Brian LeClair Wins Johnny Petraglia BVL Open To Become Season's First PBA50 Tour Two-Time Winner
6/12/2017FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brian LeClair of Delmar, N.Y., won the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open presented by Brunswick to become the season’s first PBA50 Tour two- time winner.
LeClair defeated two-time PBA50 Player of the Year and eight-time winner Ron Mohr of Las Vegas, 245-195, in the championship match at Farmingdale Lanes to also win his third career PBA50 Tour title.
LeClair, who was the top qualifier for the finals, dominated from the start throwing strikes in the first eight of nine frames. Mohr, who qualified second, was able to get his ball to the pocket but had trouble with pin carry during the match.
“I don’t know that I bowled that much better of a game than Ron,” LeClair said. “The key for me was to keep my hand behind the ball at release to get more forward roll. Sometimes that’s an advantage and sometimes it’s not, but it looked like guys were having trouble with pin carry if they had too much side roll.”
LeClair went undefeated in the final round of match play winning all six of his matches to earn the top qualifying position for the stepladder finals.
“It was one of those days where it seemed like I couldn’t bowl a bad game and my opponents couldn’t get anything going,” said LeClair, who won the season-opening Pasco County Florida Open. “All the pieces just seemed to fit this week.”
LeClair finished second in last year ’s Johnny Petraglia BVL Open losing to reigning PBA50 Player of the Year Pete Weber 223-
204 in the title match.
In the semi-final match, Mohr, who was hoping to end a five-year drought without a PBA50 Tour win, defeated five-time PBA Tour and three-time PBA50 Tour winner Bob Learn Jr. of Erie, Pa., 226-168, to advance to the title match.
Learn advanced to the semi-final with a 243-197 win over PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela in the second stepladder match.
In the opening match, Monacelli, who was trying for his eighth PBA50 Tour title, beat John Conroy of Mahopoc, N.Y., 224-194. Making his first stepladder final appearance, Conroy earned a career-high fifth-place finish.
Article was posted with permission from Stars & Strikes, America's Bowling Newsmagazine. www.starsandstrikesbowling.com
