“SPARE to win.” Those three words from coach Manny Tagle was all 4th seed Rick Torres could think of repeatedly en route to his first championship in the June Senior Bowler of the Month tournament Sunday at Central Lanes.
Twelve bowlers decided to forego the Pacquiao-Bradley fight for a shot at being the June champion. Mike Woodrome and Ray Manibusan were the top two seeds respectively after the six-game qualifier.
During the shootout rounds, 9th seed Dave Fejeran got past 10th seed Roque Mendiola and 8th seed Norison Catbagan. In the other bracket, 6th seed John Crisostomo outlasted 5th seed Rudy Palaganas and 7th seed Manny Torre.
The quarterfinal rounds saw mild surprises as 3rd seed Zaldy Ponce stopped Fejeran's run 252-176 with handicap. Meantime, Torres nipped Crisostomo 184-163 with handicap to advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals saw Torres topple top seed Woodrome with a narrow victory while Ponce upset Manibusan by a wider margin to set up the final match with Torres.
The last match was untested waters for Torres who kept his coach's advice to heart as consistent sparing coupled with a couple of open frames by Ponce in the latter part of the game helped to seal Torres' first championship.
The next monthly tournament will be held 11 a.m. Sunday, July 22 at Central Lanes. This event is open to all bowlers aged 50 or will be 50 by Dec. 31 of this year.
