Gobbi and Barbier bowl their way to division wins at 500 Club event

Fran Gobbi took home the top spot in Saturday’s 500 Club tournament being held at the Pahrump Nugget bowling center.

The August event featured a total of 37 bowlers. There were 19 bowlers in the women’s division and 18 bowlers in the Groupies (men’s) division.

The tournament was a 9-pin, No-Tap Singles WHOOPS style event. The top five bowlers in the women’s division and the top four bowlers in the men’s division all received a cash prize for their finishing places.

Gobbi finished with a tournament-high 982 points. She bowled games of 249, 274 and 268 to go along with her handicap score of 191.

This was Gobbi’s second consecutive top two finish and fourth straight tournament finishing inside the top 10.

Debbie Varner finished the tournament in second place. She had games of 196, 288 and 290, in addition to her handicap score of 202, for a total of 976 points, falling just six points shy of first place.

This was Varner’s third top 10 finish in her last four tournaments and an improvement from her sixth-place finish in July’s event.

In third place of the 500 Club’s women’s division was Laura Blankenship.

Blankenship ended the day with a total score of 926 points. She bowled games of 223, 238 and 290. She also had a handicap score of 175 added to her game scores.

The other two bowlers who finished in prize-winning positions were Christine Limanen and Sis Fronk.

Limanen finished in fourth place with a total score of 916 and Fronk finished in fifth place with a total score of 893.

Limanen was the only bowler in the women’s division to have a perfect 300 game.

In the Groupies division, Larry Barbier walked away as the victor.

Barbier finished with a total score of 958 points after bowling games of 243, 275 and 278. He also included a handicap score of 162 points to go along with his game scores.

Barbier greatly improved in this event from his finishing place of 30th in July’s 500 Club event.

In second place in the men’s division was Ed Poland.

Poland bowled games of 300, 249 and 243, to go along with his handicap score of 153, for a total score of 945 points in the tournament.

Poland was the only men’s group member to bowl a perfect 300 game.

The third-place finisher for the Groupies division was Michael McNeley.

McNeley finished just six points behind Poland, ending the tournament with 939 total points. He bowled games of 251, 278 and 232, in addition to his handicap score of 178.

The final bowler in the men’s division to finish in a prize-winning position was Jan Mock.

Mock came in fourth place of the men’s division with a total score of 916 points, narrowly edging out Dennis Palley who finished in fifth place with 913 points.

Mock bowled games of 244, 240 and 254 to go along with his handicap score of 178 points.

There were two side pots that awarded various bowlers bonus prize money.

The handicap side pot was split among the bowlers with the top eight scores of the entire tournament with their handicap scores included in the final total tournament scores.

The top three scorers were Gobbi with 982 points, Varner with 976 points and Barbier with 958 total points.

The remaining five winners were Poland, McNeley, Blankenship, Mock and Limanen.

The scratch side pot was split among the bowlers with the top four scores of the whole tournament without including their handicap scores.

The winners of the scratch side pot were Barbier with 786 points, Poland with 792 points, Walt Kuver with 776 points and McNeley with 761 points.

Following the tournament, a 50/50 drawing was held and Jerry Adams was declared the winner. He went home with a cash prize for winning the drawing.

Katherine Bishop, the 500 Club Secretary/Treasurer, would like to thank Carol Padilla and Dee Runau for helping with the tournament to keep things organized.

The next 500 Club event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 17 beginning at 1 p.m. This competition will be a 3-6-9 Singles with colored pins. There will be a scratch and handicap side pot. Bishop and Padilla will be the directors of the event.

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