Norm Duke in Action. 
Sorry about this.......but side view of U.S. Open Champion Norm Duke 
Cantonment Fla. PBA bowler Todd Book, reviews his PBA score sheet after losing an earlier score sheet and receiving a $50 fine from the PBA. 
Two-handed Orange NSW Australian bowler Jason Belmonte, center, talked about his amateur bowling history with Schenectady bowler Frank Cornacelli and Livingston Manor bowler Shirley Townsend. 
Former Professional Bowlers Association tour Favorite Johnny Petraglia, right, talk professional bowling with Bowling Highlights Columnist Ed Townsend. 
Sullivan County bowlers attending last Sunday's PBA U.S. Open Championships included, from the left, proprietor of the A. J. Pro Shop at Kiamesha Lanes Alan Jones and his wife Suzie, from Livingston Manor and 17-year-old Daniel VanAken a student at Fallsburg High School. The PBA U.S. Open:
What Bowling Is All About
Extremely challenging lane conditions and 24 of the top bowlers in the world competing in round-robin match play for two days set the stage for an exciting match last Sunday at the 65th U.S. Open sponsored by Denny's and held at the 84-lane Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
This columnist traveled to North Brunswick last Friday morning and had this great opportunity to witness two gruelling days (Friday and Saturday) of round-robin match play for the 24 bowlers who advanced following 27 games of qualifying over the four previous days.
PBA bowlers Doug Kent and Todd Book put it this way, "the lanes are very challenging as they are oiled 40 feet from gutter to gutter and it doesn't take much to miss the head pin so with this difficult oil pattern if you do get an open, that's the way it is and you just have come back and get a few strikes if you can."
The 24 bowlers in the round-robin match play won out over the original 492 bowler field. Four of the 24 were amateurs.
This U..S. Open presented us with many great opportunities including meeting and getting to know Parker Bohn II, father of Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III, watched the Guru of Bowling Mo Pinel do "his thing" in the Semiz 11 Frame Pro Shop, chatted with Morich Bowling Ball Company Northeast Technical Advisor Mike Luongo, saw Cantonment, Fla. PBA Player Todd Book lose his PBA score sheet and heard him tell us he would have to pay a $50 fine for that......also had lunch-supper Saturday with Todd at our favorite Chinese Buffet Restaurant on Route 18 South, had a nice conversation with bowling great Johnny Petraglia, met and talked with two-handed Orange NSW Australian amateur bowler Jason Belmonte, attended the Sunday morning Youth Clinic where many of the top professionals teach and help youth bowlers for some two hours, attended the Sunday 2 p.m. ESPN live championship match and shared some bowling talk with the operator of the A. J. Pro Shop at Kiamesha Lanes Alan Jones and his wife Suzie of Livings;ton Manor and 17-year-old Daniel VanAken, student at Fallsburg Central High School who came down to North Brunswick Sunday morning for the PBA championship round and to watch the four bowlers in the Denny's All-American High School Championship which took place following the PBA event.
Alan, Suzie and Daniel said this was their first time attending a PBA Championship, they noted their enjoyment of bing there.
The U.S. Open championship round last Sunday afternoon offered much talk about the Grand Slam, two Majors in a season, $100,000 and the one accomplishment that has eluded Norm Duke in his illustrious career.
With so much riding on the line, getting a mark in the 10th frame was never more difficult for Norm..
Needing any spare to win the 65th Denny's U.S. Open, Duke left the 2-4-5-8, giving him flashbacks of the 2000 U.S. Open that slipped out of his hands by one pin. But facing the biggest spare attempt of his career, Duke converted to defeat Mika Koivuniemi, 224-216, to win his fourth career Major and 28th Denny's Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour title.
Additionally, he became just the second bowler in history to win the four Grand Slam events. the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Masters, Tournament of Champions, World Championship and the U.S. Open.
The win capped a wild roller coaster ride of a season for Duke, who just five weeks ago was on the verge of losing his Denny's PBA Tour exemption. He sat 51st in the PBA World Point Rankings after battling numerous injuries and, even worse, caught the flu the week of the Denny's World Championship.
Always known for having a flair for the dramatic, Duke made an incredible run through the World Championship to win his third career Major and, more importantly, earn a two-season exemption.
Fueled by the desire to win the most coveted event on Tour and the one he has had several close calls in, Duke was a man on a mission all week. Though he lost the top seed for the finals by going just 3-5 in the final round of match play Saturday night, he salvaged the No. 3 seed which meant he had to win three matches on Sunday for the title.
After looking unstoppable in defeating No. 4 Doug Kent, 234-160, and No. 2 Chris Loschetter, 267-245, to reach the title match, Duke faced the top-seed Koivuniemi, who was looking for his second U.S. Open title.
Koivuniemi held the lead until a spare in the eighth frame after which Duke struck in the eighth and ninth to take the lead. Koivuniemi had a chance to put some pressure on Duke by striking out, but he left a 2-pin with his first shot in the 10th, converting the spare and finishing with a strike to force Duke to mark.
With everything on the line, Duke re-racked but left the 2-4-5-8, one of the few bad shots he threw all day.
