Scoring All rounds
I had qualified in a tie for 54th place, 60 pins behind the top 32. The scores were high and I figured that I would need to be at least +250 for the 9 games. I started playing around 13 at the arrows out to about 3 with a dull particle ball (#3797)
. I was using a dull ball as opposed to a shiny ball so that the move on the back wouldn't be quite so violent. I figured that later in the block I would go to a shinier reactive ball which would make a better move on the back end. I started the day out similar to the first day with 5 strikes in a row before leaving a solid 10 pin. I added a double before leaving another solid 10. Then in 10th frame I must have got a little fast as I left the 2-4-8-10 split which I missed to shoot 232. I use a customized thumb insert in my bowling balls. This is so that I can get the balls to feel very close to the same due to the excessive beveling I due to my thumb. Unfortunately, on occasion the thumb inserts become loose and I need to pull them out and reinsert them. This was happening to my spare ball. Fortunately I had another for backup purposes and after getting it I went about taking the thumb insert out of the ball which can be time consuming process. Anyway I had my new spare ball which I had never thrown before and shot at a 9 pin I left in the 2nd frame of the 2nd game and the ball actually hooked away from it to miss the spare. I obviously wasn't happy. And then in the next 2 frames I went high leaving the 3-4-6-7 and the 3-4-6-7-10 splits which I missed so I had 44 in the 4th frame. I moved in a bit and made sure I was getting the ball right and finished with a double and a 4 bagger to shoot 199.
The 3rd game was more the way I wanted and shot 258 with 3 taps. The 4th game could have been really good except 3 solid 10's in between strikes at the end of the game kept my score down to a 226. The next game really nice as I started with a 6 bagger before going a pinch high tripping out the 4 pin and leaving the 9. I followed that with a weak 10 and a 4 bagger to shoot 268. At this point I was actually the cut number to the top 32. Unfortunately for me, things got ugly. I started the 6th game with a 4-9 which I missed completely in an effort to spare and after making an adjustment I left another 4-9 in the 3rd which I missed completely. I decided I would need to make a pretty good move inside and switched balls to a reactive ball (#1532). However, I didn't make the right guess and went high leaving the 3-10 which I missed. So again I had another bad start having 43 in the 4th frame. I again went high in the 5th frame but made the 6-10 spare. I made 3 good shots for strikes and then in the 9th frame didn't get the ball right enough and left the 4-6-7-10 split which I missed. In the 10th frame I again didn't get the ball right enough and left the 3-6-9-10. I was able to pick up the spare to shoot a very disappointing 165. I was now trying to play around 20 at the arrows going out to about 7.
In the 7th game I started with a light strike and then a rip 7-10. Things were not going my way. I managed a 4 bagger before leaving a 9 pin. I was working on a strike in the 10th frame and yanked the ball through the beak for another split, the 4-7-10. I somehow managed to make the spare to shoot 216. In the 8th game I needed some good things to happen and in the 3rd frame I got the ball to far right and left the 2-8-10 which I missed. I left a 10 pin in the 5th frame and then threw a 4 bagger. Unfortunately I yanked the ball again in the 10th frame to leave the 3-6 which I made and shot 214. I needed a really big game in the this last game to make the cut. I started with a 2-8 and then made the adjustment right to have a nice turkey. Then I yanked the ball again leaving the 6-10. I figured that probably ended my chances of making the cut and when I chopped the 6 off of the 10 it seemed like part of the day. I left a solid 10 in the 8th frame and 10th frames to shoot another 214.
I ended up +356 and missed the cut to the top 32 by 62 pins. I was able to hit the pocket a fair amount of times and my carry was decent, but I had way to many opens for the number of times I missed the pocket. 2 of them were missed spares that I should have made, but normally I wouldn't have that many splits. It was a frustrating week for me, but I guess I need a little rest. Hopefully I will come back next week and have another great finish.
In the 2nd round of qualifying I had 65 strikes out of 101 shots. I had no strikes while missing the pocket. I missed the pocket 14 times.
My strike % on pocket shots was 65 out of 87 pocket shots or 75%.
I had 11 opens. 9 were splits (2-4-8-10, 3-4-6-7, 3-4-6-7-10, two 4-9's, 3-10, 4-6-7-10, a rip 7-10, and a 2-8-10) with two missed spares (9, 6-10). I did pick up the 2-4-8, the 3-6-9-10, and the 4-7-10 split.
Walter Ray