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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 11, 2004 Walter Ray Williams Jr. celebrates during his 4-2 victory over Michael Haugen Jr. in the round of 8 Friday at Lava Lanes. Williams, who advances to Sunday�s semfinals, is looking to tie Earl Anthony for career wins. Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman Williams draws closer to Anthony Hall of Famer advances to semifinals at Earl Anthony Medford Classic By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune Walter Ray Williams Jr. addresses the same questions week after week: When will he match Earl Anthony’s record for all-time Professional Bowlers Association Tour victories? He’s in position now to change the line of questioning. Williams defeated Michael Haugen Jr. in a best-of-seven match, 4-2, Friday in the Earl Anthony Medford Classic at Lava Lanes to advance to Sunday’s nationally televised finals on ESPN. Williams, who has 40 career victories, will make his second attempt at tying the man for whom this tournament was renamed this year. Advertisement He’ll be joined by Norm Duke, Brad Angelo and Mike Wolfe in what shapes up as the tour’s most intriguing championship round this season. In the first semifinal, Duke, an American Bowling Congress Hall of Famer and 21-time champion, faces No. 2 seed Angelo, who has yet to win in six finals — including here last season. Duke defeated Brian Himmler, 4-1, and Angelo downed Michael Fagan, 4-3. It was Angelo’s third seven-game match of the day. Williams follows against Wolfe, who defeated Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli, 4-0, and has yet to win on tour. Wolfe was eliminated in the first of the two shows he’s been on by Williams. Williams would like to do it again, then follow with the title. "I want to win every tournament," said Williams. "I don’t expect to, but I try to. I don’t mind it when the media talks to me and stuff. But it would be nice if they didn’t harp on things. "For a long time it was about whether I could win a major. Well, I have six of them, so now that’s not a big issue. Then it was, ‘Can you win 41 times?’" Williams has one championship this season, the Uniroyal Tire Classic. He had a chance to match Anthony a week later in the BowlersParadise.com Open, but Rick Lawrence stunned him in the semifinals. Lawrence had little finals experience, not unlike Wolfe. "He’s been bowling great all week," said Williams. "He’ll probably be a handful. The advantage I have on him is he’s only been on TV a few times. But that doesn’t always mean anything. Rick Lawrence took care of me a couple of weeks ago." Williams was a bit flabbergasted at having gotten past Haugen in the manner in which he did. Similar to his other matches here, Williams fell behind early, losing the first two games as he tried to find a shot to his liking. The abundance of oil forced him to an extreme outside line the first game, then the second game he found the pocket but didn’t get the desired pin reaction. He lost the first two games, 248-192 and 219-199. "It’s amazing," said Williams. "The pins just don’t want to fall down for me in this place. Fortunately, my opponents weren’t taking advantage." There had been relatively high scores throughout the day, including the first two perfect games on tour in two weeks. Still, Williams won four straight from Haugen with relatively pedestrian games of 227, 227, 225 and 223. "You take what the conditions give you because they don’t always give you a lot," said Williams. Wolfe, meanwhile, prevented Monacelli from a shot at his first title since 1997. Monacelli has 18 career wins. Wolfe will do his best to put Williams on hold as well. Recalling Williams’ championship-round victory over him, Wolfe said, "Hopefully, he’s got one coming." He won’t shrink from the challenge or the aura of Williams. "I can’t say it’s intimidating," said Wolfe. "It’s still bowling. The road to this point wasn’t the easiest." Indeed, Wolfe was on the verge of elimination