"I was protecting against going high because you can make the bucket but you can't make the 4-6," Duke (Clermont, Fla.) said. "But I wanted to strike, too, so it had to be somewhere in between. I didn't throw it awful, I just missed it enough. When I left that I thought, "It's over. I've done it again.".
Duke was referring to the 2000 U.S. Open title match against Robert Smith where he needed a strike with his first ball in the 10th frame to win, but he left the 8-pin to lose, 202-201.
"That was the longest 10th frame today," Duke, the first No. 3 seed since Dave Husted in 1996 to win the U.S. Open, said. "Under those circumstances, I was a lot calmer today than I had been on Friday and Saturday. Fatigue really plays a role in this event. If you watched last night, guys were dying and I was one of those guys. Not dying mentally, but physically. But I threw some warm-ups this morning and had the game I wanted to have and that really calmed me down."
After Duke picked up the 'bucket,' the diminutive crowd favorite who is one of the most emotional players the Tour has ever seen, pumped his fist and jumped wildly, showing just how much this event meant to him.
"I cannot put into words how special this is to me," Duke said. "Five years after I missed that shot against Robert I would still cry about it. It was the one thing I would constantly think about that I hadn't done. I could just never cap it off. Now, I'm the reigning champion of the U.S. Open."
The win capped off an incredible month for Duke, who became just the seventh bowler to win two Majors in one season. He moved past Mike Aulby into sole possession of sixth on the all-time titles list, moved into a tie for fifth all-time with his fourth Major and joined Mike Aulby as the only bowlers to win the Grand Slam, although his 1993 Masters title does not count as an official PBA title.
"This format, this grind. it's why so few people can actually win this event," Duke said. "There are probably 25 people out here who can actually win this. It's why Pete (Weber) has won it four times. Now after 27 years of dreaming, it means everything to my career."
Duke took home $100,000 for the win and extended his exemption through the 2010-11 season. Koivuniemi (Hartland, Mich.) earned $50,000 for second, Loschetter (Avon, Ohio) took home $25,000 for third while Kent (Newark, N.Y.) earned $13,000 for fourth.
The 65th Denny's U.S. Open concludes the 2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour. Chris Barnes wrapped up the 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year award last week, edging out six-time PBA Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. by two points in the standings to win the award for the first time in his career.
For the fourth consecutive season, six bowlers will roll off for a $150,000 winner-take-all top prize in the Motel 6 Roll to Riches special event, which takes place Tuesday, April 8 at Colonial Lanes in Orlando, Fla., and airs as two back-to-back one-hour shows on ESPN, Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. ET. Participants include Duke, Kent, Sean Rash, Michael Haugen Jr., Parker Bohn III and Chris Barnes, who earned a berth in the event thanks to Duke winning two Majors. Barnes was the runner-up to Bohn in a fan vote.
Local Scores And Features
Return Next Week
Due to the length of this feature story on the U.S. Open and pictures of the event our coverage of the local scores , The Tip of the Week and the Bowling Calendar will return in print in next week's column.
What Bowling Is All About
Extremely challenging lane conditions and 24 of the top bowlers in the world competing in round-robin match play for two days set the stage for an exciting match last Sunday at the 65th U.S. Open sponsored by Denny's and held at the 84-lane Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
This columnist traveled to North Brunswick last Friday morning and had this great opportunity to witness two gruelling days (Friday and Saturday) of round-robin match play for the 24 bowlers who advanced following 27 games of qualifying over the four previous days.
PBA bowlers Doug Kent and Todd Book put it this way, "the lanes are very challenging as they are oiled 40 feet from gutter to gutter and it doesn't take much to miss the head pin so with this difficult oil pattern if you do get an open, that's the way it is and you just have come back and get a few strikes if you can."
The 24 bowlers in the round-robin match play won out over the original 492 bowler field. Four of the 24 were amateurs.
This U..S. Open presented us with many great opportunities including meeting and getting to know Parker Bohn II, father of Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III, watched the Guru of Bowling Mo Pinel do "his thing" in the Semiz 11 Frame Pro Shop, chatted with Morich Bowling Ball Company Northeast Technical Advisor Mike Luongo, saw Cantonment, Fla. PBA Player Todd Book lose his PBA score sheet and heard him tell us he would have to pay a $50 fine for that......also had lunch-supper Saturday with Todd at our favorite Chinese Buffet Restaurant on Route 18 South, had a nice conversation with bowling great Johnny Petraglia, met and talked with two-handed Orange NSW Australian amateur bowler Jason Belmonte, attended the Sunday morning Youth Clinic where many of the top professionals teach and help youth bowlers for some two hours, attended the Sunday 2 p.m. ESPN live championship match and shared some bowling talk with the operator of the A. J. Pro Shop at Kiamesha Lanes Alan Jones and his wife Suzie of Livings;ton Manor and 17-year-old Daniel VanAken, student at Fallsburg Central High School who came down to North Brunswick Sunday morning for the PBA championship round and to watch the four bowlers in the Denny's All-American High School Championship which took place following the PBA event.
Alan, Suzie and Daniel said this was their first time attending a PBA Championship, they noted their enjoyment of bing there.
