1993 Leisure's Long Island Open

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$150,000 LEISURE'S LONG ISLAND OPEN
Sayville Bowl, Sayville, N.Y., Mar 22-27, 1993
Dave Arnold Leisurely Rolls To 1st Title
The two biggest winners at the $150,000 Leisure's Long Island Open couldn't have been more different-and neither could have been happier when all was settled at Sayville Bowl. Six-foot, three-inch, 165-pound Dave Arnold rolled to his first PBA title by opening with eight strikes en route to a 268-259 win over Walter Ray Williams Jr. Arnold, Gilbert, Ariz., earned $30,000 for his victory, which also qualified him for the Tournament of Champions.
Five-foot, six-inch, 165-pound Ricky Ward of N. Fort Myers, Fla., continued to reign as "King of the Hill" by dispatching Arnold 269-265, for the $5,000 "winner-take-all" stakes. The four-game championship round also proved to be the highest scoring in PBA history, as the five bowlers averaged 254 to outscore the 1979 Fresno Open finals, which punched in at a 250 per game scoring pace. All told, 78.3 % of the shots thrown were strikes (71 total).
The unflappable Arnold ironically bumped his brother-in-law, Jess Stayrook, from the exclusive 52-man Firestone field.
Williams, Stockton, Calif., started the afternoon in exciting fashion when he was nearly perfect in crushing reigning BPAA U.S. Open champ Robert Lawrence, 299-245. A pesky 10-pin cost Williams the $100,000 perfect game bonus from True Value Hardware Stores, and two games later, the 1986 PBA Player of the Year had to settle for the $16,000 runnerup check.
Williams suffered no letdown following his impressive opening game, as he next defeated PBA President Mike Aulby, Indianapolis, 226-204. Aulby earned $8,000 for third place and Lawrence, Austin, Texas, collected $6,500 for fourth.
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
Pos. Name, City/State Total Amount
1 Dave Arnold, Gilbert, AZ 268 (1 game) $30,000
2 Walter Ray Williams Jr., Stockton, CA 784 (3 games) 16,000
3 Mike Aulby, Indianapolis 204 (1 game) 8,000
4 Robert Lawrence, Austin, TX 245 (1 game) 6,500
PLAYOFF RESULTS- Williams Jr. defeated Lawrence, 299-245; Williams Jr. defeated Aulby, 226-204; and in the championship game, Arnold defeated Williams Jr., 269-258. KING OF THE HILL- Ricky Ward, North Fort Myers, FL, defeated Arnold, 269-265, for $5,000.

[@kinger982]

Rest in peace Chris Schenkel! Forever the voice of the PBA Pro Bowlers Tour!

[@rockvilleraven]

And PBA Hall of Fame Member.

[@kinger982]

For sure, but the way Walter Ray Williams Jr was on fire after the first 2 rounds of the Long island open before Dave Gilbert cooled him off in match 3 to face Ricky Ward in the king of the hill showdown.

[@thrillcats]

Thanks for posting. I was there working that week for Leisure :) Great experience.

[@kinger982]

"And speaking of winners, I'm with two first let me introduce my colleague, 'Bo' Burton Jr and 'Bo'." A good line from the late great voice of the pro bowlers tour Chris Schenkel

[@NYDanno85]

I haven't seen this telecast since it was first on when I was a kid! Awesome upload. :)

[@titoortiz513]

I too remember this when I was younger...bowling ball tech has come so far so fast.

[@ARanere]

loved seeing the Dick Weber commercial

[@kenyongray2615]

Get scoring conditions on those lanes. It is fun to see a lot of strikes but it is also fun to watch the pros have to contend with difficult conditions to see the adjustments they have to make. Walter did great on that 12th ball. Can you imagine how fast his heart was probably beating on the approach before that 12th ball?

[@hisbassness]

I bet Walter was a little bummed that if Arnold hadn't gotten just one of his two lucky strikes the outcome would have been different. But that's bowling.

[@brianwaas7044]

Robert Lawrence could not have bowled a better 245 game than this!! Everything was in the pocket. He could have easily had 300!! However, I MUST give kudos to Walter Ray!!

[@masterchief247]

Man, back then, Walter Ray tore up the tour with that red Ebonite Crush/R. I remember him using it on so many episodes.

[@LowEnd31st]

Yeah he tore it up with any ball though, he had so many tv appearances you can’t even say that… he killed it with the ebonite dual core in the 80s and all the zones in the later 90s and 2000s

[@kinger982]

When you thinkk of this guy Chris Schenkel, he was the Pat Summerall of the PBA tour

[@DASamX5453]

I like how Robert Lawrence throws the ball....

[@vanni9283]

Okay let's do some math here....(299+226+259)/3 = 261.33!! So WRW averages 261 for 3 games, only to finish 2nd! Unreal, but I'm not surprised, b/c the next year, he would average 251 in the Bud Light HOF Championship (with games of 289, 226, and 238), and he wound up finishing 2nd in that tournament as well to tournament leader Andy Neuer (who shot a big 276 at him in the championship match).

[@sommerssmith]

Does anybody know during the top 24 rundown what tournament Hugh Miller was seen bowling in?

[@MrDorbel]

This is an historic broadcast, new reactive bowling balls and ludicrously blocked lanes. This tourney marks the time from which you could buy a ball and book a lane that would do it all for you. The game was more fun when a 210 was a good game.

[@kinger982]

Not only that but the late great Chris Schenkel and Nelson 'Bo' Burton Jr with the call of the action as well too.

[@1too3fore]

As if Walter didn't luck out on numerous occasions throughout his matches...

[@canuck_gamer3359]

What ball is Chris Lawrence using? He's wearing a Columbia shirt but that's definitely not a ProHook, color is more like a Beast but I'm not sure that ball was introduced in '93. Anyone know??

[@tirmyta]

I think King of the Hill would have worked better if it could have been a separate program, like the Championship Bowling series with Fred Wolf. With the King of the Hill match coming after the title match, it seemed awkward and didn't fit in (kinda like me in high school 🙂).

[@drewzuhosky6826]

In later years, the match was moved to the top of the program.

[@russellgilbert3453]

Walter Ray didn't post that last shot.

[@Mark-sj3xb]

I guess they don't have the jinx rule in bowling where the announcers refrain from mentioning a perfect game in progress.

[@sommerssmith]

$100,000 gone by the bayside???? No Big! He ended up wih almost $300,000 for the whole year. Talk about being on fire.

[@silly0981]

100K for a 300 on a ths??? Wish they still did that!

[@beeemm2578]

Sucks to shoot 240ish and lose by 50+..lol. ouch

[@HughGRektion]

pba too poor for that!

[@ii-nn9hw]

굿

[@mikerichardson7053]

Reactive resin