th. Dave Soutar, Bradenton Fla., winner of 18 Denny's PBA Tour titles and seven PBA Senior Tour titles is 22nd.

    Last but certainly not the least of Mohr's worries is Tom Baker, King, N.C., who has 10 Denny's PBA Tour championships and eight PBA Senior Tour titles under his belt, not to mention being the PBA Senior Bowler-of-the-Year for the last three seasons. Baker is lurking in 14th place.


    Standings after 16 qualifying games


    The top 32 advance to match play.

    1, Ron Mohr, Eagle River, Alaska, 4,036
    2, Ty Dawson, Sunnyvale, Calif., 4,000
    3, Nick Morgan, Sacramento, Calif., 3,880
    4, Hugh Miller, Seattle, 3,868
    5, Keith Sharp, Orlando, Fla., 3,850
    6, Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nev., 3,783
    7, Rohn Morton, Vancouver, Wash., 3,766
    8, (tie) Robert Harvey, Boise, Idaho, and Kevin Foley, Reno, Nev., 3,754
    10, Roger LeClair, Clackamas, Ore., 3,750
    11, Scott Hansel-Farrell, Stockton, Calif., 3,742
    12, Brian Brazeau, Ocala, Fla, 3,740
    13, Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., 3,730
    14, Tom Baker, King, N.C., 3,727
    15, Wayne Webb, Sacramento, 3,721
    16, Sam Zurich, Grant, Fla., 3,712
    17, Jay Aono, Boise, Idaho, 3,711
    18, Ron Winger, Las Vegas, Nev., 3,705
    19, Sam Carter, BenLomond, Calif., 3,704
    20, Dennis Jones, Fremont, Calif., 3,694
    21, Kenny Parks, East Chicago, Ind., 3,692
    22, Dave Soutar, Bradenton, Fla., 3,687
    23, Michael Henry, Brunswick, Ohio, 3,677
    24, Tom Carter, Rockford, Ill., 3,673
    25, Shannon Starnes, Fort Worth, Texas, 3,671
    26, Ray Cobb, Highland, Calif., 3,663
    27, Rodney Garrick, San Francisco, 3,661
    28, Dale Eagle, Tavares, Fla., 3,648
    29, Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 3,646
    30, Edward Silva, Manteca, Calif., 3,639
    31, Barry Richards, Lodi, Calif., 3,631
    32, Ron Garr, Ridgedale, Mo., 3,630

    Missed Cut:
    33, Bob Brady, Santa Monica, Calif., 3,625
    34, Steven Jansson, Barnes, Wis., 3,613
    35, William Keenan, Jr., Orlando, Fla., 3,602, $700
    36, Don Blatchford, Santa Monica, Calif., 3,598
    37, Leo Plaia, New Orleans, 3,583, $700
    38, Les Shirwindt, Las Vegas, Nev, 3,579
    39, Steve Stein, Staten Island, N.Y., 3,576
    40, Vince Mazzanti Jr., Levittown, Pa., 3,573
    41, Bob Kelly, Dayton, Ohio, 3,561
    42, John Shreve Sr., Elyria, Ohio, 3,551
    43, Frank Fiscello, Bloomfield, N.J., 3,526
    44, J.P. Muller, Gervais, Ore, 3,524
    45, Teata Semiz, North Brunswick, N.J., 3,522, $700
    46, (tie) Frank Gallo Jr., Newport News, VA., and Henry Gonzalez, Colorado Springs, Colo., 3,519
    48, Jerry Walls, Klamath Falls, Ore., 3,510, $700
    49, Ralph Garner, Brentwood, Calif., 3,508, $700
    50, Chet Steengrafe, San Martin, Calif., 3,490, $700
    51, Tim Pierce, Portland, Ore., 3,481
    52, Rick Vittone, Canada, 3,474
    53, Bruce Hall, Palo Alto, Calif., 3,468
    54, Brendan Bierch, Grafton, Mass., 3,459
    55, Rod Michael, Florissant, Mo., 3,438
    56, Barry Gurney, West Hills, Calif., 3,437, $700
    57, Thomas Goodchild, Fairfield, Calif., 3,433, $700
    58, Vince Honeycutt, Monroe, Ga, 3,430
    59, Jim Montgomery, San Mateo, Calif., 3,428, $700
    60, Don Lane, San Francisco, 3,423
    61, Chuck Collondrez, Brentwood, Calif., 3,415
    62, Marc Clyburn, Pittsburg, Calif, 3,395
    63, Larry Graybeal, Elizabethton, Tenn., 3,374
    64, Will Friedrich, Green Bay, Wis., 3,373
    65, David Shell, Elk Grove, Calif, 3,366
    66, Ross Packard, San Jose, Calif., 3,360
    67, Jackie Miller, Bermuda, 3,359
    68, Phil Regan, Alameda, Calif., 3,353
    69, Patrick Wiemiller, Clovis, Calif., 3,348
    70, Wayne Richards, Fernley, Nev, 3,345
    71, Don Phillips Jr., Citrus Heights, Calif., 3,341
    72, Dick Baker, Henderson, Nev., 3,338
    73, Ken Waters, Kingsport, Tenn., 3,304
    74, Larry Galloway, Fresno, Calif., 3,297
    75, Bill Hewlett, Meridian, Idaho, 3,288
    76, (tie) Ron Sandusky, Visalia, Calif., and Chuck Huckelberry, Rockford, Ill., 3,272
    78, Tom Farrish, Murphys, Calif, 3,263
    79, Linda Carter, Rockford, Ill., 3,242
    80, Dan Clausse, Reno, Nev., 3,197
    81, Glenn Masukawa, San Ramon, Calif, 3,108
    82, Van Fenner, Reno, Nev., 3,003
    83, Paul Plummer, Boise, Idaho, 2,944
    84, Robert Reed Sr, Weed, Calif, 2,249 (WD)

    300 Games: Ron Mohr, Ron Garr, Michael Henry, Ty Dawson, Kevin Croucher.