Lawrence Fobert has won several team provincial titles over the years, but it had been 15 years since he won his first and only men’s open singles bowling provincial crown.

On Wednesday the wait for number two ended.

“It feels pretty good, it’s been a long time since I won in ‘93,” said Fobert. “I’ve won on the team before, but singles is always special.”

Fobert beat Calgary’s Tom Stevenson in 272-190 in the final to claim the crown.

Despite the lopsided score in the final, winning the provincial tittle was never a sure thing, in fact Stevenson had won the first game of the double-elimination final 296-222, the worst score of Fobert’s day, to force the winner-take-all final.

For Fobert it was a combination of butterflies and a little bit of rust that put him off to the slow start in the first game. Fobert had to wait three hours between his final game of qualifying, through the women’s playoffs and then through the rest of the men’s playoffs before he stepped back up to a lane.

The break was due to being the No. 1 qualifier in the men’s bracket and the subsequent ladder style playoff format.

“With a three-hour layoff warm up balls don’t really do it, you have to get into the match before yo really get loosened up,” said Fobert. “In about the sixth frame or seventh frame of the first game, that’s when I felt comfortable again and then it just kind of kept going after that.”

Fobert, did however, have a bit of inside knowledge of the lanes, being the manager of Riverside Bowl and Lounge where the provincials were being held. But he claims the advantage was minimal.

“I don’t bowl the whole bowling centre, so this end of the bowling centre is kind of strange to me,” he said. “But I found my niche real quick and it worked out well.”

Stevenson beat Mark Johnstone from Edmonton in the semifinal to make the final. Johnstone beat Gary Baird from Red Deer in the quarter-final after beating Steve Wright from Northern Alberta in the playoff opener. Greg Gigliuk of Red Deer finished in 13th with a 224.6 average and missed the playoff cut.

The women’s side also saw the return of a long-time provincial competitor to the top of the mountain.

Dianne Violini of Lethbridge won her sixth singles provincial championship, but it was her first in five years.

“This is my 35th year bowling in the open, not always as a single, but it never gets any easier,” said Violini, 57.

Violini beat Calgary’s Tracy Smith 281-237 in the first game of the final.

She wasn’t exactly sure what to expect out of the tournament as her average has decline the past few years, but it all came together on Wednesday as she bowled a 279.5 through qualifying and then a 281 in the final.

“Normally I’m in the 250 to 260 (range) but I’m sitting at 235 this year, I’m really struggling and getting a lot of head pins and not scoring as well,” said Violini. “It’s unfortunate, but maybe it’s making me pick up my game and forcing me to do other things to be more accurate.”

As the No. 1 qualifier on the women’s side Violini to had a bit of a wait but she manage to fight through the nerves and the rust to get the job done.

“I was really able to keep my focus and my concentration, I had been struggling with that for a couple of years,” she said. “But when I was up there I was able to block out the other things and able to think about throwing my ball out there on to the lane on target and it really helped.”

Smith beat Stettler’s Shantelle Szuch-Roeder in the semifinal to qualify for the final. Szuch-Roeder went on a run as the fifth qualifier, beating Northern Alberta’s Bonnie Olson and Edmonton’s Tina Arychuk to make it to the semi. Andrea Leavitt of Drumheller finished seventh and Shauna Pirie-Laisnez of Big Valley finished 12th, both missed the playoff cut.

The team event goes today and Friday at 9:30 a.m. and then on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Contact Josh Aldrich at jaldrich@reddeeradvocate.com