BOWLING: PBA AT RIVERSIDE : Goebel Calm Enough to Beat Williams for Championship

RIVERSIDE —  Bryan Goebel of Miriam, Kan., returned to the scene of his worst bowling jitters Saturday.

Two years ago, in the final of the same Kessler PBA tournament, Goebel’s nervousness in his first TV final put his game off enough for him to lose, according to his wife, Kelly.

He finished fourth in 1989, but this time was different.

Goebel won the $145,000 tournament by defeating Marshall Holman, 222-199, and then, in the showdown for the $24,000 first prize, Mark Williams, 224-195.

“See how calm he is,” his elated spouse said at Town Square Lanes.

Holman, pro bowling’s all-time money leader at $1.5 million, spoiled the chances of a left-hander finally winning a PBA event at Riverside.

Holman finished off Parker Bohn III, 222-219, with a string of four strikes in the opening match of the playoff. Holman then came up with a needed spare in the last frame to edge John Mazza, 224-217.

Second-seeded Goebel was next to bowl.

“You don’t bowl a legend like Holman without feeling a little edgy,” Goebel, 29, said. “But when Marshall opened (did not have a strike or spare in the fourth frame), I relaxed and felt comfortable the rest of the way, even against Williams.”

Goebel said a Brooklyn strike--a wrong-side pocket hit--late in the game was the break he needed against Williams.

“You need some luck here and there to win PBAs,” the former University of Kansas collegiate bowler said. It was his second title in three years on the national tour. He first won in 1990 at Tucson.