2024 PBA50 Granville Financial Open Stepladder Finals

The stepladder finals of the 2024 PBA50 Granville Financial Open feature Tom Hess, Chris Barnes, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Tom Adcock and Parker Bohn III.

Originally streamed live on BowlTV May 1, 2024 from Sandhills Bowling Center in Aberdeen, North Carolina.

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and we’re back just in time for our stepl final here Opening match Parker bone the third and Tom aot Craig Elliott along with Michael hugan Jr on the call here welcome Michael after you just got done competing out there this evening thanks Craig it’s uh good to be back here but uh wish I was one of the guys bowling but uh I’ll take I’ll take a top eight after the couple years I’ve had and uh since Tom Carter’s not here I’ll do my best to try to make this not boring for the folks at home do your best Tom Carter impersonation no I’m not going to do that he’s pretty good at what he does up here um I’m usually a pretty good sidekick so if you can do the Tom Carter impersonation I’ll sidekick you and we’ll be okay all right we’ll see what we can do we’ve taught Tom well he’s doing a great job hopefully he makes it back with us in The Villages next week and uh big shout out to Linda hope you’re doing well so this uh this this stepl here Michael um there’s a couple Hall of Famers in it four actually yeah just a few it’s pretty pretty stout field for the second event here on the PBA 52 season here in 2024 yeah no doubt the uh cream rice the top this week and um it’s a pretty powerful top five show so looking for some excitement here Parker came in as the uh guess the golden ticket the lucky dog the whatever term we we we still hav really come up with the proper term for that but he was a high seed loser and here he is with new life to try to run this step ladder and it’s going to take it’s going to take some work interesting though three of the guys on the show made their show here last time we were two years ago that’s true Barnes beat Tom Hess in the finals and Tom Adcock was on that show as well that is correct certain houses uh characteristic of the lane surface favors certain roles certain tilts and guys find that they you know history repeats itself for him in these bowling centers so no surprise there and you’re talking about Chris Barnes and Tom hes so they’re two of the best players on the pba50 tour so no surprise there in the show and oh they just keep falling like Domino’s for Tom Hancock and the one stat I found interesting is looking through some of the numbers during the break though is are these five players the guy that’s had the longest drought on this tour is Walter Ray yeah he’s the winningest player on this tour yeah on every tour and then out of these like you said out these these five players yes he’s gone the longest without a victory so as Tom atot got his first win last year he’ll defend into Villages uh starting in just a few days Parker did not win last year but Tom and Chris they won a little bit last year it’s interesting that uh Adcock has decided to move back left and go to a bigger ball the last match he actually do year at they end up the four five board and was able to Prevail in that match so what a difference uh pairs make and what a difference 15 minutes of practice and maybe a little defensive strategy for some of the players have forced at off that spot I don’t know he’s showing some versatil I’m not sure if he caught the match and he bowled over here on uh was it 29- 30 against or 27- 28 against Troy lint um where he actually threw year thing in practice up two three and jumped on top of that shot 300 the first game so I think other players saw that and said we can’t let him do that again cuz he had half a lane they just threw great shots but he worked himself something that wasn’t there all week long so yeah it’s a good strategy to make him push in a little bit and deal with what the rest of you Mortals dealt with right the the two1 combos of 281s you know that kind of pop in when you miss just a little bit or get a little bit quick with it yeah surprisingly I saw that in in both days of qualifying and the four games this morning and maybe a touch in the first match but but after the second round or the first round of match play this morning the whole field almost moved right we were able to play straighter and the ball actually you know gave us a little hold a little swing out there which we didn’t have all week out there which was quite surprising so I didn’t see too many 210s the last two matches but um unfortunately I saw a few miss lefts that didn’t come out too well for me I saw that a few times against Walter and that was the end of it well there’s there’s no shame when you lose to Walter Ray because you know he B great today as you did in your first match as well but there’s you know unfortunately somebody’s going to lose yeah you know I mean I I had a chance to force game game three I messenger missed messenger 10 in the in the ninth and doubled in the 10th forced him to get the first one and he did so um you know hats off to him he did what he needed to do and that’s why he has more wins than anybody because he does it more often than everybody else so uh you know no shame in that like I said the last couple years have been a struggle and to make a top eight and have a chance the show it it felt really good so um but you know I kind of had the same thing Parker had there you miss you miss inide your target a little bit and the ball’s not holding right now and Parker being the only Lefty he might not be able to develop that yeah he didn’t uh his first game in that last match was pretty rough U but he still makes the step ladder so whenever you give a guy like that a chance Anything Can Happen absolutely and being the only left here in the show if he’s able to figure it out and follow his own transition he could be pretty tough the rest of the day if he gets it going but uh as you said earlier it’s very strong field and he’s got his work cut out for him as as does Tom if he were to get there as well it’s not going to be easy so an early Advantage for Tom Mok with that open frame from Parker if he can capitalize and get three in a row after an opening spare like he moved in even more huh yeah this pattern um you look at it on paper and you think you should be just a little left of a track and you should be able to parallel a track and then Chase it in but you really couldn’t do that here there was so much friction in the middle of the lane that that we had uh you you’re almost forced like you said Tom moved in a little bit more you’re almost forced into that spot and forced to go away from the pocket earlier than you wanted to here so and even oh he did leave the seven so so of course he adjust off missing in a little bit and gives that a little bit more room and it hangs so exactly what you were talking about the earlier this pattern is creating a little over under force and it’s showing for Parker there’s a look at the bellly Hardwick so it’s 44 feet buffed out to 44 feet so what what is it that made this pattern so tricky then Michael is it I think it’s just a friction in the house um probably a little bit older surface and um you know there’s just when you have built-in friction it like I said you look like you could parallel in and shim it to the track