BRENTWOOD, Calif. (June 20, 2012) - PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. increased his chances to become the 2012 Senior Player of the Year honors by winning the PBA Senior Northern California Classic presented by Track at Harvest Park Bowl.
The seven-time PBA Player of the Year became the first two-time winner this season by defeating Hugh Miller of Seattle, 248-231, in the championship match.
"A lot of my matches today were closer than they looked," said Williams, who was the 2010 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year. "It wasn't all smooth sailing because I had a couple of matches that came down to the 10th frame. But I did what I had to do to win."
Williams, who won the Senior Don Carter Memorial earlier this season, captured his fourth career Senior Tour title to go along with his PBA Tour career-leading 47 titles. He also improved on seventh and 17th-place finishes in his previous two Senior Northern California Classic appear- ances.
"The first game I bowled in match play I shot 194 and missed the pocket one time so I had to go to another ball to get a better reaction on the back end," said Williams, who won a total of four matches that day. "I had one open and don't think I missed the pocket maybe two or three times all day. I'm just glad I didn't waste all my strikes in qualifying."
Miller was trying to become the seventh different winner of the season and was coming off a fifth-place finish in the Etonic PBA Senior U.S. Open and second-place finish in the United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters.
In the semifinals, Williams defeated Mike Dias of Lafayette, Colo., 259-228 and Miller defeated Hall of Famer Wayne Webb of Columbus, Ohio, 216-205, to advance to the title match.
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