In his eighth season on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour, Mike Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., finally won his first individual Tour title in the PBA One A Day Dick Weber Open Sunday at Fountain Bowl.
It will be an especially memorable win for Fagan as he defeated PBA Hall of Famer and all-time win leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. 241-213 in the championship match to earn the $25,000 first prize.
It was just a year ago that Fagan finished second in the Dick Weber Open after losing to another bowling great, Hall of Famer Norm Duke 278-168 in the championship match.
“I think I learned a lot from that experience last year,” the 29-year-old Fagan said. “The key for me was just to bowl the way I know I can and the results will take care of themselves.”
Fagan’s only other Tour title was the PBA Exempt Doubles with partner Danny Wiseman in the 2007-08 season.
“I’ve had a lot of experience bowling on TV so I knew it would be just a matter of time before I got another win,” Fagan said. “If I have a weakness bowling on TV, it’s probably selecting the right equipment, but I made the right decisions today.”
For Williams, who was trying for his 47th title, it was a matter of pin carry. He earned $13,000 for second.
“I just didn’t have the carry and Mike did,” said the 50-year-old Williams, “but he had a better angle to the pocket and he bowled a great game—it would have been tough to beat that.”
In the semifinal match Williams defeated Hall of Famer Pete Weber 234-178 to advance to the championship match. Weber, who ranks in a tie for third in all-time Tour wins with 34, finished third for the second consecutive year in the tournament named after his legendary father.
In the second match Weber defeated fourth-place finisher Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., 214-202, and in the opening match O’Neill defeated four-time Tour titlist Ryan Shafer 226-200 who finished fifth.
The Dick Weber Open featured the traditional open qualifying format used in the PBA’s early years with 15 games of qualifying determining the top 24 advancing to three eight-game blocks of round-robin match play. The top five players after match play advanced to the stepladder finals.
PBA One A Day Dick Weber Open
Fountain Bowl, Fountain Valley, Calif.
Jan. 31, 2010
Final Standings
1, Mike Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y. 241 (one game) $25,000
2, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla. 447 (two games)$13,000
3, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo. 392 (two games) $9,000
4, Bill O’Neill, Southampton, Pa. 428 (two games) $7,000
5, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y. 200 (one game) $6,000
Stepladder Results
Match One – O’Neill def. Shafer, 226-200
Match Two – Weber def. O’Neill, 214-202
Semifinal Match – Williams Jr. def. Weber, 234-178
Championship – Fagan def., Williams, 241-213
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