Our first event of the 2019 season was this weekend at Brunswick Via Linda. It was a standard three-squad event and had a pretty good turnout. We had a total of 85 entries (55 Qualifying & 26 Economy Parlay), 25 cashers, with a 1 in 3.3 cash ratio and paid out over $4,750.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a very tough 39ft Kegel Beijing oil pattern that had low cut scores for most of the day. Most divisions took in the +20 range to advance, which means that they only had to bowl 10-20 pins over average for the entire series, which is bowling a small amount over your average each game. The medium length pattern allowed players to play a variety of angles including down and in and deep inside angles, but if you got it a little too far outside, then your ball wouldn’t come back.
Congrats to Dan Quilt, James Winnie and Michael Sylve for making the quarterfinals for the first time in quite a while. Also, congrats to Sean Ashley for winning the ball raffle for a free plastic ball with an option to upgrade to any Track High Performance ball for $85.00!
The quarterfinals were on a fresh oil pattern and the scores were a bit lower because of it. Being able to pick your spares and bowl your average pretty much allowed you to move on to the semi-final round. After the quarterfinals, we had #1 seed Dan Quilt vs #2 seed Ron Gonzales in the A Division finals, #1 seed Steve Convirs vs #2 seed Brian Richardson in the B Division finals, and finally #1 seed Jim Winnie vs #2 seed Dan Lanious in the C Division finals.
In the semi-finals, Jim Winnie was able to string along enough strikes towards the end of the match to defeat Dan Lanious, 201 to 176. In the A Division, Dan Quilt was able to cruise pass Ron Gonzales, 208 to 173. The B Division was a very close match and it would all come down to the final frame. Brian Richardson had opened in the 7th and 8th frame to give Steve Convirs a chance to catch up. Steve needed two strikes in the tenth along with good count to advance. His first ball was right on the money and was able to double up and defeat Brian, 213 to 210 with handicap.
This would put all three #1 seeds into the final match. Steve Convirs was looking for his 2nd SFT title, while Dan Quilt and Jim Winnie were looking for their first ever titles. The match started off even between all three bowlers. Opens by Dan and Steve in the third frame gave Jim a slight advantage and he was able to capitalize by lining up and stringing strikes from the third to sixth frames. Dan and Steve had issues lining up and getting their ball to shape up on the left lane. Jim was able to stay clean for a nice 244 game, with handicap, getting him his first ever SFT AHT title and $750.00! Dan Quilt finished 2nd for $400.00 and Steve Convirs finished 3rd for $250.00.
Thank you to all the bowlers that came out for our first event of the 2019 season and we look forward to seeing you at our next event, on Sunday, January 13th at AMF Desert Hills!
