Garden City, NY: Maniram Basdeo, a 60-year old taxi driver from the Bronx, NY, won the $3,000 top prize at The LIGBT’s Winter Major held at AMF Garden City. Maniram earned his sixth LIGBT title by defeating George Williams, Bronx, NY 268-216 in the final shootout. While George earned $1,500 for second, finishing third was Ferrill McNeil, Bronx, NY with a 205 worth $750. Rounding out the top 4 was Sunny Yee, Flushing, NY with a 182 worth $500.
Maniram dominated the final shootout with six strikes in a row in frames 2-7 after an open in his first frame. While Maniram locked up the $3,000 title by the 7th frame, George and Ferrill were fighting for the $1,500 2nd place prize. When George marked in his final frame it forced Ferrill to double to move into second place. But Ferrill failed to strike and settled for third place. Sunny had trouble striking, and with 4 open frames, finished 4th for a very respectable finish.
The Winter Major at AMF Garden City drew an incredible crowd of 270 entries (including 36 desperado entries), advanced 48 bowlers to the finals and paid out $13,350. The cut scores on the “Alcatraz” pattern were low and ranged from 651 to 675. High series of the tournament was shot by Mike Nenna, Tobyhanna, PA with a 725 in the Sunday, 2pm squad. There were 4 wildcard bonuses. The Friday night wildcards were won by Hee Jin Jun, Flushing, NY (1298) and James Hellen, Lindenhurst, NY (1277). The Sunday wildcards were won by So Young Chin, Whitestone, NY (1313) and Joe Ceruzzi, Ry Brook, NY (1302). One extra woman was added to finals to meet the women guarantee; Beverly Parker, Brooklyn NY shot a 658 in the Sunday 2pm squad.
LIGBT’s next tournament is a Beat-The-Board event on Sunday, January 26th (noon-2pm-4pm) at AMF E. Meadow. Top prizes are guaranteed at $1,500 & $750. To view the results of the Winter Major please visit www.ligbtour.com. The LIGBT is sponsored by Brunswick, Kegel, Knockout Ball Cleaner, Torch Bowling, Vietri Associates and Billvee Electric.