Duke Defeats Weber in PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino World Championship for Second PBA50 Major Title
8/24/2016WELCH, Minn. - When Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Norm Duke looks for motivation, he finds it in the milestone PBA50 Tour season that longtime rival and
fellow hall member Pete Weber is having this year.
Duke had extra motivation in the title match of the PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino World Championship presented by Storm Saturday beating Weber 234-215 in the title match at Island Xtreme Bowl for his second PBA50 Tour major and third title of his career on the tour for players 50 years of age and older.
"Any of us are capable of getting on a serious roll but the one Pete is on is something else," said Duke of Weber 's season that includes a record five PBA50 Tour wins with a record run of four in a row. "I had to look at it as not only stopping the roll he's on but starting my own." In the title match, Duke, who was the top seed for the finals and Weber, who qualified third, were tied in the eighth frame but Weber failed to strike in the ninth frame leaving the 3-
6-10 spare which he converted. It was then that Duke saw his opportunity and struck in the ninth and the first ball in the 10th to seal the win.
"I was kind of shocked that he left that (spare) at that point but I saw it as an opportunity," said Duke, who ranks third on the all-time PBA Tour titles list with 38 wins including seven majors. "I thought to myself let's get this done."
Duke ended Weber 's consecutive major titles string this season at two after Weber, the defending PBA50 Player of the Year, won the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by 900 Global and USBC Senior Masters in June.
The win was Duke's first since winning his first major, the Senior U.S. Open, in his rookie season in 2014.
"I've got a lot of catching up to do," Duke added. "I want to catch up to Pete, Walter (Ray Williams Jr.) and the other guys but I'm still a work in progress and have a long way to go." In the opening stepladder match, Harry Sullins of Chesterfield Twp., Mich., the winner of the 2009 PBA Senior World Championship, beat PBA50 Tour rookie Brian Kretzer of Dayton, Ohio, 201-193, to advance to the second match where he lost to Weber 234-
186.
Weber then beat PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III in the semifinal match 264-214 to advance to the championship match against Duke. Bohn, who was trying for his fourth PBA50 Tour title, won the PBA50 Treasure sland Resort & Casino Open last season which was conducted as a standard PBA50
Tour tournament.
Weber, who ranks fourth on the PBA Tour list with 37 wins including a record-tying 10 majors, was trying for his fifth PBA50 major and 10th title overall. In the eight PBA50 Tour tournaments he has competed in this season, he has two seconds and a fourth-place finish along with his five wins.
Article was posted with permission from Stars & Strikes, America's Bowling Newsmagazine. www.starsandstrikesbowling.com
