Here is my report of the TV Finals at Miller High Life Open in Vernon Hills, IL.
For those of you who missed the TV finals, Steve Hoskins bowled Mike Devaney in the wildcard match and won 254-211. I bowled Jason Couch in the 1st semi final match.
I used the same ball I started with in the match against Mike Devaney (#0486)No Photo. I started playing around 10 going out to about 7. Jason started with a strike. My first shot was horrible as I went high and left only the 3 pin. I came back with a strike. Jason went a pinch high in the 2nd and left the 6-8 split which he missed. He came back with a nice strike. I threw 2 great strikes on my turn. Jason struck in the 4th followed by a light 7 pin. I added a strike followed by a 5-7 when I was a bit light. I missed the split conversion. Jason threw 2 strikes. I came back with a couple of light strikes. In the 8th frame Jason got a bit slow leaving the 2-4-6-7-10 which he missed. Jason struck in the 9th and I had the opportunity to cruise into the title match. I won the game 256-176 after I struck out and Jason opened in the 10th.
In the other semi-final match Danny Wiseman defeated Steve Hoskins 215-197. Danny and I bowled for the title. I thought I might have an advantage as Danny struggled a bit in the previous match, but Danny had other ideas. I believe that Danny changed balls and started with a strike. I started with back to back solid 9's. I don't do that very often. Danny added 2 more strikes. I struck in the 3rd frame and left a rip 7 pin in the 4th. Danny added 2 more strikes. I finally got a double. Danny then added 2 more strikes for a 7 bagger. I added 2 strikes to get up to a 4 bagger. Danny struck 2 more times to basically win the game. It didn't really matter at this point. I did strike in the 9th frame and left a solid 10 in the 10th before leaving a 5 pin. Danny was going for a 300 game, but sent the ball wide leaving the 2-8 to end up winning the tournament with a with a score of 277-237.
Semi-final match against Jason Couch
Title match against Danny Wiseman
| JC | X | 81 | X | X | 9/ | X | X | 53 | X81 | 176 |
| WR | 9/ | X | X | X | X | 81 | X | X | X | XXX | 256 |
| DW | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8/9 | 277 |
| WR | 9/ | 9/ | X | 9/ | X | X | X | X | X | 9/9 | 237 |
In the TV matches I had 16 strikes out of 23 shots. I had no strikes while missing the pocket. I missed the pocket 1 time.
My strike % on pocket shots was 16 out of 22 pocket shots or 73%.
I had 1 open on my 5-7 split.
In the TV matches my opponents had 15 strikes out of 21 shots. They didn't have any strikes while missing the pocket. They missed the pocket three times.
Their strike % on pocket shots was 15 out of 18 pocket shots or 83% which is pretty high.
They had 3 opens. All 3 were splits (6-8, 2-4-6-7-10, and the 4-10).
Jason only missed the pocket twice against me, but they were both splits to go with his pocket 6-8 to keep his score down. I had some good carry in my game against Jason except for the 5-7. I bowled a great game against Danny, but the taps kept me from making it a closer game. Danny threw a bunch of good shots striking on his first 9 to win the game and the title. I felt like I bowled very well this week. I got a few breaks along the way, but I needed some more in that last match. Hopefully I can continue this good bowling.
Walter Ray