but you really couldn’t you had to get in and throw it to the track and U if you didn’t do that you got kind of what Parker’s got going on right now so um and you know now he’s kind of at a big disadvantage obviously he’s behind the match but he has no one helping him break this Lane down so um it’s going to be a tall order for him to get it done I mean you never count him out but but it’s going to be a tall order for for Parker to move on now yeah I think in other events you know having decide yourself is sometimes beneficial but the way this pattern played in this Center you need a little bit of help absolutely absolutely you know I’m actually surprised that he’s got the push he has already but he’s creating that by going against the lane a little bit he’s not doing it because the the push in the Shimmer there yet they might create that that might be the last thing you want to do for is is create a shim around 20 but that’s what what might happen so and hes is pretty good there too and I’m sure Barnes and hes would like a rematch of two years ago here oh you know Tom would for sure there’s no question about that he he remembers those things those matches of course newly inducted PBA Hall of Famer and Mr Tom Hess his first event for both those players out here on the tour this year as they both bowled the TOC last week in akan I can’t see if he he did get the 10 out but uh again he gets it just a touch wide and uh the ball just doesn’t quite tip back now in a couple games that spot might develop and that might be dead flush but for right now it’s just a little touchy I don’t remember what the ratio was on this pattern but um I’m going I guess it was like 3 to one four to one something like that yeah it was just just under 3 to one I believe so it takes a little bit of time for that to develop and you have to be really good and that wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t really good that time and you know fortunate to just leave a two- pin there and extend his lead up by 25 with about half game to go and your partner struggling or your opponent struggling it’s a it’s a good feeling good feeling to have right there no doubt about it but as we’ve seen multiple times it’s momentum swings you you can’t let up if you you know get up here if Tom open and Parker doubles things get a little bit shaky there so he’s got to keep his foot on the gas absolutely you don’t ever want to give your opponent a chance to think they might win you want to keep keep the pressure on them as much as you can that was dead flush you know thing about Thomas you he made a couple of these shows but he did win last year and he’s probably a different player in the step ladder finals now he SW and got that under his belt so um I won’t I won’t see the nerves that we saw in the past from him he might still get nervous but he’ll handle it much better and you know I expect him to be pretty tough the rest of the day yeah he’s got an amazing resume before hitting the tour but yeah once he got that win you can tell it’s different right that the the confidence is there where it should be and oh gets the 10l but again it’s going to be little bit too a little too late for Parker yeah it was a pretty long introduction ction in the top five for the stepter going through some of their accolades every one of them’s got a very impressive resume in their bowling careers little spare celebration for Parker he kind of sees it writing on the wall figures might as well make the best of it he realizes a top five is still a top five and you move on to next week well 214 is the max now for Parker you know Tom ao’s pacing 219 so still a slim chance but he needs a lot of things to go his way right now that was one of [Applause] them yeah it was nice Parker sun came down and uh watched him a little bit this morning I’m sure he doesn’t get that to happen very often anymore so as well as barnes’s kid Ryan is here watching so yeah Justin hopped on the train uh from Savannah this morning 1:30 in the morning yeah bring the train up we over I’m not sure which direction it is I think must got to be it’s got to be Southeast got to be down no maybe it’s straight across here you know what let’s not tell people that we had geography in high school 30 some years ago and we might be able to figure that out but now again he’s light on that lane but fortunate to just leave an eight pin so there just where the trick comes in because if he tries to inch his body right or if he tries to slow the ball speed down the ball should go left almost immediately so as this goes on it’s this is going to be interesting how he decides to play that he could he could go to a different ball he could throw it a little you know spin it more maybe few different things he could do but I’ll be curious to see what movie he makes because that’s the second time in a row he’s kind of gone light on that l so well we I think we talked earlier about the one guy we saw on the field this week to kind of get away with with that high flesh and not get the overaction was was Glenn Morgan Smith whatever he did with his role we watched him sit here throw multiple shots and think oh that’s high that’s high it’s dead flush it just stays there but he doesn’t have the big heavy hand like some of these players do right so it’s not going to overreact but he had a great look for a while just uh a tough end of his match um earlier today about a top eight finish for Glenn yeah he used a little more surface and basically he was playing the the ball to burn up a little bit and just hope that he wasn’t plaque tening and uh un fortunately for him his earlier opponents gave him some opportunities and right he took advantage of it but but Tom didn’t give him that opportunity Tom took care of him when I I said Tom switched that urethane ball and he had a really good look there and once he went to the urethane ball he pushed a little too much oil down the lane for Glenn and Glenn was done so but was a solid strategy though knowing when you know 210s is a decent game you know somebody’s got to come out shoot 230 or 40 to beat you and you know that’s what Tom atock did to get to the stepladder final that’s pretty much going to do it for Parker right there I mean that was a pretty good shot and just checked up a little bit but to get to get back to what you said and we are not too far from Pinehurst and Par was a good score this week yes it was I mean it may not have been in qualifying but but obviously in some of the matches par was a pretty damn good score and I would say on this pattern about 210 was probably par so that’s about right did you get out and get to play this week while you were here I did actually I got to play number eight and number four before the tournament started um very blessed very lucky um I played well on number eight number four handed me my lunch this is a beautiful area and then another split for Parker we’ve got a chance seems like every time we go back and forth from a hotel it takes us a different route I think maybe the visitors bureau doesn’t on purpose so you get to see the whole area but nice Countryside around here well there’s only a few roads that run in and out of this Bowling Center so tell you swear it’s been different every single time it’s just du to traffic what time of the day you’re leaving and so forth but it’s nice like you said you get to see a little