Here is my report of the last day (TV day) of the Greater Detroit Open in Taylor, MI at Taylor Lanes.

In the wildcard match Brian Voss bowled against Lonnie Waliczek. Brian won the match 213-196. The 2nd match had me bowling against Kip Roberts. Kip was making his first TV appearance. I have bowled against Kip many times and am surprised that he hasn't won a regional title yet. He is a very good bowler and I am sure we will see more of him on TV. I started the match trying the hook the ball a bit as I had done most of the week using a reactive ball (#1532) playing around 13 out to about 7. I didn't throw very good shots out of the gate going high in the 1st frame and very light in the 3rd frame while Kip started with a double and a solid 10. In the 4th frame I switched to a particle ball (#no number) which went a lot straighter and was playing around 11 out to about 8. We both had turkeys when I went a bit high and Kip went light in the 8th frame. I struck in the 9th frame. Kip threw great shots to finish the game leaving a 10 pin in the 9th frame and striking out to force me to strike on my first shot in the 10th. I went a bit light but ripped the rack for a strike and went a bit high on my 2nd shot to win the match 227-222.

In the 3rd match Brian Voss bowled against Mike Scroggins. I bowled next to Mike Scroggins in all 3 of my elimination matches and he was very impressive in winning all 3 of his matches with no losses. Brian threw a clutch turkey to win the game 229-226.

In the title match I was to face Brian Voss. He had been bowling very well all week after his first 12 games. He bowled a great match against me the night before only to come out on the short side of the match. I figured that I would need to throw the ball like I did against Danny from the week before to have a chance. I don't know if it was the emotions or what, but Brian came out with 3 uncharacteristically poor shots in his first 4 frames plus a missed spare he would hardly ever miss. I came out with a very nice 4 bagger and then left a solid 10. I wasn't concentrating enough on my next shot and pulled the ball for a 6-7-10 split. I made a decent shot at the spare, but didn't quite hit the 6 pin thin enough for the spare. Brian came back with a weak 10 after his 5th frame strike and then struck in the 6th frame. I left a weak 10 in the 7th frame and almost left a solid 8 in the 8th frame, but some pin clipped the 8 for a strike. Brian then left a solid 10 which he followed with a strike. Needing to get two marks, I threw a decent shot in the 9th frame, but went light leaving a 7 pin. I made the spare and in the 10th frame I threw a great shot which struck to lock up the win. I kind of threw the next ball down the lane somewhere close to the pocket to get 9 pins and ended up winning 215-193. The scores on the TV finals were much lower than I would have thought. It was very gratifying to win my 35th title, especially against a top player like Brian. Right now I am in the lead in most statistical categories which is the way I would like it to stay. But I know that there are many other top players out here who might have something to say about that. Hopefully I can continue to bowl well and keep getting some good breaks at the right time!

WR 8/ X8/9/ X X X9/ XX9/ 227
KR X X9/72 X X X8/9/XXX 222

BV 8/6/ X81 X9/ X9/ XX9/ 193
WR X X X X9/729/ X9/X9/ 215


In my TV matches I had 12 strikes out of 22 shots. I had no strikes while missing the pocket. I missed the pocket 3 times.
My strike % on pocket shots was 12 out of 19 pocket shots or 63%.
I had one open which was the 6-7-10 in the title match.

In the matches against me, my opponents had 13 strikes out of 23 shots. I don't think that they had any strikes while missing the pocket. I think that they missed the pocket 5 times.
Their strike % on pocket shots was 13 out of 18 pocket shots or 73%.
They had 2 opens, one split (2-8-10) and a missed 6-10. Brian did pick up the 1-2-4-10 washout.

On to Grand Rapids, MI where I hopefully can do it again.

Walter Ray