September 12, 2009
Garden City, NY: The Long Island Generations Bowling Tour (LIGBT) first season came to close at AMF Garden City. A total of 94 bowlers competed for over $5,000 in prizes. The winner of the scratch event was Joe Stillman of Staten Island, NY earning $1,000. The 210 & under champion, winning his second LIGBT title in a row, was Cary Fishman of New York City who earned $500.
The scoring pace at AMF Garden City was low as good shot making was at a premium. In the scratch event it only took a 209 average to make the cut in the under group and a 202 average for the seniors. The high qualifiers who earned spots in the final shootout were junior bowler Ray Novaro of East Patchogue, NY who shot an 1194 series (239 average) and Super Senior Ralph Ehrlich of N. Massapequa, NY earned the senior top spot, for a second tournament in a row, with a 1028 block (206 average). There was a 55 year age difference between the two qualifying leaders proving the LIGBT is truly “generational”!
The scratch championship shootout was very close the first five frames as all 4 bowlers were within 10 pins of each other. But Joe Stillman took control and struck in the 6th frame through the 10th to secure his first LIGBT title. Joe finished with a 245 giving him a comfortable 24 pin victory over second place finisher Super Senior Ralph Ehrlich (221) who earned $600. There was a tie for the last two spots in the shootout as Joe Novaro and Mike Wodinski both shot 176 and earned $350. Since Joe is an amateur junior bowler his winnings went directly to the USBC SMART program to be used for Joe to go to college.
The 210 and under final shootout consisted of bowlers with a lot of LIGBT finals experience. Cary Fishman earned the $500 top prize by shooting a 233 game (199 + 34 pins). Finishing second with a 212 game (201 + 11 pins) was Vito Genova, who finished third in the last event, and earned $250. Rounding out the top 4 was Jae Yi of Flushing who earned $175 with a 210 game (192 + 18 pins) and Robert Bader who shot a 206 (182 + 24 pins) and cashed for $125.
At the Garden City event the LIGBT announced its Season 2 schedule. The 2009-10 LIGBT season will consist of 16 events including 3 majors. The LIGBT will be visiting several new centers including AMF Plainview which will be the host of our next event on Sunday, October 18
th. For more information on LIGBT Season 2, and complete results of the Garden City event, please visit our website at
www.ligbtour.com or call the tournament office at 1.877.900.6464.