Eric Taylor Jr., Scratch Champion
May 30, 2010
Garden City, NY: The much anticipated LIGBT Memorial Day Weekend Major at Garden City was a big success. Close to 400 bowlers packed the bowling center on a beautiful weekend. After 6 qualifying squads, and a four round finals, two new LIGBT Champions were crowned. The scratch champion was Eric Taylor Jr. of Brooklyn, NY who won $3,000. The handicap champion was Mike Ruggiero of Smithtown, NY, who won $2,000.
The scratch event attracted 150 bowlers and it was obvious from the start the lefties were at a tremendous advantage. The PBA Viper pattern was used and the low scoring was expected but the dominance by the port side was frustrating. Twelve out of the 18 finalists were left-handed.
The final shootout was dominated by the young Eric Taylor who started his final game with the first 6 strikes. The other two finalists were trying their best to find a shot but before they could figure it out Eric had a 45 pin victory. To win his first LIGBT title Eric rolled a 243 while Senior Champion Tim Regan of E. Northport finished second with a 198 ($1,500) and Adam Sher of Commack took third ($1,000) with a 166.
The 210 and under handicap event had another great turnout as 236 bowlers packed AMF Garden City. A total of 29 bowlers advanced to the finals with 6 bowlers earning byes by leading a squad. High series for the handicap event was thrown by Tom Piazza of Roslyn, NY who rolled a 750 series with handicap and bonus pins. Tom earned 2 byes in the finals for his high series.
The final match was very close as Mike Ruggiero and Michael Bernard, Copaigue, NY, bowled head to head to determine the LIGBT Handicap Champion. Mike Ruggiero started with a 17 pin handicap advantage and never let his lead slip away. In fact, the 17 pin advantage wound up being a 16 pin victory; 204 to 188. Mike Ruggiero earned $2,000 for his victory while Michael Bernard took home $1,000.
The LIGBT’s next event will be its Bowler Appreciation Tournament at South Levittown Lanes. This will be a special 2 squad tournament on Saturday evening, June 19
th at 4pm and 7pm. Top prizes will pay as much as $1,500 for the scratch event and $1,000 for the handicap tournament. Free food and drinks will be served to all entrants. For complete details of the Garden City Major and our upcoming event at South Levittown please go to
www.ligbtour.com or call us at 1.877.900.6464.