What started out as somewhat of a slow slow day wound up producing a pretty impressive turnout as the Tour made its return to Narrows Plaza Bowl...Oh, Yeah! and a pretty fierce battle broke out.  One mark of a really great competition is when numerous bowlers are able to position themselves to pull out a victory with a BIG finish.  With the popular 'Best 3 of 4' format in play, throughout the day, we had so many bowlers with a shot at that ONE BIG GAME to put them 'over the top' that we simply lost track of them all!  In all, there were 118 Entries and because of a 3-way tie in the last Cash spot, we added not one, but TWO to the list!  This was the 2nd week in a row that a tie occured in that last spot making for extra Casher's!  Thanks goodness for Rob's amazing mathematical skills! 

Three bowlers (Cal Fisher, Stu Gallagher and John Shaw) managed to hit the front 3 9-taps, otherwise there were no serious threats to the Jackpot.  This makes for some good news though as the Jackpot made a super-sized jump to $6,326.00!  This triggers a payout increase and starting next week at Paradise Bowl, ALL ties will be PAID-IN-FULL!  So, for example, if three people were to tie for a $500.00 Consolation, we'll pay the full amount to ALL THREE!  Since this wasn't the case on Saturday, Cal, Stu & John settled for $30.00 each. 

One of those bowlers with a final game shot at the Top Spot this week was Ashley Kochel!  Not only did she have a shot, she was on the same pair of lanes with the eventual Champ.  This marks the 2nd time since joining the Tour in April that Ashley has come so close to her first Title!  Ashley is a true example of perserverance as she entered this week having been battling a nagging injury...You see, she was suffering from a painful callous on her right thumb which was caused by TEXTING of all things!  Hopefully, being one of three to hit the 800 mark this week, the 3rd Place finish made it feel better in the end. 

Early on in the day, Bob Berryman set the pace by posting an incredible and seemingly insurmountable 815 series!  Being the Tour Veteran in the Top 3, Bob was looking for his 3rd Career Title but settles for a hefty $812.00 2nd Place check.  This brings Bob's career earnings to $14,833.00 and he serves notice that he means business!  Nice shooting, Mr. Berryman! 

This week's winner, James Pippin, is our 16th First-Time Champion of 2015 and shot his Monster 830 series in his first three games, pretty much taking all of the pressure off of him for his 4th game.  Capping his torrid run at the Title was a 290 Scratch game and if you count his 4th game, his series wouldn't quite exceed the personal best that he shot in a 2nd Place finish earlier in the year.  This was the 5th Top Ten finish of 2015 for Pippin and is certainly a 'Cherry On Top' of a VERY successful year!  He used his Brunswick 'Strike King' ball that was drilled by Dave Hansen and says that he hadn't planned on joining The Tour in Las Vegas this November but his $1,780.00Winner's share changes that!  He also said that he's paying back Mrs. Pippin (Hermie) for her assistance with his recent 9-Tap Tour entry fees.  James also wanted to thank the others who bowled on his pair "you know who you are" and says that he had an exciting run and that "The ball was just rolling very nicely today".  Congratulations, James! 

We would also like to wish Stu Gallagher a VERY Happy 82nd Birthday this coming Tuesday!  Stu finished with a 799 series, which was good for a 4th Place tie with Darryl Slaughter this week and many of you will recall him hitting the Jackpot for $5,914.00 back in May!