England’s Stuart Williams wins his second PBA Tour title in Tulsa Open

21 October, 2018

PBA National Tour

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Stuart Williams of England won all four matches and averaged 251 in the stepladder finals to win the FloBowling PBA Tulsa Open Saturday, the pinnacle event of the FloBowling PBA Fall Swing at The Lanes at Coffee Creek in Owasso, Oklahoma.

In a stepladder final that featured a dual lane condition pattern – PBA 39-foot Bear condition on the left lane and 33-foot Wolf condition on the right lane – Williams (featured photo) beat two-time Go Bowling! PBA Tour winner and finals top qualifier Andrew Anderson (left) of Holly, Mich., 237-215, in the title match for his second career title and the $30,000 first prize.

Williams, the No. 4 qualifier for the finals, was in control from the start when Anderson, the 2018 USBC Masters champion, opened in the first two frames after leaving splits.

“Bowling on two different conditions in the finals it was important to go with ball choices that I felt the most confident in and commit to those choices,” the 37-year-old Williams (right) said. “I was fortunate that I was able to stay with the same balls and game plan for all four matches and that really confirmed I made the right decisions.

“On the longer condition I wanted to throw slower and use a release where my hand came more around the ball. For the shorter condition, I concentrated on keeping my ball speed up and getting the ball to roll more end over end.”

The win was William’s first title since winning the 2012 PBA Bayer Viper Open. This season he has had best finishes of second in the PBA-World Bowling Tour Thailand and fourth in the Brunswick Euro Challenge.

“It’s nice to get another win here in the States,” Williams said. “It almost seems worse having one title than none. There’s a kind of validation when you win your second title, especially when you win in a tournament as difficult as this one is. It gets kind of frustrating when people say ‘your time will come’ and you’re still hanging there with one win.”

Live streamed on Xtra Frame on FloBowling, Williams started the stepladder finals with a 236-227 win over No. 5 qualifier Kris Prather (left) of Plainfield, Ill., who finished third in the Wolf and Bear Opens earlier in the Fall Swing.

Williams then beat Wolf Open winner 2016 PBA Player of the Year EJ Tackett (right) of Bluffton, Ind., 245-212, in the second match to advance to the semifinal.

In the semifinal, Williams beat fellow Englander Richie Teece (left), who was trying for his second tour win, 288-203, to advance to the title match against Anderson. In the 288 game, Williams fired the first 10 strikes before leaving the 6-10 on the 11th shot.

In the two other Fall Swing events, Williams finished 31st in the Wolf Open and second in the Bear Open which led up to the Tulsa Open.

Tackett’s win in the Bear Open made him the season’s first three-time winner and a leading contender for PBA Player of the Year going into the U.S. Open at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kan. Oct. 24-31, which concludes the season.

It was also a productive week for Anderson, another player of the year candidate, finishing fourth in the Bear Open and second in the Wolf Open in addition to his runner-up finish in the Tulsa Open. Teece finished fifth in the Bear Open and 43rd in the Wolf Open.

To get the Tulsa Open stepladder finals, the players had to first make the top 18 after 24 games of qualifying in the Wolf and Bear events and then compete in three six-game rounds of round robin match play which also used the dual lane condition.

England’s Richie Teece takes the lead in FloBowling PBA Tulsa Open
EJ Tackett wins PBA Bear Open to become first three-time winner this season
England’s Richie Teece takes FloBowling PBA Bear Open first round lead
Anthony Simonsen wins PBA Wolf Open for second PBA Tour title of the season
Big start vaults Bill O’Neill into FloBowling PBA Wolf Open first round lead
PBA Tour returns to Tulsa area for FloBowling PBA Fall Swing Oct. 15-20
2018 PBA Tour Schedule & Champions

FloBowling PBA Tulsa Open – Stepladder Finals

The Lanes at Coffee Creek in Owasso, Okla., USA (Oct. 19-20, 2018)

Championship Round:
1, Stuart Williams, England, 1006 (4 games), $30,000
2, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 215 (1 game), $15,000
3, Richie Teece, England, 203 (1 game), $10,000
4, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 212 (1 game), $8,000
5, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 227 (1 game), $7,000

Playoff Results:
First Match: No. 4 Williams def. No. 5 Prather, 236-227
Second Match: Williams def. No. 3 Tackett, 245-212
Semifinal Match: Williams def. No. 2 Teece, 288-203
Championship: Williams def. No. 1 Anderson, 237-215.

FloBowling PBA Tulsa Open – Match Play Round Three Results

Players with position, hometown, W-L-T record and 42-game total, including bonus pins. Top five advance to stepladder finals.

1, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 10-8, 9,680
2, Richie Teece, England, 11-7, 9,659
3, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 10-8, 9,629
4, Stuart Williams, England, 12-5-1, 9,605
5, Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 8-10, 9,551

Missed Cut:
6, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 10-8, 9,424, $5,000
7, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 10-8, 9,416, $4,500
8, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 9-8-1, 9,382, $4,000
9, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 9-9, 9,356, $3,800
10, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 8-9-1, 9,343, $3,600
11, Dom Barrett, England, 12-6, 9,311, $3,400
12, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, 10-8, 9,308, $3,200
13, Michael Tang, San Francisco, 9-8-1, 9,287, $3,000
14, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 8-10, 9,244, $2,900
15, Darren Tang, San Francisco, 7-11, 9,220, $2,800
16, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 8-10, 9,208, $2,700
17, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 5-13, 9,113, $2,600
18, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 4-14, 9,085, $2,500

Herbert Bickel