PBA Tour National Champion Tom Daugherty of Riverview, Fla., defeated Ryan Ciminelli of Monroe, N.C., 234-221, to win the PBA Strike It Big Oviedo RPI Open for his 19th PBA Regional title on Sunday at Oviedo Bowling Center.
Daugherty qualified in the number two position for the four-man stepladder finals with a 17-game total of 3,824 pins, 177 pins behind the leader Ciminelli, with 4,001. In third was Gary Faulkner Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., 3,802 followed by n-John Janawicz of Winter Haven, Fla., in fourth with 3,799.
In the opening match, Faulkner Jr. defeated Janawicz 203-199, Faulkner Jr. then lost to Daugherty 268-242, which allowed Daugherty to advance to the Championship match.
In the title match, both players started with a double. Ciminelli split and opened in the third frame while Daugherty stayed clean and doubled in the tenth to secure the win. Daugherty earned $3,200 for the first-place prize.
Ciminelli pocketed $1,700 for second, Faulkner $1300 for third, and Janawicz earned $1100 for fourth.
Four players earned berths into the PBA Resident Pro Invitational (RPI) in Las Vegas on January 2-5, 2022 including Ciminelli, Faulkner Jr., Mike Coffey, and Sean Connolly. Tour players in the Top 50 points list are not eligible to compete in the RPI.