HYPNOTHERAPY & BOWLING

Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open champion crowned
12/14/09
Reigning U.S. Open champion Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, shredded rack after rack to post the front nine strikes in his title match against Wayne Garber of Modesto, Calif., before a fired-up crowd, ultimately settling for a 278. A flat seven-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame stood between him and the $10,000 perfect-game bonus check that awaited. Garber, a 42-year-old regional player who earned an exemption on the national tour at the Regional Players Invitational in Reno last December, was held to a 229 due to carry problems.
It was not a surprise, though, that Machuga's 244 was not enough to oust all-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., who shot 257 on his way to the afternoon's most exciting match, a 237 tie with Garber that concluded with a sudden-death rolloff. Both bowlers opened the rolloff with strikes before Williams opened the door with a 2-4-10 split, burying his face in a towel as he took his seat virtually assured of a loss. Garber, who almost never missed the pocket all afternoon, got a nine-count to move on.
"That was my worst shot in recent history,” Walter Ray Williams Jr. said of his second rolloff shot. "I don't know what happened. It was strange because I was the most relaxed I have ever been bowling on TV, partly because I had such a good shot at the pocket. I just threw it way to the right and I thought it might hook up a bit, and it did, but just not enough.”
Wayne Garber's bizarre approach earned as much attention as his success at the event. Drifting up to the line in a series of about 13 baby steps, Garber, who once broke both knees in a fall and was subsequently told by doctors that he would never bowl again, has been "diagnosed” by some with "Barry Asher Syndrome.” Asher, a Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer who won 10 titles in his career, is famous for suddenly losing his footwork on the approach and resorting to hypnotherapy to recover his timing.
At one point my feet stopped moving, I had to circumvent my mind,” Asher explained in an interview earlier this year. "My feet and brain got crossed, I was helped most by a Los Angeles, hypnotherapist, Gil Boyne.. I had to invent ways to start my approach.”
Scroggins had previously defeated a hapless Michael Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., 218-183 in the round of 4, and moved on to defeat Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., who secured the top seed with a 300 in the last game of match play, by a score of 227-215 in the semifinals. With the win, he joins the ranks of PBA Hall of Famers Ernie Schlegel, Mark Williams and Bob Strampe as a seven-time PBA titlist.