country and a little scenic route it’s not so bad so unfortunately for Parker he is going to pay the full throttle mistake for uh being the only Lefty on the show and not having anyone else break his side down and um you know it’s just one of those things on TV anything can happen and unfortunately for Parker it happened today but the one thing we know about Parker is he’ll throw three shots and he’ll come back and Shake Tom’s hand he’ll still be smiling absolutely you know and and I wonder in a situation like this I me these guys have done this for gear Parker knows he got beat the last match does I mean yes he’s in a step ligher but in your mind do you feel like I’m supposed to be here right does that kind of sit there like you know I shouldn’t even be here anyway you know you know what I mean you I think I think um the nature of this format you know knowing that that the high remaining qualifier going in in a round of eight who obviously loses but still gets in it’s your bonus and I mean yeah you got beat but you know it’s top five everyone knows the format everyone knows that qualifying matters and you know he took advantage of that so I mean a few times this year we’ve had some guys or maybe not this year but last year we’ve had some guys qualify in that wild card spot and they made runs on the show so you can’t approach it like you don’t deserve to be here I mean it’s it’s one match on one pair against somebody that you know if you don’t match up to it right you’re done so it’s easy to lose that last match because you’re bowling against the the best guys of the week you know top eight guys so so I wouldn’t approach it that way I mean I can’t speak for Parker but I would not approach it that way I just curious I we’ve used this for one all for a while and you I think Tom has actually made it from the 5 SE in one of the events to win it might have maybe might have been one other yeah I’m not I’m not sure we unfortunately we don’t keep stats like that but that would be interesting to know that you know just how many times Wild Card person has made it to the title match and indeed won the title I know on the national tour being the top seat hasn’t been too advantageous this year it’s been about 50/50 Over The Last 5 Years almost exactly this year it’s been uh just a bit lower than that unfortunately yeah so Parker’s going to go ahead and step up here and go ahead and finish out since this match is already over there’s no need to let Tom finish his his game he’ll let he’ll probably let Tom shoot topair and then he’ll step up and throw his shot kind of frast trck a little bit we got Walter Williams Jr warming up with the wings just want you talk about the number one SE in a regular tour struggling the sh I don’t remember who it was but there was a conversation before the last round of a match play at the world championship and I’m drawing a blank on who the player was but I he him in the hallway talking he’s like yeah you know I think I probably want you know if I be the three seed I’d be I’d be happy and I said no you might be the one seed it’s like well yeah but they don’t get they don’t always win it’s 100 $1,000 for first 50 for second you’re guaranteed 50 Grand you want to be the one SE I mean I understood what he was saying right you know the numbers aren’t there but no you want to be the one seed I’d rather be the one seed any day of the week you only have to bowl one game to win the title and you’re guaranteed second so I mean I understand the philosophy of wanting to see the lanes and all that and it may benefit you at times but at the end of the day your pocket book’s going to benefit from being the one seat every time yeah not worth the risk I don’t think so so he crosses over there and he’s just being the shman that he is I think he’s got to bring back the stash that’s that’s what needs to happen bring it back again is that when he started winning when he had the stash well it was evil Parker two years ago right he had the The Thin Mustache going yeah two years ago he’s pretty much Unstoppable he was on the show like every week it seemed like yeah we can’t remember if he won if he won four or five events that year and and took a week off Den B moresville [Applause] yeah 167 235 you see the four splits up there for Parker never got anything going started with a double but it was all downhill from there and Tom atock took care of business if Walter can get on Tom early and make him think about it maybe he can hold Tom off but if Walter doesn’t have any Miss left which he didn’t on that last f shot you know that he threw for his practice shot if Walter can’t create any Miss left at all Tom’s going to beat him okay because if if it if the ball’s going right and trying to recover Tom’s going to out strike Walter there so um Walter’s going to be Walter is going to have to be a little more precise and uh just hit the pocket more times than Tom to beat him I don’t I don’t see him out striking him any other way well here we go Tom aw’s going to start things out here in match number two after defeating Parker ball the third in The Opening match the step fter final what’ you see there I I don’t know if that was a matter of him not throwing any shots between and the first shot just being slow or if if just the lane sitting actually dried up a little bit more but he didn’t he didn’t clearly open up the lane as much as he did on the other shots and it stood up immed immediately so he may have to move further left and throw it against the grain so to speak a little bit more or he may have to he may have to go to a weaker cover maybe a shinier cover to help push the ball through the front part of the lane we’ll have to see what movie makes but I think probably weren’t anything it was just stiff he didn’t throw a shot while Walter warmed up and that first shot’s hard you know they used to always say commercial break coming out a commercial break was a hard shot well that’s a long commercial break for Tom atock right there so in Tom got to go throw a few shots on a warmup plan if you wanted to though but is that something that you like doing between or not cuz that could that confuse you no I what I used to do um when when I made the top five and won a match and got the bll other matches I take my spare ball over to the other pair and just throw a couple shots to stay loose but I wasn’t trying to gather any information um because clearly it’s not the same pair so but I do believe there’s a benefit to staying loose he got that in see he didn’t get that to the right he got that in and he didn’t have hold now he’s fortunate just to leave the 610 there but if if he does that a lot and Tom can get this ball to push to the right Tom’s going to beat him but um that could be just that lane too the left lane could just be breaken down and they may be forced to play it differently than the right lane and whoever figures it out quicker will be will be the one to move on they both got one shot on now I figure they’ll both make the adjustments and should be a pretty good match from here on out just teasing us there just teasing us yeah I mean Walter’s uh been known to go for months without missing any single or two pin combination spares and he’s shown he’s human a little bit more the last couple years but I guarantee you his spare percentage is still way up there I think we might have saw Miss A10 pin