The 10th Annual Southern Open was held in Marietta, Georgia at The Brunswick Zone. Harold and Linda Bowman once again extended great southern hospitality to those attending this wonderful event. This year it felt weather wise as though we were in the northern part of the country as the temperatures stayed in the 70’s with a little rain for most of the weekend. The lanes for the morning sets were very fair to all however, the afternoon proved to be a different story as most struggled attempting to bowl their average.
The event began with Doubles competition. In the end, it boiled down to Keith Green and Phillip Daniel taking on Paul Cook and Don Porpora for the Doubles Championship. In the end, Keith and Phillip out dueled Paul and Don for the title. Great match between the two teams.
Friday evening the Up and Down event was held. It was a wonderful event as we were able to renew old friendship from those walking bowlers that have bowled with us for many years. There were some great scores bowl as Walt Roy had an 800 series. No tap or not, that is awesome bowling no matter the format. The winners were Gary Ryan and Dave Clark barely sneaking by the Tournament Director Harold Bowman and his partner, Eddie Johnson. A great time had by all.
Singles Competition began Saturday morning with the format being 3 sets of 4 games. In the “B” Division, it boiled down to two Virginians going head to head to the title. Janet Norwood took on “B” Division National Champion and High Qualifier went to Keith Green. Keith held off a late charge by Janet to take the “B” Division Title. Some say it may be time to re-rate Keith!!!! Great roll off to watch. In the “A” Division, it came down to the Tournament Director and High Qualifier Harold Bowman attempting to take the title facing Texan Paul Cook. When the dust settled, Paul won the “A” Division with some great bowling. Harold had a wonderful tournament however, bowling a 666 scratch series in the first set. Must have been the “666” that got him in the end. In the Scratch Division, Walt Roy, High Qualifier, took on Floridian Dave Roberts for the title. Dave chose a bright Orange ball to use against Walt hoping he would be partially blinded. However, the rumor is that Walt is color blind and it had no effect on his bowling. Walt outlasted Dave to take the Southern Open Scratch Title. Other notables in the Divisional Roll Offs were Phillip Daniel, Gary Ryan, and Wayne Webber in “A”, Steve Edgar, Robert Kimrey, and Tom Maciosek in “B” and Eddy Hutchens and Roger Templar in Scratch. Those not making the roll offs but having a great time bowling was JK Johnson, Don Porpora, Dave Nelson, Jackie Jordan, Norm Bissell, and Judy Mosher.
After the roll offs and winners were decided, we were treated to a great barbeque dinner to bring an end to another wonderful Southern Open. I would like to thank our National Sponsors, Storm Bowling, the USBC, and ABC Medical for being a part of the 10th Southern Open. Of course, I cannot forget Little Caesar’s Pizza for that continued support of the AWBA and Wheelchair bowling. Also, a big thanks to the staff of Brunswick Zone for all they did to insure that those attending had a great time. Thanks to all that attended. We always try to put our best foot forward when putting on this event and hope you all enjoyed.