Fran Gobbi wins back-to-back at 500 Club events

Fran Gobbi won her second straight 500 Club event over the weekend in the 3-6-9 singles tournament at the Pahrump Nugget.

On top of this being her second win in a row, this was Gobbi’s third straight tournament finishing among the top two bowlers.

Saturday’s event featured 41 bowlers with 25 in the women’s division and 16 in the Groupies, or men’s, division.

Gobbi took the top honors in the women’s division with a score of 838 points. She narrowly edged out second-place finisher Renee Green.

Gobbi bowled games of 182, 243 and 222, in addition to her handicap score of 191. Her game of 243 was the second highest in the women’s division.

Green bowled games of 241, 241 and 228, to go along with her handicap score of 124, for a total tournament score of 834 points. She missed out on first place by just five points.

In third place of the 500 Club’s 3-6-9 event was Jeri Riley with 827 points.

Riley bowled games of 193, 188 and 179. She also had a handicap score of 267 points.

The top three bowlers in the women’s division were all separated by just 11 points at the end of the day.

Nenita Cabuena (816), Peggy Rhoads (812) and Judie Johnson (811) finished in fourth through sixth places, respectively.

Each of the top six bowlers won a cash prize at the end of the tournament.

In Rhoads’ first game of the day, she bowled a 246, giving her the highest single-game score of the tournament in the women’s division.

Jim Spear finished with the first place victory for the Groupies division.

With this win, Spear joins Gobbi with back-to-back wins for tournaments in which he has participated. This is also the third win in Spear’s last four tournaments.

Spear bowled games of 206, 248 and 215, along with his handicap score of 199, for a total score of 868 points. His 868 ranked the highest total score in the tournament.

In second place of the Groupies division was Gordon Sawyer.

Sawyer finished the tournament with a total score of 845 points after bowling games of 220, 232 and 221. He had a handicap score of 172 points to go along with his game scores.

This was Sawyer’s second top-5 finish of the season.

George Smith came in third place of the Groupies division at the 3-6-9 event on Saturday.

He bowled games of 206, 188 and 210, to go along with his handicap score of 224, for a total tournament score of 828 points.

In the fourth and final cash prize winning spot for the Groupies division was Larry Tobey.

Tobey finished with 813 points after bowling games of 191, 200 and 225 and adding in his handicap score of 197.

Jim Sparlin had the highest single-game score of the tournament with 258, just edging out Larry Barbier’s 257.

In addition to the cash prizes for finishing placement, the bowlers also had a chance at winning bonus cash for the handicap and scratch side pots.

In the handicap side pot, the top eight bowlers received a portion of the pot.

Spear (868), Sawyer (845) and Gobbi (838) took the top three spots of the handicap side pot for finishing with the top three total scores including the handicap scores.

The other bowlers who received a portion of the pot were Green (834), Smith (828), Cabuena (816), Tobey (813) and Rhoads (812).

For the scratch side pot, only the top three spots received a cash prize. These winners had the highest scores without their handicap score being included. Those prizes went to Green (710), Jim Sparlin (704) and Sawyer (673).

Katherine Bishop, the 500 Club’s Secretary/Treasurer, would like to thank Debbie Varner and Debbie Rucker for assisting with the tournament.

The 500 Club’s next event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. This tournament will be a certified singles 9-pin, no-tap tournament. Katherine Bishop and Dee Runeu will be the directors.

Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.