Halsey gets win in 500 Club tournament

The Pahrump Nugget was the site for the 500 Club’s July event on Saturday afternoon.

Sixty-eight bowlers participated in the 500 Club’s 8-pin no-tap singles event.

Twenty-eight bowlers played in the 500 club division, while seven bowlers competed in the Almost 500 Club division and 33 bowlers competed in the Groupies division.

The top seven bowlers in the 500 Club division, the top two bowlers in the Almost 500 Club division and the top nine bowlers in the Groupies divisions each received a portion of the prize pool for the finishing places in the tournament.

Sandra Halsey took home her second win of the 2023 season on Saturday afternoon.

Her previous win came in March’s 9-pin no-tap WHOOPS tournament.

She bowled single-game scores of 300, 226 and 286. Including her handicap score of 197, Halsey finished the tournament with a total score of 1,009 points.

Halsey was one of four bowlers in the 500 Club division and one of 12 bowlers overall with a perfect 300 game.

Fran Gobbi finished in the runner-up spot for the 500 Club division.

She finished just 11 pins behind Halsey with a score of 998.

Gobbi finished the tournament with single-game scores of 231, 300 and 276 to go along with her handicap score of 191.

This was Gobbi’s third second-place finish of the season.

In third place of the 500 Club division was Judi Clausen.

Clausen ended her day with game scores of 274, 245 and 240. She scored a total of 964 points with the inclusion of her handicap score of 205.

The other bowlers who finished in prize-winning positions for the 500 Club were Loree Smith (957), Janet Hansen (954), Emily Fronk (940) and Debbie Varner (932).

Charity Musial and Katherine Bishop were the other 500 Club bowlers who recorded perfect 300 games.

In the Almost 500 Club, Debbie Fronk took home the top spot.

She bowled game scores of 277, 254 and 207, to go with her handicap score of 299, for a total score of 1,037 points.

Fronk’s total score was the highest of the tournament.

Jennifer Mathias took second place in the Almost 500 Club division. She bowled game scores of 235, 225 and 243. With her handicap score of 280, Mathias finished the tournament with a total score of 983.

Groupies division winner Clint Courtney finished just two pins shy of the 1,000-point mark.

He ended his tournament with 998 points after bowling single-game scores of 277, 251 and 276 to go along with his handicap score of 194.

This was Courtney’s first win of the season and his second top-3 finish of the year.

In second place of the Groupies division of Saturday’s 8-pin tournament was Ralph Johnson.

Johnson bowled one of the eight perfect 300 games in the Groupies division. He had single-game scores of 247, 300 and 215, in addition to his handicap score of 205, for a total score of 967.

Walt Kuver rounded out the top three spots in the Groupies division with his score of 949.

Kuver bowled games of 243, 277 and 300 to go along with his handicap score of 129.

Six other bowlers in the Groupies division bowled a perfect 300 game: Michael Gonzales, Josh Stringer, Larry Attebery, Gary Underdahl and Roger Woodward.

The last six bowlerss to finish in prize-winning positions of the Groupies division were Bear Morris (946), Michael Gonzales (941), Josh Stringer (941), David Mathias (931), Larry Attebery (928) and Bob Riley (927).

Following the tournament, the 500 Club held two side pots.

The handicap side pot was split among the top 15 bowlers in the tournament with the highest scores including their handicap score.

Debbie Fronk (1,037), Sandra Halsey (1,009) and Fran Gobbi (998) finished in the top three spots respectively.

The scratch side pot was divided up between the bowlers with the top six scores without including their handicap scores.

Michael Von Hussen took the top honors with his 3-game score of 827 points. He was followed by Kuver (820) and Stringer (812).

The other three bowlers who received a piece of the scratch side pot were Larry Attebery (796), Bear Morris (787) and Charity Musial (784).

The 500 Club has just three more tournaments for the remainder of their 2023 season.

Their next event will be on Saturday, Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. The tournament will be a certified 9-pin no-tap singles event.

Katherine Bishop and Jan Sawyer will be the directors of the tournament.

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