BOWLING PBA TOURNAMENT AT TORRANCE : Advice From Golfer Kite Helps Ozio Win

Battling nerves before his final match of a $175,000 Professional Bowlers’ Assn. tournament Saturday, David Ozio remembered advice he heard recently from a professional golfer.

“The (TV) show was only a minute away when I thought of Tom Kite and what he said a week ago in a TV interview,” Ozio said. “Kite talked of the importance of patience in the heat of competition.”

Ozio overcame his nervousness to beat Walter Ray Williams and win $36,000 at Gable House Bowl in Torrance. “Walter is probably the best shotmaker in bowling today, and the thought of facing him after a poor practice warmup on the TV lanes had my mind going every which way,” Ozio said.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to panic and to settle down. Off to the side, John Jowdy, my coach, gave me a wink of confidence, and I remembered him saying not to muscle the ball. No pulling the ball down to start the backswing. Let the ball itself swing the arm.”

Ozio, a 5-11, 175-pound 36-year-old from Vidor, Tex., proceeded to open with seven strikes to bring to mind that a perfect game in a TV final on the 1991 PBA winter tour is worth a $100,000 bonus.

Ozio won, 259-225.

Williams stayed with Ozio until a shot to keep a strike string going in the sixth frame hit an oil slick. The ball barely escaped the gutter on its way to a four-pin leave. Williams spared, but he was 43 pins behind and virtually out of the match.

Williams, of Stockton, gained the showdown match by defeating all-time pro money leader Marshall Holman, 244-199.

Holman of Medford, Ore., who, like Williams, has not won on the pro tour for three years, is known for his antics on the approaches after a strike, punching the air and running across lanes to stimulate the crowd. Holman had ample opportunity to be animated with 10 strikes in his 246-217 victory over Marc McDowell of Madison, Wis.