this week maybe I heard a rumor I didn’t see it myself but I heard it I heard it may have happened yeah Tom got that one a little bit farther right down Lane and it did recover so can you get the push here on this left lane is the question so Flanigan has predicted that Tom will win this event but he uh of course he said he’s playing the odds because there’s two Toms in the field right now so way to go Mike it’s not a bad pick but Chris Barnes and Walter Reay got something to say about that though absolutely but I mean there’s four players left so you got a 50% chance already I see he got that one a little bit more right and obviously he struck but that one did come in a little high flush so I think he’s going to have to make a move on that lane but you run the risk here if you move in a little bit and then you get a little quick with one you run the risk of 2 A10 again so that’s what I just thinking was going to ask you that question exactly so get out of my head Michael Hogan oh that was just vintage Walter right there dead slush so we’ll see what kind of move he makes does he just throw up better on this left lane or does he actually move in a little bit on this left lane I think he’s going to do both I think he’s going to pinch in I think he’s going to throw it better it’s just one of his quarterboard moves or a little more uh you know he may not even move in he may just Loft it more you know there’s no Talent he’s got so many tricks so but at the moment it looks like he did move in a little bit y so he did move in a little bit he did throw it better and consequently 10 straight back it’s the reason why he’s won so many times it’s in the 130 range I can’t keep track anymore of combined between all the Regionals and Senior regionals and national tour or PBA 5 t or 16 times on this tour got his first PBA 60 win last year in Columbus yeah he’s definitely had an impressive career oh really good shot really good shot I mean I can’t see the ball speed maybe just a touch quick but I I think he would take that off his hand every time that was really good well you can even see by that reaction looks like that shot on leftly and got him some confidence and he was ready to walk that one out he he peered that one well like I said off his hand I I liked it I’m sure he liked it and uh I’m sure if you told him he could have that shot for the next eight shots he wouldn’t throw another one he would just he would Robo repeat that and probably end up okay too this is the lane I’m curious to see what he’s going to do he’s going to rck right now it looks like um but I’d be Cur yeah that the 13s here a couple of these pairs the 13s are really tight um three gets pushed in a little bit pushed s of left towards the headpin a little bit um really easy a flat 10 on that with the way we’re playing the lane and he’s using surface to be really easy a flat 10 so he can’t afford to really fall much more behind Walter so he needs this to be a good shot needs a strike here yeah and this isn’t a building where we’ seeing a lot of pins flying I don’t know if we’ve seen many at all you know pop out to go you know like going at 710s or even not not a ton of Messengers here this week no oh the uh the pins go into the pit if if you’re shooting seven pins and 10 pins and um The Messengers tend to stay in front of the 10 pin here yeah he threw that one really good I think he did move in just a touch but but it’s hard to tell but he did throw it really good there was no worries about a high flush there that was really good shot that ball justes look like it it got bigger as it got closer to the pocket sometimes they do it’s it’s weird how when some guys let it go and you see the ball stand up on its axis and it it looks like it is growing in size and there’s like no way nothing’s going to stand of I wish my ball would do that more often maybe next week now see he did get that a little wider and that messenger actually went behind the 10 pin that time but but that’s what we were talking about pregame if he’s if if the Miss is right he’s not going to out strike Tom but if he can create hold left and he’s begging right there the P machine didn’t set it down he was begging for that to be uh no put back up but uh no no goat carry on that one yeah good question though doesn’t Hur to ask yeah ashle threw in and qualifying that wasn’t quite that much of a messenger but uh I left a 10 pen and I turned around I turned around and I went back turned back around to shoot to spare and then my guys on my pair go oh you got it and I I don’t know how it fell but it ended up falling so that was kind of cool so the match is even right now but Tom’s working on a strike so halfway through I say small advantage to Tom atock but this is obviously lot closer match than we saw the first one he gave that everything he had looked like it had a little bit more Loft than the shot before on that lane consequently just went a little longer down the lane and set up in front of the pocket instead of continuing ring 10 but again like Tom’s ring 10 on the right lane I think they both take those shots all day so and that could have been that rack too I mean I can’t see that rack that closely from where we’re at but uh if that three pins pushed at all it’s easy to ring 10 flat 10 on this so although I will tell you Walter’s not a big racker and his philosophy is if you throw it good it shouldn’t matter it’ll still strike so um it would have to be pretty off spot for him to rck it he just tends to play it like golf he plays it as it lies I’m with them on that too but for different reasons I don’t throw good enough to strike but the very first time I bowled men’s league I took a rear Rack in like the third frame and it went run away Brooklyn and I never heard the end of it so I don’t know if I’ve read Rex since then now that one I couldn’t see he walked in front of it but it looked like it was a flat T that ball the ball kind of burned up a little bit so they they might be affecting each other’s break point a little bit definitely not through the front but the break point they could be playing off each other a little bit so they’ll have to make some moves his reaction I think he liked it so yeah but I mean you still want a ball with surface and it doesn’t take much you know a little more a little more early roll or maybe just a touch carry down and that ball doesn’t see it doesn’t continue and all of a sudden you’re flat tning so a one pin match four frames to go two pin match sorry four frames to go far from over we’ll see who makes the adjustments for carry because obviously they’re both hitting the pocket this point I wouldn’t mind finishing first and interesting enough Walter did make Tom finish on that right lane that’s the lane that Tom is struggling on for carry so [Applause] like just relaxed a little bit on that shot and just rolled it yeah you know sometimes when you try to make it strike it doesn’t always happen and other times when you say okay I’m just going to hit the 1 three and whatever happens happens you you relax and no tension in your swing and you strike so easier said and done but getting your mind to relax like that is the trick again a touch right and another half 10 for Walter and it’s kind of what I thought would happen if if the if the ball was forced to get right and come back that Adcock would have the advantage and not a big Advantage