Corona a Win Away From First PBA Title

Ricky Corona of Diamond Bar, looking for his first title on the Pro Bowlers Assn. tour, is only one game away.

Friday night at Gable House Bowl in Torrance, he earned the top-seeded position for today’s roll-off for the Greater Los Angeles Open title, a five-man showdown starting at noon.

Joining Corona, a 5-foot-6 175-pound right-hander, in the battle for an $18,000 first prize, will be John Gant, Mats Karlsson, Wayne Webb and Pete McCordic, who finished the 42-game qualifying in that order.

The foursome will bowl a stepladder elimination to determine who meets Corona in the championship game.

Corona, 24, who was an All-American bowler at California, averaged 228 for his 42 games.

Of the five finalists, Corona and McCordic, a 14-year veteran, have never won on the PBA tour. It also will be Corona’s first television final on the PBA tour.

A Southern Californian has never won at Gable House in 10 PBA events held there.

Gant, the 1986 PBA high-average bowler, is the lone left-hander among the final five.

Pete Weber, one of the pre-tournament favorites, was forced to withdraw after 37 games with a tendon injury to the wrist of his bowling arm. Weber was 16th when forced to retire.

Marshall Holman , another favorite, was a sitting duck for 300 shooters in the Friday action. First Miami’s Rod Pasteur beat him in a match with a perfect game and later Mike Aulby did the same.

Two other 300 games were shot in this high-scoring tournament. Earlier in the week, Wayne Webb and Ron Palombi both turned the feat.

Earl Anthony, the PBA’s all-time money winner, left for his Northern California home in Dublin for a three-week rest after finishing 62nd here. He’s coming off a three-year retirement.