PBA Xtra He says he only bowled PBA50 Tour events
because Storm, the ball company whose equip- ment he has thrown for years, asked him to. He probably is glad they did, because by the time he finished bowling just his fourth event on the 2014 PBA50 Tour schedule, Duke already had brought in PBA50 Tour earnings of $26,510.00. As anyone who has been paying attention
knows, that is not because the PBA50 Tour is paying handsomely these days. No, it is because in those first four events of the 2014 PBA50 Tour season, Duke finished second, first, 11th, and first.
“I am fortunate in that regard, in that I hav-
en’t had any poor events,” Duke said in a phone interview with Bowlers Journal after the Dayton Classic event. If he had no any poor events, it was not for lack of a challenge. “Our formats for the senior tour are difficult,”
Duke said.
“I am happy that I am in good shape, be- cause it is a difficult proposition to bowl 16 games with a 40 minute break for lunch, and then another 40 minute break, and then you have to bowl a television show,” Duke added, alluding to the PBA’s Xtra Frame coverage of the stepladder finals. “It hurts, is all I’m saying. Every single last day
out here is just miserable.” Duke’s second PBA50 Tour win this season
came at a major, the Senior U.S. Open. Think about this: Walter Ray Williams Jr. has been bowl- ing the PBA50 Tour since 2010, and yet he did not win his first major on the senior circuit until this year, at the USBC Senior Masters. It took Williams four years; it took Duke
four weeks.
BONUS INTERVIEW To listen to more from the Norm Duke interview, touch the play button above.
NORM DUKE Despite not bowling any of the
next four events—including the Senior Masters, the Northern California Classic, the Grants Pass Open, and the Pro Bowl West Fort Wayne Classic—Duke still became the second player in PBA50 Tour history to win both the Senior Rookie of the Year and Senior Player of the Year in the same season. No one had replicated that feat since
Tom Baker did it nearly 10 years ago in 2005. Not even Williams, the all-time leading titlist on the PBA Tour with 47, 10 more than Duke, has done that. While he won the PBA50 Tour Rookie of the Year in 2010, PBA50 Player of the Year went to Wayne Webb, though Williams did win Player of the Year on the so-called kids’ tour that year. In the final three events of the 2014
PBA50 Tour season, Duke finished second, 11th, and fifth, bringing his total earnings for the season to $42,280—a year’s pay for a lot of people. Duke made that year’s pay in seven weeks. Not bad for a guy who didn’t even want to bowl. “The kids’ tour is where all the rev rate
is; it’s where the best bowlers in the world are, and that’s the tour that I still feel like I am on,” Duke said. “But I am enjoying some of the senior stops; I get to be with all my buddies I have known forever.” After the beating Duke administered
at the expense of many of those buddies this year, it may be a safe bet that they would prefer to catch up on lost time somewhere other than on the lanes in 2015.
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