but three pins right now well one thing different this week to normal is we did not have a camera on this pair through all the qualifying so we haven’t seen any Tendencies of this pair what the racks were doing you know where the best you know way to hit the pocket was to carry so I will say um like we talked about you said why were the players forced to move in um and it’s because of the surface of the building so we got 44t and we’re and we’re forcing players to to move in and as as they’re moving in the ball is is actually burning up a little bit to come back so you know that that’s been the characteristic I would say the the real flush or the High flush hit has been pretty good this week whereas a lot of times the half pocket light hits been is mostly pretty good but that’s the best hit right there when you can get in at that angle and you know even if you’re high flush it’ll strike there and then if you’re half pocket you can still slap the six into the 10 that is actually 129 and six for Tom atock not 130 somehow the computer having a math issue it wasn’t us this time yeah it’s one pen of handicap somewhere I don’t know so I was right it was a one pin match when I called it a one pin match but I looked at the score and yeah you can’t TR can’t trust those scores yeah I got to do old school we got to do it by hand I got that at that weigh in actually and it’s fortunate just to leave a five pin there I mean with the amount of friction on the lane that’s been a 510 right for a few guys this week when they’ve got it to that spot so so again guys if you’re watching at home the score is giving Tom one more pin than he actually has so be 149 in the seventh now it’s giving him another pin he’s picking up pins by not even striking oh I like this who does Tom know I want to ball on this pair so as as Craig said it he’s actually got 149 in the seventh with the spare in the ninth or spare in the eighth excuse me so it’s a two- pin lead but now it’s Advantage Walter because Walter’s on the strike was a much better shot was fortunate to trip the trip to four out but that was a much better shot off his hand trusted it got the ball to the spot so what I’m sitting here thinking regardless to who wins this game is what does this do for Barnes and and ultimately Tom hes as far left as atock is right now well atock looks like he’s throwing a a pie with surface on it so he’s throwing a pretty strong bowling ball with some surface I’m going to be willing to bet that hes and Barnes will probably use a cleaner ball they may not have to move as far left right away um but what I think is happening is I think the Lane’s actually getting better for those two guys CU they’re both capable of getting in and you know getting in and sending it to the right sure um so Tom score is correct now at 169 they have it correct so the score is correct Walter struck so now Walter is up by eight setting in a 10th Frame a double shuts him out for those that can’t do it Max score for Walter Ray 237 Max score for Tom 229 and 10 straight back ball in hand for Walter Ray if he were to strike here and not foul he would he would move on to the semi final match if he doesn’t strike here Tom can step up and win the match what do you think Craig 10 straight back for Walter here I’m not sure you can ever bet against Walter Williams junr need to strike I don’t think I ever would maybe if he was 80 got that one wide and got the half pocket mixer and long as he stays behind theou little something on that one he did give it the business for him though he got a little more on that one stays behind the foul line hits three pins he will be a winner just going right down the middle he’s still hook a little bit he only needs a few so that was a little tester for him I think he uh he knew he had the had the game one as long as he stay behind the foul line I think he was trying to see what he could do and get away with a little bit there I will say I’m surprised um like you said you don’t ever better gets Walter but the shot did call for you to go away from the pocket a little bit and Walter prevailed but he’s won a lot of times and he wasn’t supposed to so so that’s always a question that comes up through the years right if there’s one guy that’s you know you bet on to strike not picking yourself who would who would who would you pick through through history of bowling who’s the guy Mark Roth Mark Roth without a doubt if I ever needed a strike in the 10th I want Mark Roth throwing it for me okay 100% i’ never seen anybody better in in a pressure situation than him now obviously some guys are pretty good I mean obviously that the last time Pete won the US Open on tour he threw were pretty damn good to win um but if it came down to one shot and and I I’m dying or living I’m want Mark throwing it can’t can’t argue with that one either yeah he’s thrown it for the cheese quite a few times in his career yeah and even if had a great look I still might tap his ass in hey Mark throw this for me yeah well another good finish in this building for Tom atock third this year fourth oh sorry fourth this year see I’m giving them extra spots just like the score did yeah yeah yeah so there’s a matchup we’ve seen several times throughout the years Chris Barnes Walt to Ray Williams Jr semi-final match winner advances to take on Tom hes now now Brian Kane we haven’t heard from you much but who’s your prediction to to win this match to win this match I would go with uh Walter Ray Williams Jr um just because he’s uh had a game under his belt and he has a good look and he is uh the goat what do you think Craig well as I said last game it’s tough to have pick against Walter especially when he just needs a strike but Chris looked pretty good his last match um looked good uh for the majority of this tournament and you know he’s a guy he’s a tactician he’s never ready to get tricked out there so I got to give Barnes a slight edge here I think in this match and I agree with you I I think I think we are going to see a Barnes Hess rematch for the title match here and the biggest reason I say that is cuz Barnes can get farther left than Walter right which he might have to do oh wow oh does that not car he’s thinking come on can’t get any breaks yeah now again like you said um we we know Barnes can get further left than than Walter and that should be advantageous but we thought that last match too and Walter proved us wrong so maybe we shouldn’t put that out there too too much cuz we might crap Brian might look like the the the suser we might look like idiots but Brian’s also always comes out as a genius in his Booth so we’re used to it so let’s thr to the chat Barnes or Walter and why not just pick a guy what you tell us why that a Quantum is that that Evo looks like he’s no it was some other ball um is it like an infinity or something oh it could be similar colors yeah it’s not I don’t think it’s the Quanto I think it’s the infinity like we said Walter’s going to go dead flush and he’s yeah he’s going to dominate it’s a good shot for Walter after watching those guys get their couple practice shots in and uh he just does what Walter Ray does so Darren says Walter Ray because he graduated from calply I don’t know what that has to do with striking but good on you Darren that’s as good a reason as any for someone to win I guess yes so it looks like the chat room is split um some