PBA50 Dayton

Three strikes.  As it turns out, if I had struck out in the 10th frame, I would have made the top-4 stepladder by 3 pins over Mike Edwards, I would have been bowling Randy Pederson in the first match, and who knows what would have happened from there?  I had the best tournament of the year, not just in finish but by how I bowled.  I keyed on a more relaxed drop into the swing and on going "heel-toe" on my crossover step and bowled very well the first block, ending up 13th after the first 8 games.  I primarily used my Roto Grip Disturbed the 2nd-8th games of the block, after my Storm Pearl Marvel was just too early with a light 1000 surface on it and was running out of energy too quick.  The second block, which was on the "burn" squad (no re-oil between squads), I had the Pearl Marvel at 2000 and lightly polished.  This ball worked great for awhile (had a 266 game) but then started to run out of energy later in the block.  I don't normally guess at adjustments, but this time I did and pulled a 1000 sanded IQ Tour Pearl out of the bag and shot an "easy" 247 game.  I say easy because all of a sudden the lane seemed to open up with that ball, and I could "see" the hook area and had a little hold with this ball.  Moral of the story - if the ball in your hand and your target line is good for 9-counts, change balls or change lines!

In the match play, I started off slow, not shooting 200 the first two games.  It was raining outside and it was very humid, so the lanes were playing very tight down the lane.  Even at that, I was 2-0 after those two games.  I needed to get a reaction and quick if I was going to keep up with the leaders, so I went back to the paddock and get my Brunswick Aura Paranormal.  This ball allowed me to get some reaction at the back of the lane without it over-hooking, so I could just slow down and really roll it without being concerned that it would jump high on me.  I took off after this point, moving up to 13th from 16th at the start of the block and making the cut to the top 16.

At the start of the top 16 my first match was against Randy Pederson.  I started off very slowly, not doubling until the 5th frame after making a "super-washout" and staying clean.  On the washout I realized my hips were turning out on me a little bit at the release, and from then on I focused on keeping my left hip on my target line on the downswing/release.  I bowled GREAT from that point forward and made a huge run shooting 760 my first three games on route to moving into the top 10.  I had one bad game on 5-6 where I had no answer for the pair, then I was having hand/grip issues the next game against Walter Ray and only managed to shoot 204 and lost.  I then rebounded with at 258 to get to 7th.  I was about 93 out going into position round and in 7th, but I thought that with a big game I could at least have a say in the outcome.  Bowling Wayne Webb, I started with a 5-bagger then a 7-pin, then struck to the 9th.  In the 7th frame in the 3rd-4th match, Randy was on a 172 pace after 6 frames, so I had a chance.  My shot in the 10th drifted high (not a great shot) and I missed the spare to shoot 243 and lose, but my focus was really on trying to make the top 4.  Had I shot 279 instead of 243, I would have had 66 pins more and I finished 63 off the top 4.

All in all this was a great confidence boost going into the majors in Vegas.