The U.S. Open championship round last Sunday afternoon offered much talk about the Grand Slam, two Majors in a season, $100,000 and the one accomplishment that has eluded Norm Duke in his illustrious career.
With so much riding on the line, getting a mark in the 10th frame was never more difficult for Norm..
Needing any spare to win the 65th Denny's U.S. Open, Duke left the 2-4-5-8, giving him flashbacks of the 2000 U.S. Open that slipped out of his hands by one pin. But facing the biggest spare attempt of his career, Duke converted to defeat Mika Koivuniemi, 224-216, to win his fourth career Major and 28th Denny's Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour title.
Additionally, he became just the second bowler in history to win the four Grand Slam events. the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Masters, Tournament of Champions, World Championship and the U.S. Open.
The win capped a wild roller coaster ride of a season for Duke, who just five weeks ago was on the verge of losing his Denny's PBA Tour exemption. He sat 51st in the PBA World Point Rankings after battling numerous injuries and, even worse, caught the flu the week of the Denny's World Championship.
Always known for having a flair for the dramatic, Duke made an incredible run through the World Championship to win his third career Major and, more importantly, earn a two-season exemption.
Fueled by the desire to win the most coveted event on Tour and the one he has had several close calls in, Duke was a man on a mission all week. Though he lost the top seed for the finals by going just 3-5 in the final round of match play Saturday night, he salvaged the No. 3 seed which meant he had to win three matches on Sunday for the title.
After looking unstoppable in defeating No. 4 Doug Kent, 234-160, and No. 2 Chris Loschetter, 267-245, to reach the title match, Duke faced the top-seed Koivuniemi, who was looking for his second U.S. Open title.
Koivuniemi held the lead until a spare in the eighth frame after which Duke struck in the eighth and ninth to take the lead. Koivuniemi had a chance to put some pressure on Duke by striking out, but he left a 2-pin with his first shot in the 10th, converting the spare and finishing with a strike to force Duke to mark.
With everything on the line, Duke re-racked but left the 2-4-5-8, one of the few bad shots he threw all day.
"I was protecting against going high because you can make the bucket but you can't make the 4-6," Duke (Clermont, Fla.) said. "But I wanted to strike, too, so it had to be somewhere in between. I didn't throw it awful, I just missed it enough. When I left that I thought, "It's over. I've done it again.".
Duke was referring to the 2000 U.S. Open title match against Robert Smith where he needed a strike with his first ball in the 10th frame to win, but he left the 8-pin to lose, 202-201.
"That was the longest 10th frame today," Duke, the first No. 3 seed since Dave Husted in 1996 to win the U.S. Open, said. "Under those circumstances, I was a lot calmer today than I had been on Friday and Saturday. Fatigue really plays a role in this event. If you watched last night, guys were dying and I was one of those guys. Not dying mentally, but physically. But I threw some warm-ups this morning and had the game I wanted to have and that really calmed me down."
After Duke picked up the 'bucket,' the diminutive crowd favorite who is one of the most emotional players the Tour has ever seen, pumped his fist and jumped wildly, showing just how much this event meant to him.
"I cannot put into words how special this is to me," Duke said. "Five years after I missed that shot against Robert I would still cry about it. It was the one thing I would constantly think about that I hadn't done. I could just never cap it off. Now, I'm the reigning champion of the U.S. Open."
The win capped off an incredible month for Duke, who became just the seventh bowler to win two Majors in one season. He moved past Mike Aulby into sole possession of sixth on the all-time titles list, moved into a tie for fifth all-time with his fourth Major and joined Mike Aulby as the only bowlers to win the Grand Slam, although his 1993 Masters title does not count as an official PBA title.
"This format, this grind. it's why so few people can actually win this event," Duke said. "There are probably 25 people out here who can actually win this. It's why Pete (Weber) has won it four times. Now after 27 years of dreaming, it means everything to my career."
Duke took home $100,000 for the win and extended his exemption through the 2010-11 season. Koivuniemi (Hartland, Mich.) earned $50,000 for second, Loschetter (Avon, Ohio) took home $25,000 for third while Kent (Newark, N.Y.) earned $13,000 for fourth.
The 65th Denny's U.S. Open concludes the 2007-08 Denny's PBA Tour. Chris Barnes wrapped up the 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year award last week, edging out six-time PBA Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. by two points in the standings to win the award for the first time in his career.
For the fourth consecutive season, six bowlers will roll off for a $150,000 winner-take-all top prize in the Motel 6 Roll to Riches special event, which takes place Tuesday, April 8 at Colonial Lanes in Orlando, Fla., and airs as two back-to-back one-hour shows on ESPN, Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. ET. Participants include Duke, Kent, Sean Rash, Michael Haugen Jr., Parker Bohn III and Chris Barnes, who earned a berth in the event thanks to Duke winning two Majors. Barnes was the runner-up to Bohn in a fan vote.
Local Scores And Features
Return Next Week
Due to the length of this feature story on the U.S. Open and pictures of the event our coverage of the local scores , The Tip of the Week and the Bowling Calendar will return in print in next week's column.
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