This is my report of the first 4 rounds of the US Open held at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley California. This is the third consecutive year the US Open has been held here.
The field is divided into 3 squads. The format is 3 days of 6 games of qualifying. The lanes are stripped and re-oiled before the 1st and 3rd squads of the day. After the 18 games, the field is trimmed to the top 90 players since there is a full field of 360 bowlers. Then there are 9 more games of qualifying. The lanes will be stripped and re-oiled for each round starting in the 4th with everybody bowling at one time. After the 27 games of qualifying the field is cut to the top 24 players where there will be 24 more games of round robin match play in 3 sessions of 8 games. During the match play portion, if you win your match you will receive 30 bonus pins, 15 pins for a tie. After the 51 games the top 5 players will be seeded into the TV finals for a step ladder finals. The #4 & #5 seeded players will bowl the first match with the winner advancing to bowl the #3 seed. The winner of that match will advance to bowl the #2 seed and the winner of that match will advance to bowl the #1 seed for the title.
I have bowled pretty well here the last couple of years finishing 3rd and 1st the last two years. The pattern used is normally very tough as the oil pattern is flat across the lanes from left to right. Based on practice, it seemed as though the pattern was either longer than last year or a heavier amount of oil was used as the lanes didn't seem to hook as much as last year. I had a lot of success last year playing a fairly straight shot around 10. I was on the 'B' squad and I decided to try and play around 6 or 7 at the arrows going pretty straight with a dull low particle ball (#0319). I started out pretty good as I had a double and a late turkey to shoot 225. In the 2nd game I had a double in the 2nd and 3rd frames followed by a 3-10 split conversion and then an 8 bagger to shoot 268. I hit the pocket pretty well in the 4th game, but only managed a double in the 10th frame for a 203. The 4th game got a little ugly, but I did manage to pick up the 2-10 in the 2nd. I chopped the 2-4-5 in the 7th frame and in the 10th frame when I was on a strike I left a 4-9 which I missed, shooting 164. In the 5th game I chopped the 6-10 in the 3rd frame and then missed the 2-4-8 in the 10th frame shooting another disappointing game of 171. I started the 6th game with the 4-6-7-9 split which I missed. I then decided to try playing the inside line and moved into 26 for the 2nd frame using a reactive ball (#0712). I moved into 28 on my next shot, but still went high. Again in the 4th frame I moved in another board, but went high again. I finally hit the pocket in the 5th frame leaving a weak 10 playing 30 at the arrows. I then threw a double before leaving a solid 10 pin. I came back with a turkey to shoot 208 and +39 for the block. That wasn't quite where I was hoping to be after the great start I had, but it was much better than last year's start when I was -64.
I had 32 strikes out of 68 shots. I missed the pocket 24 times and had no strikes while missing the pocket.
I had 32 pocket strikes on 44 pocket shots or a pocket strike percentage of 73.
I had 5 opens, 2 splits (4-9, 4-6-7-9) and 2 missed spares (2-4-5, 6-10, 2-4-8).
I did pick up the 3-10 and 2-10 splits plus two 3-6's, two 3-6-10's, 2-4-5, 6-10, 2-4, 1-2-4, 4-7, 2-4-5-8, 2-4-5-7-8 and the 3-6-9-10.
On the 2nd day I again started playing around 6 at the arrows using a dull low particle ball (#0319). In the 1st game I had a double, a 4 bagger and a turkey in the 10th frame for a nice 247. In the 2nd game I had a turkey, a missed 4-6-7 and a double in the 10th frame for a 212. In the 3rd game I had an early double followed by a 5 bagger to shoot 246. In the 4th game I had an early turkey and a late double to shoot 224. In game 5 I again had an early double and a late turkey to shoot 222. After an opening double in the 6th game I opened in the 4th frame on a 4-6-10 split. Unfortunately I was only able to get one more strike the remainder of the game as I shot 188. I finished the block at +178 and in about 6th place after the 12 games.
