The challenging conditions at Paradise this week, made for a Great Battle all day long.  No one cracked 800 in the 'Best 3 of 4' format, which resulted in everyone, on the Cash List, being sandwiched into the 700s.  All 26 Cashers were within a narrow 82 pin spread.  It's actually a great lesson in how one variable can make a noticeable difference on the lane conditions.  We used exactly the same oil pattern that we used in our last two visits to Paradise... but Saturday, the oil was applied with a different machine, resulting in a noticeable difference.  As always, we'll make the appropriate adjustments for the next time we visit.  Speaking of visits... it was nice to have two Hawaii Tour Members (Cora Naki-Souza & Emory Carrick) spending Saturday afternoon with us.  Emory (pictured) was trying to make it TWO in-a-row after winning 9-Tap Tour Hawaii's last Tournament.  The 9-Tap Jackpot got off easier than it has in weeks, with Cecil Abay-Abay & Stan Tappe taking $150.00 each for their 4 Tappes.  The nice turnout (130) helped both Pots to grow for next weeks showdown on the brand new lanes at Kent Bowl.

78 year old Stu Gallagher wasn't feeling well Saturday morning with a bit of a cold, but decided to bowl anyway.  GREAT choice!  Stu not only wins his 1st Tour Title, he also becomes the oldest Champion in Tour history.  Leon Bemis has held that honor since his last Title in 2009, when he was 76 years old.  Leon is currently 9 months older than Stu and I'm sure he'll want to earn that record back!  Even adding Stu's low game (throw-out) to his total, he shot his best series since joining the Tour 19 months ago.  Stu shot his 792 in the 1st squad and was pleasantly surprised when he returned, after the 3rd squad, to find out he still had the lead.  That also led to a very nervous wait during the 4th squad.  Every squad had a bunch of bowlers within reach of the lead with a game to go and we even thought (for a moment) that one bowler had 'done it' until we discovered an addition error on the recap.  In the end, Stu held on for a tight THREE PIN Victory, worth a healthy $1,903.00.  His ball of choice was a Storm 'Natural', drilled at Secoma's Pro Shop, which is also where he does his league bowling.  He asked us to pass on his thanks to Mike & Gary at Secoma, as well as Leon, for helping him with his game.  Stu's been retired for the last 20 years, after working for Boeing for 33 years.  CONGRATS STU on a well earned Win #1.

The 2nd squad produced the 2nd Place finisher, when Walt Dalrymple came within 3 PINS of the Top Spot, ending up with his Best Finish, worth a nice $861.00.  He finished with his biggest game of the set, but I'm sure he can identify a number of opportunities for a few extra pins.  Then from the 3rd squad came our 3rd Place finisher, a very HOT Lynn Freeman, who had her second Top 3 finish in the last month, this one earning her a hefty $466.00.  There were at least 6 more bowlers with a shot in the last squad too, but none of them broke into the Top 3.