2019 Super Senior Classic, USBC Senior Masters ready to get underway in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Sam's Town Bowling Center will serve as the home to a pair of events geared toward the top senior and super senior players around the world starting this week in Las Vegas.

The Super Senior Classic, for United States Bowling Congress members age 60 and older, will start the festivities at Sam's Town and run from May 30-June 2, while the USBC Senior Masters, for bowlers age 50 and older, will take place from June 4-9 at the 56-lane venue.

BowlTV.com will provide wire-to-wire coverage of each event, including the stepladder finals.

Mike Dias of Lafayette, Colorado, will return to Sam's Town to put his title on the line at the Super Senior Classic, and Chris Warren of Grants Pass, Oregon, will look to continue the historic pace that carried him to the 2018 Senior Masters title.

DiasMike2018SSCTrophyForWeb465x262Dias, a 62-year-old left-hander, claimed the 2018 title as the top overall seed, delivering 10 strikes in a 278-205 victory over Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Mark Williams of Beaumont, Texas.

"It was a big win for me," said Dias, who also is a USBC Gold coach. "It's a major tournament for the super seniors, and I'm excited to be able to defend my title."

Dias was locked in throughout the 2018 event, never finishing a round outside of the top four in the overall standings.

He has been working on getting his game back to that level in 2019 and has improved each week of the 2019 PBA50 Tour season.

On Tuesday, he was able to make his way through each round at the PBA50 Northern California Classic presented by Motiv to earn the top seed for the stepladder finals, and he claimed his third career PBA50 Tour title with a 227-217 victory over USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, New Jersey.

"For me, the key is to just stay in the process, not get too far ahead of myself and take this tournament one phase at a time," Dias said. "I was a little more locked in last year than I am right now, but I'm starting to get back there. I'm looking forward to having a good event."

Qualifying for the 201-player field at the Super Senior Classic will include 12 games over two days (six games each day), with 1 in 4 bowlers advancing to the Cashers' Round based on total pinfall.

The top 12 bowlers after the six-game Cashers' Round, based on 18-game pinfall totals, will advance to round-robin match play and have a chance to advance to the unique group stepladder portion of the event.

The stepladder finals of the Super Senior Classic will be broadcast live on BowlTV on June 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern. The winner will take home $8,500.

WarrenChris2018SMTrophyForWeb465x262Warren, a 55-year-old right-hander, broke four tournament records on the way to his Senior Masters victory in 2018, and that included a pair of wins against USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Florida, in the title match. The win made Warren the third player to win both the USBC Masters and Senior Masters.

After dropping his first match in the double-elimination bracket, Warren rattled off 13 consecutive wins with a record 243.9 average in match play.

He set the new marks for most overall matches (14), total and consecutive wins (13) and match-play average.

"I was a little upset and disappointed in myself after that first match," said Warren, who won the 1990 Masters. "I bowled poorly and decided I was just going to do better. The lanes began to play to my favor, in the aspect that I could just throw the ball to a spot and not worry about trying to help it. I was able to bowl my way, and my arm swing got really loose. Once that happens, I can strike with the best of them."

After earning the No. 4 seed in the stepladder finals, Warren rolled games of 236, 234 and 290 to earn a meeting with Duke, the top seed.

In the true double-elimination format, Warren had to defeat Duke twice and delivered wins of 269-220 and 246-241, which included an improbable miscue from Duke in his final frame.

With Warren on the bench with 246, Duke needed a strike on his first shot of the 10th frame followed by at least eight pins on his second offering, plus the spare conversion, to claim the title by a single pin.

After rolling the first strike, Duke left the 3-4-6-7-9-10 combination to allow Warren to claim his first PBA50 Tour title.

Warren has been trying to get some games under his belt after fighting some health issues personally, and within his family, in the past few months, but he feels if he can find his release, he can put himself in position to return to the stepladder finals.

"If I'm able to let go of the ball and get a loose swing, I can make it back to the stepladder," said Warren, a six-time PBA Tour champion. "There's not a doubt in my mind. I don't have to worry about qualifying, but I need to use qualifying to find out what I'm doing and get everything in line, so I can come out and perform like I know I can."

The Senior Masters is considered a PBA50 major championship, and the 289-player field will bowl 15 games of qualifying over three days starting June 4 to determine the 63 bowlers joining Warren in match play.

As the defending champion, Warren is guaranteed the No. 64 spot in the bracket but can improve his seeding through qualifying.

Match play at the 2019 Senior Masters will take place June 7-8, with the stepladder finals concluding the action at Sam's Town on June 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern. The champion will earn $20,000.