GREAT GREAT Tournament this week, with Tour Veterans dominating like we've never seen before!!  The Jackpot's Special $10 Bonus created plenty of enthusiasm and proved to be VERY popular.  We'll look into doing that again in some future Tournament!  The 18 payouts were close to what we were expecting and Tong Nguyen was the only multiple winner. The Jackpot Consolation paid out an additional $450.00, withManny Avila, Diane Vernon & Walt Dalrymple each earning $150.00 + $10.00 for their 4 Taps at the start of their games.  The scoring was right on target, with a perfect 'Cut-Line' score of 917.  Only ONE bowler cracked 1000 Saturday, in what proved to be an incredibly close battle all-day.  FOUR Veteran 'Life' Members (all with multiple titles), were atop the leader board until a First-Time Winner moved them all down a peg with a spectacular finish.

 

We've seen MANY Winners 'Jump for Joy' when the results are made official, but no jump ever reached the altitude that Diane Vernon hit when her win was confirmed!  To say that Diane just 'wanted' to win a Tour Title, would be an extreme understatement!  Since joining the Tour in 2004, she's come close many times, finishing 2nd (last August), 3rd (twice), 4th (twice), 5th & 6th (multiple times), but never 1st.  To capturethis Title, she needed to knock her husband Mitch out of 1st Place.  She and Mitch bowled in the 4:30 squad, with Mitch taking over the lead by just ONE PIN.  Diane had already shot TEN games in the Ladies Classic Tournament earlier in the day, plus the FOUR games in the 3rd squad.  Despite all those games, she not only decided to re-enter the last squad, she told Mitch the she was going to "Kick His Butt"!  Mitch actually enjoyed every minute of rooting for Diane, while she edged his score by just NINE pins.  This was the best ever Husband and Wife finish, topping Ardie & Buddy Budbill who took 2nd & 3rd in 2008.  In an unusual twist that we've never seen before, SIX of Saturday's Top 7 finishers were 'Life' Members (including Diane), ALL with at least 5 years on the Tour.  Diane used her HAMMER "Venom" which was drilled for her by husband Mitch.  She asked us to offer a special THANKS to Pat Johns, for tips she received in a recent lesson (Pat's also one of the Tour 'Clinic Instructors').  They have an upcoming trip planned for Las Vegas, so the $1,939.00 winnings + the $160.00 she earned from the Jackpot, should come in handy.  AWESOME Job Diane!!

 

Mitch Vernon is truly one of the most gracious Members on the Tour.  He joined the Tour in 2002 and reached a significant Milestone this week, thanks to his 2nd Place finish.  The $876.00 payday has now boosted him into the Elite $20,000.00 CLUB, with Career Earnings of $20,086.00, which doesn't even include the large sums he's earned from Jackpots, HG Pots and Brackets over the years.  Just ONE PIN back in 3rd Place, John Nissen inched very close to the even more Elite $25,000.00 CLUB with his $468.00 3rd place money.  2nd would have pushed him over that mark.  Quite a week for the VETS!!!