Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 30, 1994 TAG: 9405300040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The tournament never was the same.
Todd, who competed on the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour from 1988 through 1991, averaged more than 217 pins for 20 games and left the rest of the field to play for second.
Remarkably, it was the first singles title at any level for Todd, who built such a big lead Sunday that she could have ended the final game with 16 consecutive gutter balls and still won.
"I didn't want to do that," said Todd, a 26-year-old insurance agent from Ashland, Ky., who bowled collegiately at Morehead (Ky.) State, "but the last couple of games, my husband told me just to relax and enjoy myself."
Todd finished with 4,557 points, including 210 bonus pins for winning seven of 10 matches Sunday, and had a 298-point cushion over second-place Lorie Larrison of Columbus, Ohio.
Larrison, who was seventh entering the final five-game block, moved up the leaderboard when she defeated Todd 258-253 in the first of their head-to-head matches.
Marla Chicase of Poland, Ohio, won her final match to sneak ahead of defending champion Linda Kelly for third. Kelly was only 25 pins off her 1993 total, a reflection of better lane conditions this year.
"Last year I had just come off tour, where I was bowling 60 games a week," said Kelly, who dropped off the regular LPBT circuit in November. "I'm only bowling in two leagues now - six games a week - and I was struggling."
So was Todd when she arrived Friday and discovered she had no control over her ball. As a result, she went looking for some sandpaper to remove some of the shine.
"I'm surprised some people didn't pick up on that," she said. "Everybody else was using polished equipment. I felt I had to do something because my ball was `skating.' "
The change didn't result in immediate dividends. In the first two games of qualifying Saturday, Todd bowled 160 and 130 and quickly found herself more than 100 pins under the 200 average that serves as the scoring medium.
The turnaround came in the fourth game Saturday, when Todd rolled a 279 that was the high game of the tournament. She followed that with a 240 and took the lead going into the finals.
"It was like I couldn't do anything wrong," Todd said. "At a regional back in 1992, I was in first place going into the position round, but I lost the match by a couple pins. It was heartbreaking."
Todd finished third in a regular tour event in 1989 and said she made the top 24 money-winners each season, "but you have to be in the top five to make a living out there," she said.
"I was a good competitor. I usually made the finals, but it's just a very difficult lifestyle. I was really burned out and decided to take some time off. This was the first tournament I've bowled in a year."
Todd participated as an amateur this week, but only because she did not continue to pay dues after she dropped off the tour. As a winner of a regional event, she must join the LPBT before entering another event.
For a first victory, it's worth it.
by CNB