AMF Chandler - 5/19/19

Location: 

This weekend’s event was at AMF Chandler Lanes and had a nice turnout with all the other events going on around the Valley.  We had a total of 74 entries (45 qualifying and 29 economy parlays), had 26 cashers, a 1 in 3.4 cash ratio and paid out over $3,600.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 35ft boardwalk oil pattern. This pattern can tend to be high scoring, because it allows players to get some free hook and some miss room to the right if the player is able to get far their ball far enough towards the right.  The average cut scores for the weekend were high, around +90.  We even saw Josh Molloy almost shoot an 800-scratch series, but he came up just a bit short shooting 840 with handicap.

We want to welcome Jim Montgomery to the SFT AHT Family!  We hope you had a good experience and look forward to seeing you again.  We had some parlay power players in Josh Molloy and Preston Massey, who both turned their $25 parlay investment into a spot in the quarterfinals and a chance at the $700.00 first place prize.  We also want to congratulate Dan Lanious, Eric Pick and Robert Smith, Jr. who all made it to their first quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while.  Congrats to Michael Taylor who won Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a score of 190, for $500.00!!!  Also, congrats to Dave Nelson, who was your winner of the free plastic ball drawing with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00!

The quarterfinalists bowled on the fresh Boardwalk oil pattern and the scores were a little lower.  Those that were able to find their line were able to post some high scores.  Since there were only 5 bowlers per Division, we would cut down to the top bowler in each Division and move straight into the Final match.  Your leaders were Carlos Vejar (+147) in the A Division, Dave Nelson (+64) in the B Division and Ron Riley (+123) in the C Division. 

Going into the Final match Ron Riley was riding the recent hot streak that he’s been on.  Ron had won our previous tournament at AMF McRay and was looking for his 2nd straight title in only his 2nd title match.  Carlos Vejar was also looking to get a win as he also was looking to take home his 2nd title as well.  Dave Nelson had been steady all day and was looking for his first title in his first title match.  Carlos was the #1 seed overall and determined the pair and order of the Final match.  Carlos would receive 20-pins of handicap with Dave getting 25-pins and Ron getting 56-pins.

Dave would start off the match with a strike as would Carlos.  Ron would throw a good-looking ball but get stuck with the big four (4-6-7-10 split).  Carlos and Dave would trade strikes with both not wanting to give an inch until Dave went a little high in the 3rd frame leaving the 1-3-6-10.  He would pick this up, but Carlos would get a small lead.  Ron finally settled down and made a spare in the 2nd and struck in the 3rd to catch back up, but an open in the 5th would let Carlos take the lead.  Carlos would continue to strike in the fifth and sixth frames but whiffed the 6-10 spare in the seventh to let Ron and Dave back in the match.

Dave would try to keep pace but couldn’t keep up with the lane transition and would miss key spares in the eighth and ninth frames.  Ron would continue to spare and mark forcing some pressure on Carlos.  Carlos was able to double in the eighth and ninth to force Ron to continue to make his spares.  Carlos would finish the tenth first going a little high on his first shot leaving the 3-6-10.  He would need to make this spare in order to force Ron to double in the tenth.  Carlos would pick up the spare and strike on the fill to finish the match at 240 and giving him his 2nd AHT SFT title and $700.00!  Congrats to Ron Riley for 2nd place and back to back final matches.  Also, congrats to Dave Nelson for 3rd place!

Thank you to everyone that came out this weekend to support the event.  We hope to see you all this upcoming Memorial Day weekend for our 3-day Major Event at AMF Union Hills!!  Check out our website at aht.strikeforcetour.com for more information about our Major Event!