people are saying Walter because straighter is greater and other people are saying like you said Chris because he can get further left so it’ll be interesting to see but Walter looked really good there the last two shots yeah yeah those uh those weren’t those weren’t too shabby and Walter shown some of that youthful exuberance you know here here today as well so it’s good to see fan is here watching cheering them on his wife they’ve got to uh get out on the golf course I think took a tour of uh one of the courses this week as well there several players got to do that and Chris comes up light that’s that right lane again that we remember Tom was struggling with a little bit come up light a couple times so maybe Brian has got the crystal ball and seeing the future better than we are but the match is still early Al I will tell you was watching football last last year and uh Packers were playing somebody on TV I think I don’t remember maybe it’s the Lions or something and I said the Packers have no chance to win they haven’t playing very well of course they win and uh then I didn’t pick them to to to beat the other team that they beat they almost they almost beat the 49ers in a championship game so all I need to do is pick you right now and you probably won’t win so well I’ll be calling you during football season then absolutely bet against Mike I don’t know if he ball changed or not that’s the attention star no still the attention star and that was a much better [Applause] shot might have pinched in a little bit more and created a little bit more angle to the front creating a little bit more hold and we know he’s got enough power to strike from in there yeah Chris goes from one of the lower rev guys in a regular tour a few days ago to one of the High Rev guys on this tour I don’t care how much the Lane’s hooking when you when you hit the one three there you’re tough to beat he’s showing you why he’s won so many titles right there fck he cheated right on that one too looked like he did it looked like he got a little further right threw it a little firmer a little more Loft and the ball just finished right where it’s supposed to touch him the 1 three 59 shout out to Bo Burton hit those four pins he’ll strike all right now he’s just making us look foolish somebody told him those guys up there don’t think you can win Walter that is not the same ball on this Lane so did he go to the blackout no that’s could could be the eternity then I don’t know no I’m drawing a blank right now it’s not the power absolute power but it’s definitely not the uh definitely not the attention star that right lane as you mentioned that’s been a tough one trying to get all 10 pins down that’s the eternity looks like the eternity on that lane looks like it’s got a little pink and gray and a little swirl there so I’m going to go with the Eternity for now okay considering that we can’t really see it um that well on this and um I don’t know this is when we need our rovering reporter I’m not picking anybody next match we’ll just let Brian do all the all all the picks all the prognostication here in the booth every time we do our draft picks draft our fantasy teams he he crushes us well like we saw with Parker earlier Chris is in a in a world of hurt 85 in the fifth and Walter has got himself a good look going front four let see if he stays with that a little more Loft and a little more direct on this right lane like he did the last shot looked like he did but he looked like he just missed right just a touch but uh pretty good shot obviously but he’s in a position right now where he really just needs one more double and to stay clean and he’ll win the match so actually’s just needs to stay well yeah he needs one more double to stay clean and he’ll win the match so assuming that Chris strikes out yeah Barnes back 235 You by Walter standards that that was almost a Miss on that 10 pin there he barely got it but uh barely does count the front left corner of it now surprisingly Barnes had the choice to finish and Barnes chose to finish on the right lane most of the time the the pros will make the opponent finish last Barnes chose to make himself finish last so that means he really did not like that left lane judging by the first frame where he went high and then judging by the last FR where he went High we can see why he’s he’s chos chooses to finish on the right lane now so we know that uh John handguard is the oldest player to win on the PBA national tour at 57 years and some odd age how many months what’s the oldest player to win on the senior tour that’s a great question does anybody know in the chat can can someone tell us that answer because Walter is 63 I have to think somebody over 63 has won before but maybe not where we need Eric Hartman he knows all and Ron Mo might have been early 60s when he won his last title all right 235 still for Barnes Walters pacing 229 so someone’s saying Jim brener I not familiar with that name well you guys are you guys are guessing someone tell me the facts how about uh Tida wonder how old was Tia samz when he won last actually uh we might be able to look it up because they’ll tell you what year they did it h Walter rips the rack there 1997 for TSM as a showbo St Petersburg open I don’t know how old that would have made him though no I remember stuss Jean stuss won one I don’t think he was young when he won it but I don’t know how old he was so he’s born in 1934 well 63 for TAA that’s how old Walter is right now so that would uh depending on the uh the actual months but I don’t know there I I just feel like there’s someone else that one one older than that [Applause] jange St with 62 bar strikes again still mathematically in the match but Walter’s got 270 if he strikes out 240 with the spare spare Chris basically needing needing to strike out and hope Walter makes a mistake and uh Chris is definitely throwing two different bowling balls he’s throwing it looks like the attention star on the left lane probably The Eternity on the right lane someone says Langer won at 65 I don’t know that’s the PGA toour or not maybe it was I don’t know there you go froberger saying Jem brener at 66 years old yeah stov says the same I don’t know that name and they’re saying Walter 64 well we can we can verify that answer all right Chris Barnes looks like he’s uh he’s got himself a third place finish not going to defend his title here in this building in Aberdine no it’s that’s mathematically over now you’re right so Walter’s actually the right lane where everyone’s struggling on he’s moved right like you said he’s throwing it over the front a little bit he’s actually got the lane to open up for him so I’d be willing to bet that hes will make Walter finish on the right lane but that’s probably not going to hurt Walter as much as it did the other players [Applause] so there you go they’re saying Google says Jim brener 66 years old in 358 days almost 67 years old all right so wall it would still be very impressive if Walter win a win today he still will not be the oldest winner on the PBA 5 tour that’s wait two years he’ll still be out here balling he probably will be and you know he’ll probably win it two-handed of all things that’d be a story huh yeah come get that record Anthony Simonson or Jason Belmonte I don’t think we’ll see Jason Bowl in the PBA 5 tours no not a lot of money and no reason for him to be out