AMF McRay

This weekend we had a 2-squad tournament at AMF McRay.  We had a great turnout with 86 total entries (61 qualifying entries and 25 economy parlays entries).  We had 24 cashers, a 1 in 3.58 cash ratio and paid out over $5,200.00 in main event and side event prize funds.  The players bowled on the 48ft PBA Shark oil pattern that is a longer pattern in length but does not have a lot of volume in the middle.  This creates a bit of an odd transition as the lanes start to “dry out” in the front and middle parts of the lane which forces bowlers to move deeper quickly.  However, with most patterns you can still get the ball out towards to outside part of the lane and hook it back but with this pattern if you get it too far outside too early it would hit the out of bounds and not come back. This would result in some lower scores to start with scores increasing in the second squad.

Our event this weekend was at AMF McRay to close out the 2024 Spring Quarterly Circuit (April – June) and we would have a great turnout.  We would draw 103 total entries (74 qualifying and 29 economy parlay), had 30 cashers, a 1 in 3.43 cash ratio and paid out over $6,200.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 35ft Boardwalk oil pattern that played a bit harder than usual on the fresh.  This pattern can tend to be high scoring because it allows some miss room to the right if the bowler is able to get far enough to the right. Well, that did exist on some of the pairs, but other pairs didn’t have the same look.  The scores on the fresh pattern were a bit low but scoring exploded in the later squad with most bowlers shooting close to +40 to make the cut.

This weekend we would be at AMF McRay for an early bird 2-squad event. This would be the last one of the 2024 Winter Quarterly Circuit (January to March) and we would have several bowlers vying for the top spot. Even with the earlier squad times we would see another good turnout with 118 total entries (85 qualifying and 33 economy parlays), 32 cashers and a 1 in 3.68 cash ratio, paying out over $6,800.00 in main and side event prize funds. The bowlers bowled on the 41ft PBA Bear oil pattern that had some lower scores compared to last few tournaments. The pattern allowed players to play from any angle, but the key was trying to make high quality shots and pick up your spares. The cut scores stayed around +30 for most of the day with bowlers only need to get 5-10 pins above their average each game to advance.

We kicked off the 2024 season this weekend at AMF McRay. We would have a great turnout with 117 total entries (86 qualifying and 31 parlays) with 30 prize winners, with a 1 in 3.9 cash ratio, paying out over $7,100 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on the 35ft PBA Cheetah oil pattern that looked a bit difficult on the fresh as there was a bit more volume forcing bowlers from moving too deep too quickly. The key to this weekend’s tournament was to make quality shots and make your spares. The cut scores were low on the first squad but would go up as the day went on with bowlers needing to get shoot about 5-10 pins above average per game to advance to the quarterfinals.

This weekend’s event was our 3-Day Labor Day Major at AMF McRay.  This is the first time that we have been to this center for a Major and we would see 222 total entries with 183 qualifying and 39 parlay entries this weekend.  We can’t thank the bowling community enough for all the help in making this such a successful event.  The event had 60 cashers, a 1 in 3.7 cash ratio and paid out over $17,500.00 in main and side event prize funds.  The players bowled on a 42ft Stars & Stripes oil pattern (2022 USBC Nationals Team pattern) that proved to be very playable but tough if they were broken down wrong.  It seemed that some bowlers matched up well and others not as well.  It would put a premium on avoiding splits and picking up spares.  The scores were pretty much on par with bowlers only needing to average about 10 pins above average per game to make the cut.  The scores were a bit higher on Saturday, but it seemed that with each strip and re-oil, the pattern would even out, with