Norwich, Conn. - 3/21/2009


The Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour’s all-time win leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. and reigning PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes won their semifinal matches Saturday to advance to the championship final of the Go RVing Match Play Championship at Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center.

Williams, with 45 career Tour titles defeated Chris Loschetter of Avon, Ohio, 679-589, in a three-game total pinfall semifinal match. The 49-year-old Williams will be looking for his second title of the season, having won the Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship last November.

With the help of a 300 game, Barnes defeated Mike Wolfe of New Albany, Ind., 824-741 to advance to the championship match. Barnes, who owns 11 career Tour titles, had games of 267 and 257 to round out his three-game set.

Having won the Don Johnson Buckeye State Eliminator two weeks ago for his first title of the season, Barnes will also be making his seventh television appearance of the season.

It will mark only the second time that Williams and Barnes have met in a television match. The last time the two met, Williams defeated Barnes in the championship match of the January 2004 United States Bowling Congress Masters.

The live ESPN-final match for the Go RVing Match Play Championship will be conducted Sunday on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern and will again be a three-game total pinfall contest.

The final leg of the PBA Tour’s five-event “Extreme Swing” also involves the pressure of earning points to qualify for the GEICO PBA Team Shootout hosted by Six Flags, scheduled for June in Jackson, N.J. The top eight in Extreme Swing points will earn spots in that special event.

The Go RVing Match Play Championship is part of the PBA’s 50th Anniversary season “Extreme Swing,” which also includes the Ultimate Scoring Championship, GEICO Plastic Ball Championship, Etonic Marathon Open, and the Don Johnson Buckeye State Eliminator. The creative format events are meant to test the greatest bowlers in the world in different areas of the game, provide television audiences with a fresh look while providing education on pertinent aspects of the game.

The winner earns a first prize of $25,000 and a one-year exemption on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour.


Go RVing Match Play Championship
Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center – Norwich, Conn.
Semifinals – Losers Eliminated, Earnings
#3 Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, def. #42 Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind. ($6,000), 824-741
#5 Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., def. #16 Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio ($6,000), 679-589