here really with his legacy he might Bowl in just to say he won one but that’ probably be about it I that Chris showing his versatility he moved right threw it harder and straighter to last shot and of course he struck well 236 and 263 winning scores for Walter A Williams Jr he’s going to get newly minted Hall of Famer Tom Hess in this next match former Rookie of the Year former player of the year five-time titlist on this tour so Tom’s picking to finish on that left lane where Barnes didn’t like that one as much I’m not sure it makes a difference for Walter right now [Applause] so I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this or not but um obviously the Granville open we got to thank the granvill for uh sponsoring the tournament um Adam Krauss and Hills Bowling Center and um uh the perfect fit Pro Shop here at the bowling center and use bowling balls.com have helped contribute to sponsoring this tournament so thank you guys very much for for your support we uh we didn’t get get here last year we were off a year and we were glad to be back here and hopefully we will continue to to come back here in the future both players start with the strike I saw I saw bam he’s here today um we’ve seen him a few times this week I thought it was funny we were here setting up during Pro and Bam walks up and guy at the CER says well did you pay your PR entry I looked around and just kind of smil like he didn’t know who that was yeah he paid it a few times over yeah I think he’s good and if he didn’t I’ll pay it for him all right here we go Tom has looking to start with a double H the messenger rang but it dialed the wrong number there haven’t seen too many like that this week where they kind of ran out of juice there right in front of it they’ve either ran across the front or they’ve just ran behind it but that was kind of a weird one one thing to keep an eye on here Tom talked to us during the break after the advances round where he was really getting quick in there so he’s really worked the last uh couple matches on keeping ball speed in check and we know how strong he is he can definitely get in there and gas him once in a while so just kind of watch for that if his misses is past everything if he gets a little amped up absolutely and um you know he is um he is steeper through the front so if he does get quick the ball can push like you said and just not recover cover quite enough and that will be what we need to watch for with him he looked like he liked that off his hand but to me that got right earlier and picked up um could also be the pressure of winning again you said he hasn’t won in a couple years and clearly know he wants to win again but for the first time in a while Walters trailed yeah yeah I not even sure if I remember him yeah I can’t not even going to try to guess when his last step lter was we know his last we was at Odessa in 2022 on this PBA 5 t as he won he’s won regionals since then he won a doubles Regional with de Bernard back in December he won some of those uh special events in Phoenix you know that we saw earlier this year but on this tour he has 16 wins looking for 17 Tom has looking for number six what I always find interesting with Walter’s game is how from these angles it looks like he really gets the ball far away from his body but he still manages to get leverage on it yeah he’s he definitely has a a game or a swing you wouldn’t teach per se but he’s uh he’s perfected the art of Being square at the foul line and and being in the right position at the foul line and obviously nobody’s been a better winner than him so um if they had fixed Jim fick’s swing he would have never been the successful golfer he was and Walter does what works for Walter so [Applause] you mentioned earlier that you know Tom and Chris had that title match last year and you said Tom remembers very well um Tom wants to win this week very badly obviously he he let he felt like that one got away from him when he didn’t win to Barnes two years ago and to get back in the title match here and for him to win knowing Tom the way I do it would mean the world to him so absolutely I know he’ll uh he’ll give everything he has to make sure that he has a chance to win so he won’t leave anything in the bag so to speak there’s a there’s a very uh great point he had in his Hall of Fame speech a couple days ago he talked when he finally made the commitment to be a bowler full-time to be a bowler and now that turned into success and here on this tour uh where he became Hall of Fame eligible and ultimately got in Hall of Fame this year so pretty good career so far but he’s got several years left in him absolutely and uh to your point earlier about what you said he was working on this week that last shot he threw in the left lane was definitely a little bit slower a little bit better roll and ball finish between the 8 n and you could see the emotion out of him the the fist pump as he walked back definitely wants this one that one’s wide that’s got to be a product of him going high the last shot and I don’t know if he just made a move or just lost it off his hand but uh that’s a shot you don’t see Walter make very often right there I haven’t seen the spare maid marry much this week the hpin likes to wrap around the tent here for some stupid reason just like that I don’t know why but this is one bowling center where it does that quite a bit sorry Walter can we blame that when I’m Jin C as well no I mean un we’ve seen that’s just a characteristic that I think as a center is you know in some bowling centers that’s exactly how you make them but in here you have to get it hit the wall sooner or just never touch the wall to make them more I don’t know why that is but it just is the way it is and the old got a plaque 10 there on that one seven even kind of Falls a little bit late Walter’s losing his uh his Mojo there his good reaction of the pocket that he had that last game last two games 499 his two games here total 236 263 and right now Tom Hess is looking his shops [Applause] did get to 10 to go late the last time on the right lane and and the time before that he was obviously light um if he softens up his speed a little bit like he did on the left lane I suspect he’ll take 10 back and if he takes 10 back there I think he’s going to strike on the left lane and I think this match is going to be over I know big prediction there but but I think this is this is the key shot to keep his momentum going and he knows he needs this one and I suspect it’ll be in the one three well he sees the picture he knows what he’s got to do and now it’s just let let the body take care of take care of business here looks a little quicker oh that wasn’t bad n you can’t throw much better than that now what he does have to guard against is getting too soft and this ball not getting to the break point and checking up so let’s make sure he still stays through it even though he’s trying to throw it’s slower kind of like that yeah I mean you could see that was a little higher um but he did get through it nicely and that you know obviously helped to push and stay there but I suspect he’ll move a little bit on the next shot there but amping up doesn’t do any good it brings a 710 into play and some other things so I suspect he’ll keep that ball speed he’ll just pinch in on that left lane especially if Walter doesn’t strike and he knows nine Spar