PBA Sr. Tour Villages

This is a somewhat belated post from the PBA Sr. Tour stop at The Villages last week.  This was constested on Senior Pattern #5 (Senior Cheetah) on a Heddon surface.  In the practice session, I felt like I could swing the gutter a little and get a good reaction.  But with one more strip and oil, the hook was much earlier and too strong out on the left, and every time the ball got left of 3 anywhere down the lane it overhooked too much.  The first day was very high scoring, and all I could get to was +183 for 8, which was the 52nd spot - the last cash spot.  So, I came into the 2nd block about 30 out of the cash.  I started the block with a plan to use equipment that would not over-read the dry portion of the lane, but after a 204 start when I could have shot 227 the first game, I tried a couple of different balls in game 3, only to shoot 181.  The third game I made another ball change and shot 224, but then went to the low end of the center.  I had to make another ball change immediately as this ball still over-reacted to the first pair at the low end.  Going back to the ball I started with, I got a reaction I could work with.  I went from +192 after game 11 to +292 after game 14.  I still needed two big games to get to the finals, and at least one big game to get a check.  I shot 300 game 15 to get to +392, but needed to gather myself to get one more big game.  I had a good initial reaction on the pair but couldn't follow the move on the right lane and only shot 225 which left me 37 pins short of match play, but with a check for 40th place plus a $100 bonus for the 300 game.