Neff breezes to title

Steve Addy

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 1:37 a.m.

Aside from volunteering to pin-spot, Steve Neff couldn't have done any more this week in the PBA Las Vegas Seniors Open at the Orleans.

He fired the only two 300 games of the five-day tournament, led from the first ball to the last and captured the $20,000 first prize Thursday with a 214-196 win over Bob Chamberlain.

After dominating match play Tuesday and Wednesday to gain the top seed in the stepladder finals, Neff needed only to survive the Chamberlain match to win the tournament. The drama didn't last long, as Chamberlain left the four-pin standing in the first frame, and Neff never trailed.

But, hey, that was the story of his week. The 53-year-old righty from Homosassa Springs, Fla., compiled 10,151 pins in 42 games to rack up a huge 442-pin lead. Neff led after every round, though a one-game loss Thursday would've doomed him to second place.

Instead, he earned his first win since the 1999 PBA Senior National and fourth since joining the Seniors three years ago. He placed second to Mark Roth three weeks ago at Seattle and leads the tour with a 220.77 average.

Neff, the 1973 PBA Rookie of the Year, said he felt no pressure from leading all week, though it took him awhile to solve the lane conditions in the final match.

"That was different ball reaction than I had all week," he said. "There's so little time to figure it all out. The hot (TV) lights make the oil like butter, so it's like a snowplow when the ball goes through it. It robs energy off the ball, and it wouldn't turn like I wanted."

But the 52-year-old Chamberlain from Auburn Hills, Mich., had trouble of his own. The open frame quickly put him behind, and he had four spares after leaving one pin on his first roll. He closed with three strikes, but it was too late.

"You've got to catch something early and put pressure on him," said Chamberlain, who won at Beaverton, Ore., two weeks ago. "If I could have carried one or two more balls and caught strikes, it could've been different. It could've changed (Neff's) train of thought."

Chamberlain was the third seed, but reached the final match by turning back No. 4 Johnny Petraglia 237-225 and No. 2 Bob Glass 235-195. Chamberlain won $11,000, Glass $8,000, Petraglia $6,000 and Roth $5,000.

ESPN will televise the stepladder finals Sunday from 9:30-11 a.m.