OPEN
November 19, 2004
Report on the PBA BowlersParadise.com Open at Brunswick Zone Lakeside in Lakeside, Missouri.
We bowled on the 'A' pattern this week. This pattern plays from almost anywhere a bowler wants to play it from. I tend to play around the 1st arrow.
My round of 64 match was against Robby Spigner. Robby is the son of Bill Spigner who hosted the tour a couple of weeks earlier in the Chicago area. I played the lanes around the 1st arrow while Robby was left of the 2nd arrow. I bowled a very solid game until the 10th frame when I went through the nose and left the 6-7 split. Robby threw a strike in the 10th frame to win the first game 237-227. In the next game I won easily 256-213. In the 3rd game, Robby had the edge until he left a 10 pin in the 9th frame and missed. I struck out which forced Robby to strike out to tie which he was unable to do. The 4th game was a higher scoring game. Robby left a 10 pin on the 2nd shot of the 10th frame and then missed that. I needed 9 pins in the 10th frame to win the game and won by sparing and struck to win 259-246. Robby started to struggle in the 6th frame of the 5th game when he again missed a 10 pin followed by a 4-6-7-10. I won the game 237-188 and the match.
WRW vs Robby Spigner
Strike % = 73 (40 of 55)
Pocket % = 87 (48 of 55)
Pocket Strike % = 79 (38 of 48)
I had 2 strikes while missing the pocket. I tripped the 4-7 in the 2nd frame of game 4 and tripped the 6-10 in the 5th frame of game 4 on a nose shot.
Spares made: 6 10 pins, 3 4's, 7, 2, 2-4-5
Splits missed: 6-7, 4-6-7
Robby Spigner vs WRW
Strike % = 58 (32 of 55)
Pocket % = 73 (40 of 55)
Pocket Strike % = 75 (30 of 40)
Robby had 2 strikes while missing the pocket. A tripped 6-10 in the 4th frame of the 1st game and a cross over strike in the 10th frame of game 2.
Spares made: 6 10's, 3 2's, 2 3-6-10's, 1-2, 4, 7, 1-2-8
Spare missed: 1-2-4-6-10
Split missed: 4-6-7-10, 2-8-10, 2-4-8-10
My round of 32 match was against Jason Hurd. I again played up the 1st arrow while Jason was playing inside of the 3rd arrow. We did a lot of striking the 1st game and I was able to strike out in the 10th frame first to lock the win up for a 279-278 win. After about a 10 minute wait to start the 2nd game both Jason and I had some trouble and it was a much lower scoring match, but I again won by 1 pin 191-190. In the 3rd game we again were striking and I had a chance to lock the match up in the 10th frame, but threw a bad shot on my fill ball giving Jason the opportunity to strike out and win by 1 pin. Fortunately for me, Jason left a 10 pin on his first shot in the 10th and I won 267-257. In the 4th game I again had trouble, but Jason kept striking and he wiped me out 243-171. The 5th game was a lower scoring game as we were getting tapped a bit more. Jason had the lead in the game and in the 9th frame left the 2-8 which he missed for the 2nd time in the match. I had a chance to lock up the game and match by striking out, but left a solid 10 pin on the 2nd shot of the 10th frame. Jason needed 3 strikes to tie up the game. Jason carried a late 7 pin on a light hit on his first shot and then ripped the rack on his 2nd shot only to leave the 7 pin. Jason outscored me by 49 pins, but I was fortunate enough to win 4 out of the 5 games we bowled. We hit the pocket the same number of times; Jason's carry was better except when he needed it.
WRW vs Jason Hurd
Strike % = 58 (33 of 57)
Pocket % = 81 (46 of 57)
Pocket Strike % = 70 (32 of 46)
I had 1 strike while missing the pocket. I crossed over in the 3rd frame of game 2.
Spares made: 6 10's, 4 7's, 3 4's, 2 2-4's, 2, 9, 6-10
Spares missed: 2-5-8
Splits missed: 2 4-6-7's, 3-10, 5-7
Jason Hurd vs WRW
Strike % = 70 (40 of 57)
Pocket % = 81 (46 of 57)
Pocket Strike % = 85 (39 of 46)
Jason had 1 strike while missing the pocket when he crossed over in the 2nd frame of game 4.
Spares made: 6 10's, 4, 9, 1-2-4, 4-8, 6-9
Spares missed: 2 2-8's and a 7 pin on his fill ball when the match was over.
