By Ron Kantowski

Thu, Jun 19, 2008 (2 a.m.)

According to an anonymous quote, one advantage of bowling over golf is that you never lose a bowling ball.

Plus, you play indoors.

With the temperature hovering around 105 degrees — and apparently staying there — this week, many of the best veteran bowlers in the world will attempt to heat up the lanes at the PBA U.S. Senior Open at the Suncoast Bowling Center.

Qualifying began Monday and runs through today. The field will be cut to the top 25 percent for nine more games today, after which the top 24 players will advance to 24 games of round-robin match play. After 51 games of qualifying and match play, the five survivors will compete in the traditional stepladder finals, set for 3:30 p.m. Friday.

If you grew up with the Pro Bowlers Tour on ABC, it’ll be like listening to Chris Schenkel and Bo Burton all over again as household names such as Johnny Petraglia, Dave Soutar and Ernie Schlegel will be among the 50-plus-year-olds bowling for dollars.

If you didn’t grow up with those guys, and you don’t recognize the players, don’t worry. In bowling, you don’t need a program because the players wear their names on their shirts. First and last. And you don’t even need a pencil to keep score because they’ve got machines that do it for you.

1. Keep the day job

Last year’s winner, 56-year-old Rick Minier, has a real job — he’s a controller in Houston — and picks and chooses the tournaments in which he competes. Last year he defeated David Ozio, a former PBA player of the year, 240-223. If Minier was intimidated heading into the match it was hard to tell. “I bowl in tournaments that have more challenging lanes conditions,” he said, “and I’m able to practice at a center that will put out conditions that I might face in a tournament like the Senior U.S. Open.” At least inside the bowling center.

2. Vegas connection

If there’s strength in numbers, this year’s winner could come from Las Vegas. Of the 321 bowlers listed on the roster, 44 hail from Southern Nevada or call Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas or Boulder City home. Conversely, there’s only one bowler from Flintstone, Ga. Win or lose, Darrell Adams expects to have a yabba-dabba-doo time.

3. People’s choice

Barring a surprise appearance by Fred Flintstone or Barney Rubble, hard-cranking Mark Roth, a four-time PBA player of the year, is sure to be the crowd favorite. Roth, who is tied for third all-time with 34 PBA titles and was the first bowler to pick up the 7-10 split on TV, was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1987.

4. These revolutions won’t be televised

There have been two 300 games rolled on Senior PBA Tour telecasts, by Gene Stus (1992) and Ron Winger (1993). Alas, there won’t be a third this week as the stepladder finals will not be televised.

5. Bowling for peanuts

The winner of this week’s Senior Open will take home a first-place check worth $20,000. By comparison, the five guys who tied for 53rd at last weekend’s U.S. Open golf tournament each took home $20,251. But the good thing about the bowling tournament is that nobody will hold up a “Quiet, Please” sign when you’re trying to order a beer from a cocktail waitress.