in the round of 64, when he trailed Ryan Shafer 3-0 before winning four straight. He then defeated the hot Rick Steelsmith and another Hall of Famer, Parker Bohn III, before dispatching Monacelli. Wolfe held off Monacelli with three strikes in the 10th frame of the first game for a 238-232 win. He won Game 2, 225-224, when Monacelli opened in the eighth. From there, Wolfe bolted, throwing nine strikes to start the third game for a 278-192 win, and four to open Game 4 in a 237-186 decision. "The lane was looking a little different," said Wolfe. "I just wanted to stay ahead of the transition. Amleto didn’t look that comfortable. I knew if I could strike early, maybe I could get him thinking about it." Duke will be making his second straight TV appearance. He lost to Brian Voss in the semifinals of the Denver Open last week when Voss began the game with eight strikes in a row. "I didn’t get the win, but I did get some momentum," said Duke, who could equal Medford’s Marshall Holman and Voss on the win list at 22, good for eighth all-time. "Hopefully, I can ride this little roll I’m on and get a victory. It’s all about the victory." He drove home that point in Game 4, when he needed two strikes for a perfect game. But having shut out Himmler, Duke used the occasion to try a different line, just in case he had to play it later. He didn’t even hit the head pin and settled for a 286. "It wasn’t about throwing a 300 game," he said. "It was about winning the match. My family depends on me to buy groceries. Three hundreds don’t buy groceries. Winning matches does." Angelo had the most fatiguing day of all, not only from a physical standpoint, but mentally as well. "I’m going to sleep well, I know that," he said. Angelo won the first two games, but then he and Fagan were asked to speed up. The other three matches were finishing faster and having to wait several frames for Angelo and Fagan to wind up. It took Angelo by surprise and perturbed him. "It was a distraction for me," he said. "It was due to a misunderstanding of the rule for slow play. I was under the impression it was worded one way, and it’s worded another way." After the warning, he went spare, strike, open, open to start Game 3. He lost that one handily and the next, 268-259, as Fagan squared the match. The two traded wins to get to the finale, in which Angelo got a break when he tripped the 4 pin in a string of six strikes to seal a 248-209 triumph. "For the most part, I threw some really, really good shots in there, probably some of the best shots of the day out of 21 games," he said. Because of it, he, like the other three, will get at least one more game. Friday’s Results Best-of-Seven Match Play Round of 32 Walter Ray Williams Jr. (1) d. Tim Criss (33), 4-1; Shannon Buchan (49) d. Mike Scroggins (17), 4-3; Michael Machuga (24) d. Brian Voss (9), 4-3; Michael Haugen Jr. (8) d. Tore Torgersen (25), 4-3; Parker Bohn III (37) d. Mika Koivuniemi (5), 4-1; Mike Wolfe (53) d. Rick Steelsmith (21), 4-2; Amleto Monacelli (20) d. Patrick Healy Jr. (13), 4-3; Chris Barnes (4) d. Rick Lawrence (36), 4-0; Brad Angelo (2) d. Bryon Smith (34), 4-3; Doug Kent (15) d. Jason Couch (18), 4-1; Michael Fagan (42) d. Steve Jaros (10), 4-2; Robert Smith (26) d. Pete Weber (7), 4-1; Tommy Jones (6) d. Tom Baker (27), 4-3; Brian Himmler (54) d. Bob Learn Jr. (22), 4-2; Danny Wiseman (14) d. Mike DeVaney (46), 4-2; Norm Duke (30) d. Patrick Allen (3), 4-1. Round of 16 Walter Ray Williams Jr. d. Shannon Buchan, 4-2; Michael Haugen Jr. d. Michael Machuga, 4-0; Mike Wolfe d. Parker Bohn III, 4-1; Amleto Monacelli d. Chris Barnes, 4-3; Brad Angelo d. Doug Kent, 4-3; Michael Fagan d. Robert Smith, 4-2; Brian Himmler d. Tommy Jones, 4-1; Norm Duke d. Danny Wiseman, 4-2. Round of 8 Walter Ray Williams Jr. d. Michael Haugen Jr., 4-2; Mike Wolfe d. Amleto Monacelli, 4-0; Brad Angelo d. Michael Fagan, 4-3; Norm Duke d. Brian Himmler, 4-1. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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