Professional Bowlers Association

Veteran Jim Godman was much the best throughout and as a result was an easy victor in the $40,000 Grand Rapids Open staged once again at Westgate Bowl. One of three former T of C tit lists in the strong field, Godman was the leader at the end of each of the six blocks that comprised the event, faltering only one on his way to his seventh crown.

Leading by what appeared to be a comfortable margin of 359 Pins during the next-to-last block of match games, Godman slipped somewhat in that session and with only two clashes left in that block, he saw his lead all but vanish. Jim tefanich, Joliet, Ill., who also captured the $25,000 first-place prize in the T of C, shot a 300 game at that point. Coupled with the eventual winner's sub-par effort, the lead dropped to only ten sticks.

But, Godman rallied at that point and when the 24 finalists took their break, he had padded his lead once again and he went into the last set with a 150-pin lead. When he averaged 233-plus, while losing only one of his final eight games, Godman put daylight between him and the lineup.

With 16 match game wins and an overall pace of 227 for 42 games, Godman showed a gross pinfall of 10,023, which gave him a 312-pin edge over runnerup Stefanich.

There was one other perfect game during the three-day proceedings, that by Gary Dickinson, Ft. Worth, Tex., who shot his 12-striker during the final six-game qualifying round.

18-GAME TOTALS

*Alternate-PRO-AM CASHERS-$50.00-Allie Clarke, Rich Carrubba, Bobby Cooper, Larry Laub, Don Crouse, Ken Viveiros. 300 GAMES-$100-Gary Dickinson, Jim Stefanich. 18-game qualifying leader-Jim Godman-4061. 24th low-Pappas-3802.