Another Striking Crown For Eagle Money Leader Rolls Near-Perfect Game To Win Spokane Senior Open

No one was going to ground bowler Dale Eagle.

“When you figure out the lanes, you know you’re going to do well,” said Eagle, moments after winning the Spokane Senior Open on Thursday at Lilac Lanes, the first-ever PBA Senior stop in Spokane.

“I didn’t know if I’m going to win, but I just knew I’m going to bowl well.”

Eagle - whose legal last name is Glenn, but prefers his “stage” name - likely has had that feeling all year. This was the 53-year-old’s third title in six stops. Since joining the Senior tour, he’s cashed in every event, which numbers more than 40 and is a Senior record. The frontrunner for player of the year also added $9,000 to his yearly earnings. The prize increased his tour-leading total to $71,025, more than $50,000 better than the second man on the list.

This week, he was nearly flawless in the final game, beating rookie Mike Pullin of Rochelle, Ill., 280-169. Eagle of Lewisville, Texas, spared in the first frame before stringing together 11 strikes. Earlier in the week, he bowled a 300 game.

The lane conditions were ideal all week. It took a 222.94 average to make match play. Pullin finished with a 240.62 average, topping his highest league average of 228 set five years ago.

Eagle, who came in with a 221.93 average, was second with a 239.81 average.

“I wanted to string ‘em cuz the guy who was going to string ‘em was going to win the tournament. I knew that,” Eagle said. “I went with a high, hard shot with a little spin and more firm speed. I could hit light in the pocket or I could hit heavy or I hit solid. It didn’t matter.”

Eagle and Pullin exchanged first- and second-place spots on the leaderboard all week with Eagle entering the stepladder competition in first. Pullin was second, in front of Pete Couture, Roger Workman and Norb Wetzel.

Couture beat Workman of Kenova, W.Va., 268-215, in the second match, denying Workman a second title this year. Workman beat Wet zel of Fond du Lac, Wis., 259-210, in the first match.

Pullin, a lefty who throws a slow spin shot, qualified for the finals by beating Couture, 248-232. He strung together five strikes and eliminated Couture in the ninth frame.

Then he ran into Eagle along with some tough luck. He left three splits in the game - 4-6-10, 7-10 and 8-10. After the third split in the eighth frame, Pullin muttered, good-naturedly, “Now I’ve left them all.”

But aside from falling short in the title game, Pullin’s first-time experience on the tour has him wanting to come back. He cashed $4,600 and is off to Seattle with his wife, Karry, and daughter, Crystel . He plans to make all six stops on the West Coast swing.

Pullin became eligible for the Senior tour when he turned 50 on April 8. He had a brief stint on the PBA Tour in 1982 and 1983, where his highest finish was 31st.

“All I wanted to do here was cash,” said Pullin, who’s taken a leave of absence from his job as a security worker at a nuclear plant. “The shot all week was very good, very scorable from both the left and right side.”

In other results, Lilac Lanes proprietor Dan Kukuk, the only area bowler who made the top 24, finished in 12th place and cashed $1,060. Kukuk also plans to compete at the other stops on the West Coast leg.