Well this was the last event of our winter circuit. The circuits are quarterly payouts based on the season points, however at the end of each circuit there is a payout and then the next circuit begins. This means that players that just start bowling the club mid-way through a season still have a chance at winning circuit prizes even though they can’t bowl all of the events to battle for player of the year. If you would like more info on the circuits you can go to our point’s page located by clicking here. We will be featuring a full results summary and write up for the winter circuit later this week, so keep checking back for the full results on the winter circuit.
The event this weekend drew 88 entries, 23 cashers, a 1 in 3.8 cash ratio, and paid out nearly $4,000 in prize fund. It was another fun weekend to cap off our first 2013 circuit. The players bowled on a very demanding 40 foot modified house pattern. The scores on Saturday were medium but Sunday and during the quarter finals they were very low. It appeared that the left side of the lane was a little softer when the lanes were fresh and had little play. However, it was clear that as the lanes got more play on them there was great ball reaction on the right for those that could “slow hook” it. This was very reminiscent of the last time we were at this location with this pattern. We had Ben Dewberry who is one of the best at slow hooking it and he was dominating all day but a very bad game in the finals which allowed left handed Myles Hamilton to end up with the victory. This event would prove to be pretty similar, keep reading to find out how!
Before we get to the exciting stuff, I want to take this moment to welcome our new members and congratulate their first time quarter finalists. The new members this weekend were Michael Flippo, Matthew Stewart, and Jeff Lawson. Welcome to the SFT AHT family gentleman! Also congrats to Aubree McKay who made her first quarter finals at this event!
Speaking of Aubree, she was also one of the three bowlers that showed the power of the parlay and turned $25 into a quarter finals check. The other bowlers that accomplished this feat were Hokey Begay and Mike Radonski. Mike not only won the parlay for a free entry with progressive pot but ending up being the high series on Saturday in the “A” division. Congrats to all of you on your success with the Economy Parlay! To those of you out there that are strapped for cash, we have stories every weekend of people turning $25 into spots in the quarter finals, profits and chances at $1,000! We are waiting for you to get out here and show us what you got with your $25!
The quarter finals had 20 total bowlers and were close throughout all 3 games of the quarter finals. This tight race ended up leaving us with a very close cut for the B division semi-finals. So close they were TIED! That is right, we had yet another exciting 9th and 10th frame roll off for the 3rd and final spot in the B division semi’s. This roll off would be between Danny Del Llano and Hokey Begay. The match didn’t start off well with Hokey opening in his 9th frame. Danny struck in his 9th and stayed clean in his 10th which ended up shutting Hokey out. This meant the B division finals were between #1 seed Zack Huglin, #2 seed Chuck Kremer, and #3 seed Danny Del Llano. The A division semi’s were between #1 seed David Kurlan, #2 seed Kevin Enomoto and #3 seed Ben Spencer. The interesting thing is that David made the quarter finals by using the exemption he won at the 2012 PMI, and one of the other times he used his exemption in this way he ended up winning the tournament!
The B division finals were a nail biter. After being clutch in the 9th and 10th frame roll off, Danny needed to throw the first two strikes to win the B division semi-finals also. He was able to do so, and moved on with a score of 253. The A division finals were a lot like the tournament finals that I spoke of in the 2nd paragraph. We had a bowler that was very good at slow hooking it (David Kurlan) taking on two lefties. The difference this time was that David was very sharp and bowled a great game. He fired 290 with handicap, and was able to stay #1 seed from wire to wire.
The final match was over very quickly with David making up the handicap difference and getting a 40 pin lead on Danny by the middle of the game. The other accomplishment for David Kurlan was that his victory came with a Track 811C/T. This meant that David became the first SFT AHT player with 3 standard event titles, won this weekend’s event, took home $1,000 and will be getting a free Track ball of his choice for winning the tournament with a Track ball! Congrats to David, and also to Danny for making his first title match appearance and taking home $500.00! This means that David’s exemptions from the 2012 Invitational that he won have awarded him over $2,000 in winnings! If you want a chance at this year’s invitational make sure you are as high up as possible in the 2013 season point race! More info on this year’s invitational can be found on the point’s page by clicking here.
Our next event is a fun, force format event! It will be featuring the Track Match Play challenge format! It should be a lot of fun! For more info on that format check out our next tourney info page by clicking here! See you all there!
