Mike Fagan wins PBA title with equipment change, a little superstition

After seven seasons without an individual title on the Professional Bowlers Assn. Tour, Mike Fagan resorted to almost anything to get him over the hump. He even depended on some superstition.

The 29-year-old with the boyish features and spiky hair sported an unshaven look for his final match at the One A Day Dick Weber Open on Sunday at Fountain Bowl.

He didn’t ditch the razor to look older, mind you. But maybe appearing mature could help. After all, he was facing Walter Ray Williams Jr., a Hall of Famer and the all-time Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour titles leader with 46.

All of a sudden it wasn’t about the way Fagan looked. It was more about his ball, delivery and concentration. He had more of it than the 50-year-old Williams in the final, scoring a 241-213 victory to win his first PBA individual title. It was some redemption for last year, when he finished second in this event.

The victory, a $25,000 check and a championship trophy made Fagan smile. But the idea that a beard might have helped made him laugh.

“It’s coming off tonight,� Fagan said of the reddish hair on his face. “But I won’t be shaving [during] tournaments anymore. It’s just going to be a shave at the beginning and let it go.�

It was just a week ago that he shaved after qualifying second at the PBA Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas. But with the clean-cut look, everything seemed to fall apart. He finished ninth and watched as Kelly Kulick made history by becoming the first woman to win a PBA Tour title.

But what about Fagan’s first title? He won a doubles crown with Danny Wiseman two seasons ago.

“One and a half titles,� he said with a smile shortly after someone talked about a monkey coming off his back.

The big one came courtesy of his equipment, he said. After going 8-0 during Friday night’s final match-play round, he spent Saturday relaxing. A thought hit him that he had not been using the proper equipment for the finals. The oil on the lanes can be unforgiving at Fountain Bowl, and especially during the finals made for television.

“I ended up using a ball with a stronger drilling on it,� he said. “That really helped me to be able to play my game where I can be aggressive and know that the ball is going to hook on the lane.�

Fagan opened with four strikes and closed out the match with three strikes before knocking down nine pins with his last ball.

Williams knocked crowd favorite Pete Weber out of the finals with a 234-178 win before taking on Fagan.

Weber, the son of the legendary bowler the tournament is named after, bowed out with a standing ovation.

Pete Weber, a Hall of Famer, scolded a photographer for her loud continuous shutter late in his 214-202 victory over Bill O’Neill, the fifth-seeded bowler in the finals. O’Neill, 28, beat four-time tour title winner Ryan Shafer, 226-200, to open the finals.

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