His birth certificate states his age is a double-nickel, yet Lawrence bowler Bob Glass feels more like he’s 35 as he heads into his fourth season on the PBA Senior Tour.

Knee and back problems have dogged Glass in the past, but the knees are fine and, he says, “I haven’t had problems with my back.”

So healthy is Glass that the former Kansas University economics think-tanker is saving money on pain-relief pills.

“I’ve cut back on my use of Aleve,” Glass said. “I used 30 of them in one tournament last year.”

Glass hasn’t cut back on time he spends in his car. Since January, he has been on the road almost every weekend, bowling in regional tournaments from Chicago to Houston.

At mid-week, Glass will be behind the wheel again headed for Chillicothe, Ohio, and this weekend’s start of the 11-stop PBA Senior Tour.

For the last three years, Glass has been the dominant player on that tour. In 2000 and 2001, he was named the tour’s player of the year. Last year, he led the tour in points and in scoring average (221.56), but failed to win the player of the year honor, mainly because he failed to win a single event. He did finish second three times, but settled for third place on the money list with nearly $31,135.

Mark Roth, who led the money list, earned PBA senior player-of-the-year honors. Glass did have the consolation of being named the top senior by both the Bowling Writers Assn. of America and Bowling Magazine for the third straight year.

Still, the PBA award is the most prestigious, and Glass would love to win it again.

“But mostly,” he said, “I’d like to have a good year because last year was a fight.”

Glass is eager to see how he performs with Brunswick balls. He used Track balls during his first three years on the Senior Tour, and is happy he switched.

“The ball really feels good,” he said. “Brunswick has a huge variety. Track had just one or two. Brunswick has at least eight balls that are significantly different.”

Different, too, are the tournament formats. In the past, the bowlers went into match play to qualify for the stepladder finals. Now everything is single elimination with no stepladder finals.