11th Annual Luci Bonneau Memorial Mixed Doubles A Huge Success
By Tyson Branagan and Greg Stock
As expected, the 2010 edition of the Luci Bonneau Mixed Doubles in Houston, Texas
had yet another successful year. The festivities kicked off Friday afternoon
with the bowlers practice session and BBQ catered lunch, courtesy of the
incredible host and Tournament Director, Donna Conners. The first Pro-Am of the
weekend followed at 6pm, which as usual, was a sellout, and a great time had by
all involved, from the pros participating to the bowlers getting their chance
to bowl with some of the best to all others who were just there to have a good
time.
The next morning the competition got underway with A squad bowling at
9am.What started as a full field of 80
teams grew to 82 as a team was caught in traffic and two alternate teams were
added to keep all pairs with two teams.Early on, the lanes played much like practice session, there was plenty
of hook on the 38 foot pattern, and allowed bowlers to play for many different
angles early on to score.At the
completion of A squad, defending champs Parker Bohn and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard
led at plus 300, followed by Liz Johnson and Sean Rash.
The B squad started after a reconditioning of the lanes and much like that
morning, scores got off to a nice start through the first couple games, and the
transition and tricky pairs kicked in during the middle games.As B squad was coming to a close, the
intensity throughout the building built as teams were making their final push
towards the cut and to catch on the final checks.When all was said an done with qualifying,
2-time champs Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky built a large lead at plus 454,
with Bohn and Ballard in second at that plus 300.There was a tie for the 12th and final spot
at plus 199 between Brett Wolfe/Genie Franklin and John Szczerbinski/Elysia
Current, and that meant a one-game roll-off to determine who advances to
Sunday.
United States Bowling Congress and Professional Women's Bowling Association
Hall of Famer Robin Romeo of Newhall,
CA, stole the show as the top
individual bowler on either qualifying squad including some of the prominent
male PBA Tour members. Her total score of 1890 or plus 290 over eight games was
impressive on a demanding sport compliant lane condition. Ms. Romeo, a 17-time
PWBA and three-time USBC Women's Championships titlist, was a seven-time
All-American, a two-time winner of PWBA's Robby Award, and elected by the Bowling
Writers Association of America (BWAA) as Woman Bowler of the Year for 1989
after winning the Women's U.S. Open and setting a women's tour record for
single-season earnings of $113,750. She was voted earlier this year by the BWAA
as Senior Women’s Bowler of the year.
The roll-off was just as intense as the final game and a half and stayed close
throughout, with Franklin
striking out in her 10th, and giving teammate Wolfe a chance to mark to secure
the win after Szczerbinski failed to strike out and put the pressure on. Wolfe
nearly left an unfortunate 6-8 split, leaving only the 8 pin, spared it, and
closed out the game with a strike for the 421-418 victory. The final cash spots
went to a tie as well at plus 156 for 19th and 20th.The second and final Pro-Am followed, and was
every bit as much a success as the first one, maybe even bringing in more money
for breast cancer research.
Sunday morning meant the return of the top 12 teams and 12 games of round
robin match play with winning teams receiving 30 bonus pins, and teams who tie
getting 15 bonus pins. The scores werhigher
quickly during the finals, due a lot to the fact that the bowlers remaining had
the pattern figured out. Since many were the best in the world and the lanes
breaking down a bit nicer with players playing more similar to one another, the
scoring was intense.Wes Malott came out
firing averaging 274.5 through the first 4 games, including games of 298 and
290 to help himself and teammate Shannon O'Keefe quickly climb up the
standings.
However, the day itself was about Tommy Jones and Shannon Pluhowsky
again.At one point, they were more than
400 pins clear of 2nd place, before eventually winning their 3rd title in 4
years competing together with a 90 pin edge over second place
Malott/O'Keefe.Rounding out the final
standing were Rash/Johnson in 3rd, Carol Norman/David Haynes 4th, Bohn/Ballard
5th, Stefanie Nation/Chris Johnson 6th, Emily Maier/Mike Fagan 7th, Brinda
Burks/Greg Black Jr. 8th, Kristy Krol/Charlie Mills 9th, Franklin/Wolfe 10th,
Lynda & Chris Barnes 11th and Jessica Hirschman/Jack Zuniga 12th.
The tournament may appear to be dominated by some of the very best of the
PBA, and in a way, yes it was, but in another way, that is a bit
misleading.With the sport level lane conditions
applied, the chance was there for all to score and potentially make it to the
finals. The professionals did not have a big advantage because of the pattern,
especially judging by the log jam of scores from second to the final cash spot
in 20th only separated by 144 pins, and many more teams close.Many of the best gained their advantage by
minimizing their mistakes on the tough pairs and during the transition games,
and that led to the difference in making the cut, and being less than 100 pins
through 8 games out of the cut for many.
Special thanksto tournament
sponsor, Storm Bowling Products, all Storm Staff members, and especially the tournament
organizer Donna Conners.This tournament
wouldn't be anything it is without her donating countless hours and energy to
put it on for the bowlers, fans and for a great cause.But as she said, it wouldn't be what it is
without the bowlers, because without the bowlers, there is no pro-am, and
without the pro-am, there is no money raised for Breast Cancer research. The tournament
was held at Palace Lanes and special thanks to the Center for making this another
memorable event.
And special
thanks to all bowlers in the tournament and Pro-am for another great year with
proceeds donated to the Stehlin Foundation for cancer research in the name of
Luci Bonneau. Ms. Bonneau was essential to the promotion of women’s bowling in Houston and brought several ESPN LPBT bowling telecasts to
Houston. We
lost this great bowler to her battle with breast cancer. With her dear friend
Donna Conners, the memory of Luci Bonneau lives through this great annual
bowling tournament bringing the best male and female bowlers from all over the United States.
Final Results: 11th Annual Storm / Luci Bonneau Mixed Doubles
