Monday March 20th

Well today was practice day in Indy. I was welcomed by dozens of congratulations from the tour guys when I got here today, which was very heartwarming. I’ve developed a lot of friendships out here over the last several years and it was nice knowing the guys were pulling for me. This is my first tournament knowing that I have a job already locked up for next year. I was still pretty tired today after the weekend, but now it’s time to get back to work. While I was unloading my stuff I saw a beautiful sight: the Kegel lane machines going down the lane!!! We use the new Brunswick A-22 machines out here on tour and I’ve had a hard time adjusting to its technology. This week they are using Kegel and I’m pretty happy about that. I grabbed a practice pair with Lonnie Waliczek and started loosening up when Schlem ( Storm tour rep and one of my closest friends, Chris Schlemer ) came over and said my armswing was the loosest he had ever seen. It’s amazing how having the pressure of chasing an exemption lifted off of me affected everything. A squad practice was 2 hours and I threw every ball I had down there. Last year I had pretty good success ( qualified 5th but lost to Parker Bohn III in match play ) with a Triple XXX-Factor, but I could tell right away I was going to be able to use stronger stuff this week. Several balls looked good and my physical game felt decent. My legs are still pretty sore, but it’s also late in the season and everybody is fighting some sort of injury I think. I practiced for my 2 hours and then hung around to watch B squad practice. I just wanted to see how the strip and re-oil affected the lanes. Things looked similar to what we had so I left, grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel for the night. WWE Raw was on and on Monday nights that takes priority!

Tuesday March 21st

Today is Round One of qualifying. I’m crossing with Billy O’Neill, Lonnie Waliczek and Bruce Falcon. That’s a great cross for me, not only because all 3 are very good players but I’m friends with all 3 of them and it makes for a more relaxed atmosphere during qualifying. During practice I was a close but not totally lined up. I chose to start with a Paradigm at around 15-17. After a quick 2-10 split I jumped out around where Lonnie was striking ( around 7-8 ) and things were worse. I bailed 180 out of that game and moved on. The next game was better, I went back inside with the Paradigm and had a solid 248.The next 5 games were pretty uneventful games of 213, 227, 190, 213, and 195. I switched to a Pyro but I just couldn’t create the right angle to strike with. Scores were pretty high so I wanted to keep plugging along and get all I could get. The last couple of games I jumped way in to 27-28 with an old X-Factor. I managed to pull out 234 and 205 the last two to finish at +105 for the block. I was pretty happy with that and left the bowl for a while. I went back later to watch B squad and was shocked to see the scores drop a little from what we had. There is always a difference after each strip and re-oil and maybe that was the case here. I watched until around game 7 and left to grab dinner and go to bed early since I still wasn’t feeling well ( been sick since the first week of February ! ).

Wednesday March 22nd

We bowled the late round tonight so I slept a little later today to catch up on some rest. When I got to the bowl B squad only had a few games left. Scores still weren’t at the pace that we set, but I also figured ours would drop some tonight too. I had the same problems tonight getting out of the gate that I had yesterday. A little too much over/under and my legs felt terrible. I struggled a little the first 6 games, searching for a consistent ball reaction. I had games of 203, 192, 187, 215, 201 and 204. Nothing terrible, but nothing stellar either. The cash number hovered all night and didn’t really move so I figured if I could finish off the block well I would not only make the cut, but have a chance at match play. During game 6 I made the big move to the X-Factor again and jumped in to around 25-26, just like I had finished the first round. What happened next I can’t explain. I struck on 35 of the next 41 shots to finish with 257,280 and 246. It was sort of unreal to do that at a major but it was a huge shot of confidence. I entered today tied for 30th and when the day was over I was in 19th. That gives me a little cushion for the match play cut now. I’m not a superstitious person but since I had Taco Bell for dinner last night, guess where I went again tonight !

Thursday March 23rd

Today we started with the semi-final round of 9 games before they cut to essentially 40 players. The top 4 bowlers from the qualifying rounds were paired with Tommy Jones, Mike Scroggins, Wes Malott and Norm Duke in what has been dubbed the “Super 16” round. Last year I qualified 5th and lost out on my chance to avoid the early rounds of match play. Being in 19th this year, it didn’t look to good for that again. Today I was paired up with Mike Machuga and Justin Hromek ( another great cross ). I actually bowled better on the fresh today than I had all week but my score didn’t reflect it. With games of 215, 211, and 211 my hopes of a “Super 16” seed was pretty much dead. I used the same Paradigm and Pyro that I had been using, but I also mixed in a Fired Up that looked good. Game 4 was pretty much a disaster. I left 2 pocket 7-10s and I flagged a 10-pin for a whopping 169 ! Now all of a sudden I needed to get my butt in gear or I was going home early. I bowled a pretty solid 203 in Game 5, but the change to the Fired Up was the key in this game. After I made the switch I didn’t miss the pocket the rest of the day. I shot 246 in Game 6, 268 in Game 7, 236 in Game 8 and finished up with 216 in Game 9. Since there was only 3 to a pair today, the lanes held up a little longer and the X-Factor didn’t have to make an appearance today. I ended up the round in 9th place, which actually gave me the #5 seed for match play. As it turned out I was fairly fortunate because I drew Y.H Byun in the first round of match play instead of Patrick Allen !

