O'Neill's Dream Season Continues With ATX Invite Win
O'Neill's Dream Season Continues With ATX Invite Win
In the midst of the best season of his career at age 37, Bill O’Neill won the FloBowling PBA ATX Invite on Saturday by defeating Jason Sterner, 2-0.
AUSTIN, Texas – Bill O’Neill’s dream season just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.
In the midst of the best season of his career at age 37, O’Neill won the FloBowling PBA ATX Invite on Saturday at Dart Bowl by defeating Jason Sterner, 2-0.
O’Neill, an 11-time winner on the PBA Tour, was never really challenged in the best-of-three championship match, sweeping his way to the win by scores of 257-176 and 237-215. Although the event did not count as a PBA Tour title, O’Neill did earn $25,000 for the victory.
WATCH: FloBowling PBA ATX Invite
“When you get here, it means you accomplished something,” O’Neill said. “You’re with the best of the best and it always feels good to win anything, especially with seven other great bowlers.”
O’Neill’s ball reaction was unmatched throughout the day on the 45-foot Dick Weber lane pattern, and he said he figured out early on what the secret to success would be.
“I figured out really early in the match against Anthony that I had to keep my angles tighter,” said O’Neill, who defeated Anthony Simonsen 248-207 in the opening round of the bracket. “I couldn’t throw it too far to the right. I had the perfect ball, and I was just rolling it really well. I was trying to keep my hand up the back of it to keep it from breaking loose down the lane and hooking too hard.”
O’Neill, who defeated Kyle Sherman 280-212 in the semifinals, has now earned $177,148.33 in prize money so far this season, the most he’s ever earned in a single season. He’s also won two PBA Tour titles in 2019, including the PBA Hall of Fame Classic and the PBA Chesapeake Open.
Although he finished second, Sterner continues to bowl well after picking up his third career PBA Tour title at the PBA Illinois Open last month. He said it was disappointing, however, to finish runner-up.
“Bill’s a great shot maker; he’s very versatile, so I knew it was going to be a battle going in,” Sterner said. “It was going to be who made better shots and Bill did. That’s on me.”
Sterner made it past fellow Brunswick staffer Sean Rash in the semifinals, 236-225, to advance into the championship match. He knocked off AJ Johnson, 267-254, in his opening-round match.
In the other first-round matches, Rash defeated Tommy Jones, 228-216, and Sherman knocked off EJ Tackett in double overtime. Tied at 212-212, Sherman and Tackett both left 10 pins in the first overtime and Sherman struck, while Tackett got nine in the second overtime.