Well I really don’t know where to start with this event. It had just about everything you can ask for. Well, besides squads starting on time! I say that jokingly because it was absolutely jammed pack with bowlers on Monday, which ended up pushing us almost an hour behind. We run within 5 minutes of being on time nearly 90% of the time, so this was unusual, but a very good problem. The event broke just about every record you can think of. It had the largest amount of entries (244), largest main event prize fund (over $9,000.00), largest top three prizes ($2,950.00), largest side action payout (over $4,000.00), most amount of bowlers on a single squad (60), most amount of bowlers bowling in their first quarter finals (13) and most amount of new members at an event (30). I am sure there are others but, that tells you how incredible this weekend was. It was the closest feeling I have had of a local event feeling like the tournaments of past with players wall to wall and side action galore. It wasn’t quite there, but it sure brought back memories.
The event was so large that we were able to increase the payouts from top to bottom from all of the advertised guarantees. The 33 quarter finalist’s checks went up $18, semi-finalist’s in round 1 went up $40 each, and 6 semi-finalist’s in round 2 went up $45. Then our top three prizes were increased as well, 3rd went up to $450, 2nd up to $900 and 1st up to $1,600.00. This means the overall prize fund ended up paying out almost $1,500.00 more than the advertised guarantees. This was my favorite part of the event and I want to take a moment to talk about it. I had several bowlers come up and thank me for the increased payout. I can’t emphasize the following point enough. Thank your fellow competitors, thank yourselves, thank our die hard supporters and the new members that give the club a try at each event. In a little over two years your dedicated support, passion for the sport and word of mouth has grown a bowling club from its first event with 60 entries to a bowling family that was able to have the kind of weekend that we had this past Memorial Day. It was my pleasure to be piloting the plane that we built together, but the increased payout was due 100% to the support that each and everyone one of you provide.
Well let’s talk about this 40ft “Patriot” oil pattern. It was very funny how many people contacted me asking, “What the heck is the Patriot pattern”? It was basically a mystery pattern that we left undisclosed for the most part. The only thing that was advertised was its 40ft length. We did this to increase the difficulty and overall prestige of such a large event and the majority of bowlers seemed to really like it. Well, the mystery part, maybe not the pattern so much, as the scores were very low and the shot, very demanding. There weren’t any particular styles that dominated the event. There were a large variety of styles represented and the key for everyone was a good mental game and making those spares. Now that the event is over, I will disclose that the actual pattern used…… the WTBA 40ft Athens oil pattern.
I have to tell you about some of my favorite stories of the weekend. The first is one with Momma’s Mystery score. If I asked you what squad you thought our Momma’s Mystery Score winner came from, most would assume one of the huge 40+ person squads. Ironically enough, our last squad on Sunday only had 3 players eligible to win. On top of that, two of them had the same score. This means there were only 2 scores out of 170 (130-300) that were winners. Sure enough, Dylan Taylor and William Nedry split $370 with a whopping $165 game. This was pretty lucky, but even luckier for William who, just before the mystery score winnings, snuck into the quarters with +10 due to two bowlers not getting into the divisional insurance. Very awesome story and couldn’t have happened to two better (or luckier) guys.
Well normally I list all of the new members that bowled the event, parlay power players and talk about the semi-final matches. The new members list was huge, and I won’t put you all through that, but a big thanks to the new members that came out to this event. Also congrats to the parlay power players and semi-finals who all bowled great, but I have to get into our final match.
This was the other part of the event that had everything you could ask for. Each finalist was of a different age demographic, Russ Oviatt (20-25), Charlie Light (30-35) and Vince Dorsey (50-55). Also each bowler reflected their average division pretty well. The best part about the match was how exciting it was! Russ got up in the 9th frame first. He went high, left a split, and finished with an open. Charlie bowled his 9th frame second, and also opened. He and Russ were both tied now with their handicap included. It was all in Vince’s hands. He had the lead already and hadn’t bowled the 9th frame yet. Vince gets up on a spare and gutters his first ball in the 9th frame and then gets 9. This put him 1 pin behind Russ and Charlie with his handicap going into the 10th frame. Russ again bowled first, got a spare and 9. Charlie gets a Brooklyn strike on his first shot and then throws the next one as good as you can to shut Russ out. However, he then threw a 9 count in the fill which meant that Vince could force a roll off. Vince gets up and absolutely nailed the first two shots. He needs a strike on his last shot to force a roll off. He pulled it, went Brooklyn and had a pin roll into the 9 pin and wiggle it but, it stood. Vince lost by 1 pin. What a final match! Make sure to watch the video!
The amazing part about this finish was the history that goes with it. Charlie Light has bowled a lot of events but has only won one other time. It was the same event, Memorial Day weekend, two years ago. He was bowling Tom Large in the final match. I am not an odds guy, but the odds of what I am about to tell you has to be pretty darn rare. Charlie Light finished that match first as well, and a senior like Vince got up in the 10th frame with a chance to strike out to force a roll off. Two years ago, Tom Large ended up striking out to force the roll off. It is pretty incredible that two years later, the same exact guy, would be in the same exact situation, and almost have the same exact thing happen again. However, the 1 pin left up by Vince was the only difference.
Thanks again to all of the bowlers this weekend for making it such an incredible event. We look forward to seeing you at our next event at AMF McRay.