We had a little controversy before the match started because Mr. Byun ( who is from Korea ) was using a non product registered ball. For those of you that don’t know, all equipment used in PBA competition must be cleared for use or you would be disqualified. Mr. Byun was using an overseas Hammer ball that wasn’t approved and Schlem called him on it. The tournament directors informed us that they cleared his equipment for use before the tournament had started, so I accepted it and moved on. Mr. Byun is a low rev-rate player and he was using quite a bit of surface around 10-12. I figured this would play into my hands since he would be burning up a hook spot for me. I won game one 216-147 but he had already moved into around 16-18 with his 200 grit ball. By now I was already forced farther left than I had planned. I struggled during the second game, but I doubled in the 10th to win 195-185. The last 2 games weren’t very close and I won 223-183 and 226-187. It was nice to get that first round win out of the way and move on. Things get much, much tougher tomorrow. Again, Taco Bell for dinner. I don’t think I could handle it again !!!

Friday March 24th

My Round of 16 opponent was Steve Harman. Steve lives in nearby Camby, Ind and is a very solid regional player. He has a strong physical game and I knew he would be a very tough opponent. I bowled Steve a few years ago at the NRPC in Reno, winning that match 3 games to 2 ( after being down 0-2 ). I figured he owed me one and I was in trouble !!! The first game saw both of us migrating left faster than anticipated. Steve won an ugly Game 1 for both of us 214-204 and things weren’t looking good for Game 2. After a couple of early splits I ran down to see where Ryan Shafer was playing. He was out around 7-8 so I grabbed a Fire Diablo and jumped out around 6-7. Immediately it paid dividends because I started striking. I had to double in the 10th again to win Game 2 188-172, but at least I was lined up now. I won Game 3 239-221 and Game 4 237-186 but my look was starting to go away. The Diablo was picking up a little quick and I had “flat 10 / four-pinitis”. Steve came back huge winning the next 2 games 197-171 and 223-206. I finally switch to a Fired-Up that we drilled last night and I just piped it through that spot a little harder. The ball change paid off because I won the deciding game 228-201. Steve bowled a great match and gave me all that I could handle. But it was off to the Round of “Super 16”

My Round of “Super 16” opponent was big Wes Malott. Wes and I are friends and I have a ton of respect for him. Since Wes was ranked #4 in the World, he hadn’t bowled all week, other than their practice sessions. In my opinion this sort of helped me. What I lacked in experience overall I was able to make up in experience for the week. During practice Wes tried to curve it a bunch but his look wasn’t that great. I stayed with piping it through 6-7-8 and went with a Paradigm Passion to start the match. Things were good early with a winner in Game 1 210-186. But then Big Wes drilled me the next game 242-209 and honestly, I thought I was dead in the water. When Wes starts striking he doesn’t stop until they shut the lights out on him. Luckily for me I wasn’t done though. I went to the Fired Up that I used against Harman and bowled 3 very solid games, winning 236-199, 258-225 and 246-203. To me, this was the biggest match. This got me my biggest payday as a professional and a chance to bowl for the show.

The Round of 8 pitted me against one of my closest friends on tour, Ryan Shafer ( and fellow Storm staffer ). Neither one of us wanted to bowl each other, but there’s not much you can do about that. At least we knew there wouldn’t be any petty head games or lane play games. It was just Ryan and myself, best man moves on. We both started right in about the same part of the lane. I started with the Diablo and won Game 1 235-186. At that point it hit me, I was 3 wins away from the show. Those thoughts quickly disappeared when Ryan pummeled me 217-171 ! I bounced back in Game 3 but he still won 234-220. Game 4 was the heartbreaker. I had 2 pocket 7-10s for 179, losing to his 203. That game could have gone either way, but those are the breaks. During Game 5 I switched to the Fired Up and moved into around 10-12 and fired a winning 209 to Ryan’s 195. In Game 6 I made another ball change going to the Pyro and moving another couple boards left. I got off to a good start with spare-triple, but a solid 9 in the 5th really took the wind out of my sails. A split in the 6th and 7th pretty much sealed my fate. I struck out to force Ryan to mark, but like all champions do he struck out as well, winning 237-212. After the match Carmen Salvino, who was there all week, came over to chat for a little bit. Carmen is an incredible person and I always enjoy spending time with him. He had some kind words for me and told me he was very proud of me. That capped off my night. Then it was off to Hooters for Schlem and I !!!

It was a long, tiring week for me but very gratifying. Although I am disappointed that in wasn’t able to physically bowl better against Ryan to make the show, I’m very happy for him and Pete Weber. We’ve got two balls on the show and I like our chances. I have to bowl a pro-am tomorrow and then I’m heading home for a few days to rest. We’ve got Grand Rapids next week so I want to take a few days off before I head up there. Talk to you next week from Spectrum Lanes in Grand Rapids.