In the 2nd round I had 38 strikes out of 68 shots. I missed the pocket 22 times and had 4 strikes while missing the pocket, a tripped 2 pin in the 2nd frame of the 1st game, another tripped 2 in the 7th frame of the 2nd game, yet another tripped 2 in the 8th frame of the 4th game and a tripped 4-7 in the 9th frame of the 5th game.
I had 34 pocket strikes on 46 pocket shots or a pocket strike percentage of 73.
I had 2 opens, 2 splits (4-6-7, 4-6-10).
I made three 2-4-5's, two 2-5's, two 4-8's, two 2-4-5-8's, 1-2, 1-2-4, 6-10, 3-6-10.
For round 3 I used the same ball (#0319) as the first 2 rounds and played up 7. I missed the 4-9 in the 3rd frame and came back with a double and another double later in the game to shoot 202. In the 2nd game I finished with a 5 bagger to shoot 236. In the 3rd game I started with a 4-9. I had turkey in the middle of the game and ended up shooting 204. In game 4 I started with a double and then had a 5 bagger on my way to a 246. In the 5th game I finished with a 4 bagger to shoot 214. In the 6th game I went high in the 2nd frame leaving the 4-6-7-9 which I missed. In the 4th frame after moving a pinch left I left the pocket 4-7-9 which I also missed. In the 9th frame I picked up the 3-10 split before finally getting a turkey in the 10th frame for a 178. I ended up at +258 which was in 7th place.
In the 3rd round I had 36 strikes out of 69 shots. I missed the pocket 17 times and had no strikes while missing the pocket. I had 36 pocket strikes on 52 pocket shots or a pocket strike percentage of 75.
I had 4 opens, 4 splits (two 4-9's, 4-6-7-9, 4-7-9).
I made two 3-10's, two 3-6's, two 6-10's, 2-4, 2-5-8.
In round 4 I again used the same ball (#0319) as I used the other 3 rounds. In the 1st game I had a little trouble striking and then I left a 4-9 in the 7th frame and the 10th frame which I fortunately was able to spare and shot 189. I finally had a double in the 2nd game in the 3rd and 4th frame, but followed that with another 4-9 which I missed. I ended up shooting 185. In the 3rd game I missed the 4-7-10 in the 2nd frame followed by a double. I had another 4-7-10 in the 8th frame followed by a turkey to shoot 195. In the 4th game I had a turkey starting in the 6th frame and missed another 4-9 in the 10th frame for a 205. In the 5th game I had a double and a turkey with a 6-7-10 which I missed in the 9th frame to shoot 210. In the 6th game I had 3 doubles in shooting 220. In the 7th game I started by missing the 1-2-4-10 washout, missed the 4-10 in the 3rd frame and picked up the 2-5-7 in the 5th frame before finally having a 4 bagger thanks to a tripped 2-8 and a cross over strike to shoot 205. I decided to use a reactive ball (#0712) and move into 29. After starting with 3 strikes I missed the 4-6-7-10. I then had another turkey before leaving a 2-8-10 for another open. I finished with a turkey to shoot 217. After an early double in the 9th frame I only managed a 197 as I missed the pocket several times, but made all of my spares. I finished at +281 an qualified for match play in 11th place. I had a little trouble hitting the pocket and I had quite a few 4-9's.
In the 4th round I had 45 strikes out of 101 shots. I missed the pocket 34 times and had two strikes while missing the pocket, a tripped 2-8 in the 6th frame of the 7th game and a cross over strike in the 9th frame of the 7th game.
I had 43 pocket strikes on 67 pocket shots or a pocket strike percentage of 64.
I had 9 opens, 8 splits (two 4-9's, two 4-7-10's, 6-7-10, 4-10, 4-6-7-10, 2-8-10) and the 1-2-4-10 washout.
I made two 4-9's, and the 2-5-7 baby split plus three 2-4-8's, three 2-4-5-8's, two 2-4-5's, two 4-7's, 2-4, 1-2-4-7, 1-2-4-8, 6-10, and the 6-9-10.
Walter Ray