Babylon, NY: Gary Paulsen, a semi-retired senior bowler, won the $1,000 top prize at LIGBT’s sport shot event hosted at AMF Babylon. Gary, who is from Massapequa, NY, won his 4th LIGBT title by defeating Deon Taitte, Amityville, NY 270-249 in the final shootout. While Deon earned $600 for second, finishing third was John Sandano, Brooklyn, NY with a 220 earning $400. Rounding out the top 4 was Scott Kampf, Levittown, NY, with a 190 worth $300.
The 4 bowlers in the shootout had a wide difference in handicap. Scott was giving everyone pins with a handicap of 18. On the other hand, Gary had the most handicap with a ridiculous 71 pins. Gary started with a double and held the lead throughout the match. When Gary opened in frames 6 & 7 the match got tighter. Deon, who also opened in the 6th frame, struck out the rest of the way to force Gary to mark in the final frame to win. Gary struck which gave him his 4th title. John filled all frames except one but just couldn’t strike. Scott hit the pocket a lot but never carried the left lane.
The AMF Babylon event drew a great summer crowd of 110 entries, advanced 20 bowlers to the finals and paid out $4,500. The cut scores on the “Athens” pattern were moderate as the lower average division cut was 700 & 708 and the higher average division cut was 686 & 700. High series of the tournament was shot by Deon Taitte with a 759 in the 3pm squad. A total of 4 extra bowlers were added to the finals due to the “no division” insurance.
LIGBT’s next tournament is a 2-squad sport shot event at AMF Wantagh; Sunday, August 19th (1pm & 3pm.) Top prizes are guaranteed to pay $1,000-1st and $500-2nd. To view the final results of the AMF Babylon event please visit www.ligbtour.com. The LIGBT is sponsored by Kegel, Torch Bowling, Billvee Electric, Vietri Associates, and CLS Custom Upholsterers.