is good enough to get it done so not that getting inducted into Hall of Fame is ever a bad thing but Tommy Jones got inducted into the Hall of Fame a shot 300 right away and hes got inducted into the Hall of Fame and he’s on the verge of winning his the the next title next tour he Bulls in did Tommy win that week as well um remember I think he might have I think he bll Darren Tang or something didn’t he Wonder or something like that I’m not sure I think he did win that week yeah so shot 300 and one yeah I think on TV so could someone hurry up and put me in the Hall of Fame please yeah before next week yeah probably not going to happen but now what I thought would happen to Walter’s ball reaction is happening again later than I predicted it would but uh this is kind of what I thought would happen with you know with when he was bowling Barnes I thought Barnes would do what hes was doing and Walter might struggle a little [Applause] bit 213 to Max go now for wrw 2 that right lane got him couple times yeah which we were talking about was probably his better Lane at one point and it has jumped up and bit him a couple times so um probably both times though was a victim of him not making the best shot either so another great shot there I think the key is what he told you right there Craig he’s he’s really staying soft at the bottom for Tom hes and uh he’s getting through the ball nicely and the ball’s not overreacting and obviously it’s going to the pin’s phenomenal right now so kudos to him for working on something and being able to do it under pressure and and uh I think he’s one shot away from pretty much us handling him this title he’s going to take a lot of things to go off the rails here for a time not to win this week so Michael is is that the hardest thing to do in these situations when your bowling for title is just is keep things slow well keep things slow in your head maybe um for me physically the hardest thing is throwing it slow he did throw that slow there um for me when I want to throw the ball really slow that’s hard for me to do but but in this particular situation I mean Tom clearly has to match hand so sometimes the hardest thing is to stay focused and stay um you know on your game plan and stay dedicated to each shot you know um you can get ahead of yourself sometimes start thinking about other things you know instead of focusing a task at hand but he is in uh a luxurious position of if he feels frames he’s going to win this tournament so he was soft there and um left 3610 he obviously covered it I I’ll bet you whatever money I have in my pocket he doesn’t throw the next two shots slow he’ll he’ll make sure they get there and be aggressive and get to the pocket but I mean he’s literally one spare away from locking this up again assuming Walter R strikes out yeah I mean Tom goes N Out n Out is 214 Walter’s Max is 213 so Walter’s got a punch out and he needs something crazy to happen to H the last two frames that one that’s going to do it right there um so he went obviously three shots ago he went high and what he thought was a good shot looked like he made a small adjustment didn’t throw it quite as good and missed the head pin left I mean right and then makes a small adjustment off of that and now that ball hooks on him and you know he’s he’s got no answer for that right lane right now and this goes back to where we’re talking right the advantage will be able to get deeper than your opponent right is that kind of what’s cost him here is just be able to get steeper on the lane steeper through the fronts getting the clean part of the heads yeah I think I think what like we talked about at the beginning when you asked me why the pattern Force you left is because the the fronts and the mids hook here and so Walter’s going two-handed now just for the hell of it to try to open up the lane like like Hess and those guys are doing but because the fronts and the mids hook so much here uh just just the fact that Walter bowled three games on there now he’s drying up his own line and now he’s forced to move in a little bit but then when you move in a little bit you start to get in the lay down points where those guy started and so now he has to make another move hence the reason why he went two-handed um so that’s why like Hess and Barnes had such a better look per se moving in and going against the pattern because they were able to create false hold and um yeah it’s just it’s just very advantageous on that um if there wasn’t so much friction on the lane these guys would be further right and Walter might have been able to stay out there a little bit longer and and you know maybe Bowl another 260 game but but even just own like I mean when I bowl my matches I don’t have the highest rev rate and I was moving left off my own shot almost the whole time because the oil just doesn’t hold up long enough in there it’s flatter and it’s just going away that’s a winner right there and uh I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see Tom shed at here he tends to get emotional he tends to he has a great Passion he loves this game and it means something to him you know some of these guys bowling kind of go through the motions but this means everything to Tom when he wins and well I guarantee I’m going to go down there interview him here in a second I’m going to make him cry all right that’s that’s my goal so Michael if you would hang out here for a few minutes we appreciate you sitting in on the step LGH but I’m going to go down there and talk to our champion Tom H and we’ll come back in here and uh and then we’ll close it out uh for the evening so stick with us we’ll have a Winner’s interview and then Michael and I will we’ll wrap things up right here so Hess is clearly just going to the Motions now he’s going to be in the 250s uh best Walter can do is 193 if he doubles and and this slow rack and the waiting for the pens is about the only thing that could have slowed Tom hes down today well deserved he B great and uh Tom Hess is our 2024 PBA 50 Granville Financial open Champion um after being runner up here two years ago we didn’t blll here last year we came back this year and Tom is going to take home the first place check and pick up his six title Walter’s going through the motions he is again two-handing it and dead flesh and he might ask himself why he didn’t make that move sooner but again uh Walter at 63 or 64 years old very impressive to to be able to to not only adapt and and learn the ball two-handed but to be able to do it like that on the Fly I mean he switched in the ninth frame and he’s got two strikes that’s that’s very impressive Aaron I’m not sure but I believe first place is about eight grand this week thank you Chase um again just stepped in because Tom wasn’t here and uh you know it’s hard to carry a show by yourself and Craig and Brian have been doing a great job all week doing it but I figured I’d give them a little helping hand here for the show so uh glad you guys enjoyed it hopefully it was good for you guys and a couple guys may have learned something and I learned something myself you don’t bet against Walter Ray in the semi-final match thanks Brian and so Walter Ray being the showman finishes up two-handed and throws the last four to lose by well he lost by a margin we’ll just leave it at that but Walter Ray is great uh I think he’ll be back and uh that’s a wrap