You are going to want to read this summary. The story that goes a long with this event’s winner is one that won’t happen for quite some time and one I won’t ever forget. It’s at the end of the summary, but it’s incredible. As always, we start off with our turn out and oil pattern recap. The event this weekend drew 117 entries over 6 squads, 33 cashers, a 1 in 3.9 cash ratio and paid out over $5,000.00! There were actually a few other tournaments going on this weekend that a few of our frequent members bowled, and even then there were 117 entries. I think this kind of turn out on the complete other side of town is a good sign that the 2014 additions voted in by the members are being received well by the bowling community. We look forward to seeing what kind of turn out we will get at our next standard event. However, that won’t be until after the SFT AHT family goes to VEGAS!!!! More info on that at the end of the summary!
The players bowled on a 39ft Kegel winding road oil pattern. It seemed to be a condition that could be tackled from all angles. Since our handicap is now 90% of 225, the cut scores seem higher than before but in reality they are the same relative to scratch scores. Essentially, bowling your average will generate a score of around +60. With most of the cut scores being around +80 to +100, the scoring pace wasn’t bad at all. The A division had cut scores even a little lower than that, so those of you with averages of 200 and above, if you haven’t tried an event out, come give it a try. Your division currently has had the lowest cut scores!
As always we want to welcome all of the new members that joined us at this event. Earl Davenport, Gonzalo Ordonez, Ron Schloss, Michelle Nicholson, John Evans, Steven Douglas, Melanie Siegel, Shawn Feliz-Rowbottom, and Bob Hanson welcome to the ever expanding SFT AHT family! I know a lot of you bowled this weekend because of our 2014 additions! If any of you don’t know about those yet, make sure you click here and read them! Also congrats to David Nelson, Rick Hashimoto, Bob Hanson, John Evans, Mike Umstead, and Phil Glass on making their first ever SFT AHT quarter finals at this event! We try to have fair rules for players to have success at any point in their SFT AHT career. This event was a great example as John and Bob were in their first event, Rick and Phil were in their second event, and David and Mike have both bowled multiple events. It doesn’t matter how many events you bowl, the key is showing up and bowling well!
Let’s get to the amazing story line that I promised you at the beginning of this summary. That starts with the semi-final rounds. One of our new additions to this season was the ability for the #1 seeds to pick the pairs that the semi-final matches were bowled on. This has really added an exciting element to the match play and given quarter finalists something more to bowl for then just making the cut. However, ironically enough, every single #1 seed so far has selected the pair they wanted and then proceeded to lose the match. In the majority of the cases, they even finished last in the semi-final match.
In the A division semi’s, #3 seed James Roethle defeated #1 seed Mike Umstead and #2 seed Mark Wagner Jr. In the B division finals, it was a nail biter till the very end, but a strike in the 10th frame allowed #3 seed Shawna Strause to defeat #1 seed Kevin Enomoto and #2 seed Josh Anthony. In the C division, yet again, the #3 seed was the victor. Brian Cail defeated #1 seed Susan O’Hara and #2 seed Ted McKay. A special shout out to Ted who is having a great January of bowling. He won our 2013 Matchplay Invitational, and has made back to back semi-finals to start this season. This leads us to our final match and the big story line I was talking about.
James Roethle, in the A division, bowled in the economy parlay Saturday morning, and won a free qualifying entry and a free progressive pot entry with a score of 630 with handicap. Then showing the power of the parlay, he advanced to the quarter finals with his qualifying series of 586. The quarter finals had ended, and James had his bowling shoes off. He finished +1, and although he hadn’t even averaged his current tournament average for the tournament, he was going to be parlaying $25 into a solid quarter finals check. Not bad at all, for bowling under average right? Well it gets better. The top 2 A division scores of the top 3 bowlers advancing were +68 and +62, then 3rd dropped all the way to… you guessed it, +1, James Roethle. He had the wrong shoes on, but that quickly changed.
In the semi-final match, James took advantage, stayed mentally sharp and never believed he didn’t have a shot at winning. He again bowled under his 200 average with a score of 196 scratch, which gave him 218 with handicap. It was enough to move him into the final match to compete for $1,000.00. At this point James had invested $25 into the tournament, and for 10 games bowled +35, which is below average for him. In the final match, he showed yet again his ability to mentally get the job done. He bowls his highest game of the tournament with a 257 with handicap on a tough shot on the biggest stage the tournament offers.
Think about all of the following elements combined, and you’ll see we had a pretty rare story line this weekend. James is the 2nd person ever to parlay $25 in to $1000.00 in nearly two years’ worth of tournaments. Not only that, but he did it in his 2nd SFT AHT tournament he has ever bowled. Combine that with the fact that there were 117 entries to overcome and defeat. Want more? He did all of that bowling below his average for the event. Pretty incredible! Shows you the mental fortitude James has, and that his win may never be duplicated. It is also a testament to winning on the Arizona Handicap Tour. It doesn’t come with sand bagging, and it doesn’t come from spending more money. It comes from grinding each and every game, getting every pin you can, and taking advantage of opportunity when you can get it. Great bowling James, and welcome to the SFT AHT!
The other thing I mentioned earlier was VEGAS! That is right; we will be off to Vegas for the True Amateur Tournament in a couple weeks. We have a one day fun event on Saturday, January 25th at AMF Chandler, the TAT the following weekend, then off the next weekend for Super Bowl weekend, and then another fun event the weekend after for Valentine’s Day weekend. This means besides the two fun events and the TAT event, our next standard event will be on February 22nd and 23rd at Brunswick Mesa! See you all there!
