Pro Bowling : Martin Beats Odds to Win Greater L.A. Open

The odds were certainly not in Steve J. Martin’s favor as he entered the televised five-man finals of the $125,000 Greater Los Angeles Open Saturday.

But that’s nothing new. Hardly anything has been in Martin’s favor in recent years.

Nobody with a knowledge of bowling would have predicted that Martin had a chance of upsetting four-time PBA Player of the Year Mark Roth--not to mention beating three other top bowlers along the way.

The fact that he did--scoring a 244-192 win over Roth in the final--made Martin’s victory all the more satisfying.

Beforehand, though, there was good reason to be skeptical.

Once among the tour’s brightest young stars, Martin, 26, had struggled through 60 Professional Bowlers Assn. tournaments in the past three years without a win. In fact, since 1982, the Kingsport, Tenn., resident never even managed to qualify for the final five--or “make TV” in bowling jargon--except in one doubles tournament.

To make matters worse, he frequently was hobbled by illness and injury, including problems, knee problems and tendinitis in his bowling hand. He also underwent hernia surgery in 1982.

All he had left was his name--and pretty soon he couldn’t even call that his own.

Another young bowler named Steve Martin (Steve D. of Great Falls, Mont.) joined the tour in 1983, forcing Steve J. Martin--the one who had been Rookie of the Year in ‘77--to change his identity by having a new set of bowling shirts made with his middle initial on the back.

By coincidence, 1983 was a dismal year for Steve J. Martin. His earnings, which had peaked at $81,460 in 1981, plummeted to $23,370. That’s not a good living for a man supporting a wife and two children in a business where expenses can total $20,000 a year.

But Martin said he always loved to bowl in Southern California. He won one of his six titles at Anaheim’s Wonder Bowl and another at Gable House Bowl in Torrance, the site of this week’s competition. If his fortunes were ever going to change, this seemed to be the place.

Bowling with machine-like consistency and tallying one perfect game, Martin led for three of the first four rounds at Gable House. Then, in the crucial third block of match play Friday night, he faltered. He slid from first to fifth place, hanging onto the last qualifying spot by a slim 42-pin margin over the 42 games.

Nobody envied his bottom position in Saturday’s field.

In order to win, he would have to fight his way up in head-to-head competition with each of the four veterans seeded above him. Rarely does a fifth-seed win four-straight for an upset victory, especially with the 1984 money-leader awaiting the challenger in the championship game.

Martin was grateful just to be assured of a paycheck of between $4,500 (for fifth place) and $18,000 (for first).

He opened each of the first two games with four strikes in a row, and appeared more at ease than either of his two opponents. The turning point in the first game came when opponent George Pappas, No. 4 on the ladder, attempted a high-risk shot and failed to pick up either pin of a 6-7 split as the ball curved into the gutter.

Martin defeated Pappas, of Charlotte, N.C., 233 to 203, and then trounced Larry Laub of Tucson, 257-202.

Just when the capacity crowd at Gable House might have expected another string of strikes to kick off the third game, Martin lost his effectiveness.

By the fourth frame, he already had two 4-6-7 splits, nearly impossible to clear away on the last ball. The best he could do was knock off one side each time for a miserable score of nine. In the meantime, second-seeded Gary Skidmore of Albuquerque, N.M., built a 33-pin advantage, 87-54.

Martin, watching his only chance at a title in years evaporate, said he decided “it’s now or never,” and changed his delivery in the hope of overcoming the slow lane conditions.

The gamble paid off in three consecutive strikes, while Skidmore rolled two splits and missed a pin on a 3-10 split. Martin went ahead by eight pins in the sixth frame at 113-105, and endured for a 192-170 win.

That proved to be the closest game of Martin’s remarkable ascent.

Roth was dogged by a bad fit in the thumb hole of his new ball, which had served him very well all week until the championship game. He stuffed the hole with tape, but it didn’t help much. Roth even misfired and bounced one ball, uncharacteristically missing the lone eight pin in the third frame.

Martin realized the game and the long-awaited title were his after he rolled a strike in the sixth frame, putting him 32 pins ahead of Roth at 135-93. He broke into a little dance-step, and completed the final frames for his 244-192 victory.