Splits missed: 4-6-7, 8-10, 2-10
In the round of 16 I bowled against Mike Scroggins. Mike beat me in the title match the previous season when we bowled across the river in Illinois. Mike started the match with a 4 bagger while I had a few taps, then he threw a few bad shots and I started to carry. Mike struggled with hitting the pocket and when he did hit the pocket his carry was pretty bad. In Mike's 3rd game he only missed the pocket once, but had 2 pocket splits and 4 other taps. I ended up winning the match pretty easy as I had a very good shot to the pocket and my carry was excellent.
WRW vs Mike Scroggins
Strike % = 79 (37 of 47)
Pocket % = 94 (44 of 47)
Pocket Strike % = 82 (36 of 44)
I had one strike while missing the pocket, a tripped 4-7-10 in the 6th frame of game 4.
Spares made: 5 10's, 2 8's, 9
Split missed: 6-7-10
Mike Scroggins vs WRW
Strike % = 43 (19 of 44)
Pocket % = 68 (30 of 44)
Pocket Strike % = 53 (16 of 30)
Mike had 3 strikes while missing the pocket, a tripped 6-7-10 in the 6th frame of the 1st and 2nd game with a nose strike in the 9th frame of game 2.
Spares made: 5 7's, 3 2-4-7's, 2 6's, 2 8's, 3, 3-5-6-9
Spare missed: 1-3-6-7
Splits missed: 2 6-8's, 2 3-7-9's, 6-7, 3-6-7, 4-6-10, 7-10 (4 pocket splits)
My round of 8 opponent was Steve Jaros. We have met in match play twice in the last 2 years. The odd thing about the previous 2 matches is that the bowler who missed the pocket most won each match. This year it was a different story. It was kind of a similar match as I had against Mike Scroggins in that Steve missed the pocket a fair number of times, but when he did hit the pocket he had an awful lot of taps.
WRW vs Steve Jaros
Strike % = 67 (39 of 58)
Pocket % = 91 (53 of 58)
Pocket Strike % = 72 (38 of 53)
I had 1 strike while missing the pocket. I tripped the 4-7-10 in the 7th frame of game 5.
Spares made: 10 10's, 4 4's, 2 4-7's, 2, 8
Steve Jaros vs WRW
Strike % = 38 (20 of 53)
Pocket % = 74 (39 of 53)
Pocket Strike % = 51 (20 of 39)
Spares made: 10 10's, 2 6's, 2 7's, 2 9's, 2 4-7's, 3-6-10, 2-4, 2-4-5, 2-8, 6-10, 3-6-9-10
Spare missed: 3-6-10
Splits missed: 4-9, 7-10, 3-4-6-7-10, 2-8-10, 9-10 (3 pocket splits, the 9-10 was just a pinch high)
Splits made: 3-4-6-7
My first match on TV was against Rick Lawrence. Rick may be a relative unknown to the viewers at home, but he is a very good bowler who has dominated his regional tournaments and had one title in his previous TV showing. I bowled a pretty decent game against Rick, but I had a bit of trouble getting all 10 pins down with one shot. In the 2nd frame I slipped on the approach and looked down to see that my foot was about as close to line as you can get without going over it. In the 4th frame Rick got a lucky strike as he tripped out the 2-7-8. In the 5th frame my ball hooked quite a bit more than I expected and I went high leaving the 6-10 for my only missed pocket shot. Rick again had a break in the 7th frame when he tripped out the 6-7-10 for a strike. I pretty much needed all strikes at the end of the game, but left a solid 10 in the 9th frame. Rick sealed the game with a great strike in the 9th frame and a solid 8 in the 10th to win 238-217. I was just a hair off and had four 10 pins with 3 of them being weak. Rick had the couple of lucky strikes to go with his two 7 pins and solid 8. Sometimes that is the way things go, for the other guy. Rick went on to win his 2nd title and remain undefeated on TV.
WRW vs Rick Lawrence
Strike % = 55 (6 of 11)
Pocket % = 91 (10 of 11)
Pocket Strike % = 60 (6 of 10)
I had no strikes while missing the pocket.
Spares made: 4 10's, 6-10
Rick Lawrence vs WRW
Strike % = 73 (8 of 11)
Pocket % = 82 (9 of 11)
Pocket Strike % = 67 (6 of 9)
Rick had 2 strikes while missing the pocket, a tripped 2-7-8 in the 4th frame and a tripped 6-7-10 in the 7th frame.
Spares made: 2 7's, 8
Walter Ray