This is my report of the first round of the PBA Odor-Eaters Open held at Golden Pin Lanes in Tucson, Arizona. The PBA has been coming to the Tucson area since 1962, but the tour has had a couple of years off from this city. The PBA used the easy 'E' pattern this week. Apparently whoever makes the decision on lane conditions didn't like the tweak they did to the 'E' pattern over last summer and went back to a much higher scoring condition (remember Mika in Windsor Locks). I decided to try and use a polished low particle ball (#0091) using a straighter release with good speed up 6 or 7 out to around 4. I had a great shot to the pocket, but I had a little trouble getting all 10 pins to fall with one ball. In the first game I left 3 solid 10 pins, a 4 pin and a solid 9 pin to shoot 216 thanks to 2 doubles. The next game wasn't any better as I had 1 double, another solid 10, a solid 9, a 9 when the 4 tripped out, a solid 8, a rip 7-10 in the 9th frame and a 4-9 on my 2nd ball in the 10th to shoot 194. The scores were very high and after 2 games 16th place on 'A' squad was +95 or a 247.5 average and I was at +10 and hadn't missed the pocket yet. In the 3rd game I left another 4-9 which I missed in the 3rd frame in between a double and a 4 bagger with a couple of 10 pins at the end of the game to shoot 225. I finally did some striking in the 4th game as I only had a 4 pin in the 6th and a solid 10 in the 8th to shoot 258. In the 5th game I started with an 8 bagger before leaving a 4 pin. I missed the pocket for the first time of the day in the 2nd shot of the 10th frame when I left the 6-10 to shoot 269. After missing the pocket in the 3rd frame of the 6th game I decided to try something different because I didn't like the way my reaction was going. So in the 4th frame I got a reactive ball (#0712) and moved into the 2nd arrow throwing the ball hard out to 5 with some side rotation. I few shots later and I started a turkey and added a double in the 10th to shoot 223. In the 7th game I started with a turkey, but pulled the ball in the 4th leaving the 3-10 which I made. In the 6th frame I left another 4-9 which again I missed. I doubled after a 10 pin, but again pulled the ball in the 10th frame and left the 4-7-10 which I missed to shoot 201. I went back outside to 6 with the same ball and proceeded to have one double while never missing the pocket again for 207. With the way the scoring pace was going I figured that I would need a 270+ game to have a chance. I switched to a ball (#0257) that I normally don't like and tried outside around 5. After going right of the pocket and left of the pocket I went back to the reactive ball (#0712) and moved in to 11 hooking it with good speed and started striking. I managed to strike all the way until the 2nd ball in the 10th when I left another ringing 10 pin to shoot 257. I ended up being in 34th place on 'A' squad as several players struggled the last couple of games. I wasn't really expecting to make the cut, but it turned out that the 'B' squad didn't score quite as well as 'A' did and 39 players on 'A' squad made the cut. So now all I have to do is average around 240 for the next 9 games I might make the cut to the top 32! I had 62 strikes out of 100 shots. I missed the pocket 7 times and had no strikes while missing the pocket. I had 62 pocket strikes on 93 pocket shots or a pocket strike percentage of 67. I had 4 opens, all 4 were splits (rip 7-10, two 4-9's, 4-7-10). I made the 3-10, plus the 6-10, 3-6-10, 2-4-5 and 4-7. Walter Ray