Dave Soutar of Bradenton, Fla., won his second Senior Tour title and 20th career PBA championship outdoors at The Villages Town Square in Florida Oct. 9 when the rain clouds changed into tropical cotton clouds and no longer posed the looming week-long threat of rain on the PBA’s historic second effort to stage an outdoor finals. He emerged from a four-way shootout match to defeat top seed John Hricsina 267-196 in the title match of the second annual Villages Senior Tournament of Champions.
Earlier in the day, Norb Wetzel of Fond du Lac, Wis., won the Villages Senior Invitational. He emerged a $9,000 winner from his four-way shootout at high noon in the street by beating top seed Dave Knestrick 278-195 in this tournament for non-winners on the Senior Tour.
Soutar came away the big winner since he won a custom designed house valued at $100,000 at The Villages in addition to $10,000 awarded for his Tournament of Champions victory.
Hall of Famer Soutar is not sure what he and his wife, Judy, a WIBC and PWBA Hall of Famer, will do with their new house since they already own a large, comfortable home 150 miles south of The Villages.
"One of our daughters mentioned to me that she would love to have the house at The Villages if I won it," Soutar said. "The other one will be interested, too, so we’ll see what happens, but we’ll keep it in the family."
Soutar wasn’t outwardly excited about winning the T of C, which was the opposite reaction of his colleague Wetzel, who went ballistic on the lanes and broke into a dance.
"I’m a laid back type of guy, and I don’t get real excited," Soutar said. "It wouldn’t matter if it was my first win like Norb’s or my 20th, I would still be that way because I like to let my bowling balls express what I have to offer. There is one goal in pro bowling that really excites me inside, and that would be to win tournaments on the tour in five decades like Dick Weber has done. I’ll be 60 next year and a super senior, so I would like to win in five decades going into the next century."
Most observers had the ominous feeling that both championship rounds would be staged indoors. The rain continued to pour into the early hours of Saturday morning, but it seemed Villages Tournament Director/Proprietor Dave Buschman had the rain stop right on cue and in time for the televised finals to begin.
Buschman, who pioneered the outdoor finals at The Villages after falling in love with the concept at the PBA Tour’s "New York Experience" last spring, would have lost thousands of dollars if the rain had driven the bowlers indoors for the two senior finals. Bleachers were set up inside Spanish Springs Lanes in case the tropical depression, which dumped several inches of rain and caused flash flooding in some nearby areas of Central Florida, cancelled the outdoor finals.
PBA officials and Buschman wanted optimum exposure for the Senior Tour. They really sweated out the situation until the perspiration became external when the outside air temperature approached 90 degrees. The sun beat down upon the lone pair of bowling lanes upon which the finals were staged over the course of five hours in the hot, muggy afternoon.
PBA Lane Technician John Janowicz was in charge of the care, feeding, dressing, and monitoring of the outdoor lanes. He measured the lane surface temperature at 110 degrees after the first shift of finalists finished at two in the afternoon—this compared to the 95 degrees he measured at the outdoor lanes in New York on May 1.
Consideration by the PBA is being given to the suggestion that the outdoor bowling TV finalists be allowed to wear baseball caps while bowling to keep the intense sunlight off of their heads. Sunscreen will be used by competitors and fans alike next time to prevent sunburn. Soutar suggested that the use of shorts would be a good idea.
"It was more challenging than it would have been indoors because it was so hot out there," Soutar said. "Even though the temperature of the lanes was 110 degrees out here, it did cause the lanes to dry up faster outside than it would have inside, but the dressing held up long enough to where we could still adjust, and we still had a shot. It never got to the point where I had no shot."
The bowlers used sliding socks over their shoes to prevent sticking from the humidity, which was 90 percent with a 75-degree dew point. There also was some moisture trapped under the pair of lanes from the intense rain on the previous days. Some warping of the synthetic lanes occurred as a result in the later TV matches, but the bowlers said it wasn’t a problem with their accuracy.
Another factor was gusting winds, which could have altered the direction of the balls down the lanes, but the bowlers said the winds were not high enough to affect the direction of their bowling balls. The pinsetting equipment constantly was monitored by two lane mechanics who wiped the excess moisture off of the machines and kept them well-lubricated.
Shadows in the pin bed were another problem for the bowlers. Wetzel said he missed seeing an 8-pin on his spare leave because of those shadows underneath.
"I should have checked the scoreboard for how many pins I left, but I didn’t and I lost that pin in the outdoor shadows," Wetzel said.
A small stadium-style light tower was placed to the side of the lanes to cut down on the shadow problem, but apparently more lights needed to be installed around the pin deck for better vision under the pinsetters. Maybe shinier boards will be next for a more even burn.
Church bells tolled across the street on the hour to indicate the time, but the bowlers said this was not a distraction for them except when the bell tolled their defeats. For Senior Invitational winner Wetzel, one thing that was a distraction was the huge gathering of people behind the pinsetters and the fenced off area from the street.
"That was a distraction for me because I’m not accustomed to seeing all those people behind the pinsetting machinery," Wetzel said. "But I was still able to focus on my matches for the win."
Some fans wonder why the PBA is staging outdoor tournaments and whether there will be more such events.
PBA Assistant Commissioner Kevin Shippy looked for ways to enhance "Pro Bowlers Tour" for the viewing audience and sponsors alike. Bowling’s arena concept came first, but when the PBA found numerous arena finals to be too expensive, Shippy’s concept of TV finals to be bowled outdoors has become the wave of the future with hopes of generating more interest in the sport of bowling. This is especially important now since CBS has dropped bowling from its schedule. The ESPN networks currently give the pro tours exclusive TV coverage.
The format also is designed to show that the sport of bowling is more grueling to the physical and mental aspects of an athlete than most observers in the media realize. Pro bowling is now exposing its athletes to adverse situations, from outdoor weather conditions in a manner similar to other major sports which are contested under those same tough outdoor aspects of the weather compared to the usual insulated, regulated, and protected environment for bowling indoors.
Jerry Schneider, who covered The Villages outdoor tournaments for ABC’s Bowling Magazine, enjoyed the finals.
"I’m enthusiastic about the outdoor finals on TV, and it could be the vehicle pro bowling needs to better promote itself," he said. "It gives the ABC something positive to work with concerning the PBA in case we become future partners in sales and marketing promotions as one organization."
Syndicated columnist Richard Kolb is a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America.