With his second win of the year, Scroggins has become a candidate for PBA Player of the Year honors heading into the final three events of the season.

“I’m just trying to follow in Walter Ray Williams Jr.’s footsteps,” he grinned. “He’s been setting an example for us older guys.”

Williams, at age 50, also is a two-time winner this season. Bill O’Neill, Williams and Scroggins are one-two-three in the PBA Player of the Year point standings.

Scroggins and Kretzer eliminated Finland’s Osku Palermaa, who had the high score in the first round, to reach the title match. In the second game, Palermaa lost his pocket just long enough for Scroggins and Kretzer to sail past him. Scroggins had a string of seven strikes on his way to a 254 game, Kretzer almost matched him with a six-bagger for a 245 and Palermaa put together a late string of four strikes for a 211.

Reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, was the first player eliminated after bowling a 195 in the opening Eliminator game. Palermaa led the first round with a 233, Kretzer posted a 211 and Scroggins a 203 game.

During Sunday’s finals, Jimmy Johnson, son of the late PBA Hall of Famer after whom the tournament is named, and his wife Minda presented a check to Nationwide Children’s Hospital of Columbus and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for $40,826. The 2010 contribution brings the total raised during the tournament for Nationwide Children’s Hospital to more than $100,000 over the past three years.

The Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour will take a week off during NCAA conference basketball playoffs week before returning to action in its own version of “March Madness,” the Go RVing Match Play Championship March 17-21 at Norwich Bowling and Entertainment Center in Norwich, Conn.

LUMBER LIQUIDATORS PBA TOUR
ETONIC DON JOHNSON ELIMINATOR
Sequoia Pro Bowl, Columbus, Ohio

Championship
Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas ($25,000) def. Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio ($13,000), 206-195.

Semifinal Round (low score eliminated)
Scroggins 254, Kretzer 245, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 211
(Palermaa eliminated earned $7,000).

First Round (low score eliminated)
Palermaa 233, Kretzer 211, Scroggins 203, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 195
(Malott eliminated, earned $6,000).

KULICK TO ATTEND WHITE HOUSE RECEPTION IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Kelly Kulick, the first woman to win a Professional Bowlers Association Tour title, has accepted an invitation to visit the White House for a reception to be hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The event, on Monday, March 8 at 4 p.m. Eastern, is in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Kulick won the PBA Tournament of Champions – the PBA’s signature event and one of the Tour’s four major events – on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas.

Details of the reception activities and others invited to the event were not disclosed but more than 350 women including those serving in the U.S. Congress are expected to be in attendance.

“It’s a tremendous privilege and honor to be invited to the White House and to meet the President and First Lady,” said Kulick. “I see this as not only as something that honors my accomplishment but provides recognition for the sport of bowling as well.”