QUALIFYING - Day 1

I got down to Stadium first thing this morning to watch the 9:00 and 12:00 squads. See if I could learn something. The "A" squad scores were really low with only 11 bowlers over. Then "B" squad hit the lanes and had to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes before they could begin their practice due to a computer malfunction. The tournament director then made a decision to start tournament play, but each pair had to be hand scored. Talk about a total nightmare. I thought the train derailment that I went through in Baton Rouge was bad. We finally got our squad started at 4:30. It took about 20 minutes to get the computers up and running. Well worth the wait, as I did not want to have to do hand scoring. One of the best things about the whole day was being able to watch Kevin Croucher bowl. He was totally awesome, and his game is incredible right now. He is throwing the orb so well and his confidence level raises his game to the next level. Kevin started on lanes 37-38 and I started on lanes 41-42. Kevin was a great help to me today, I just wish I could have bowled better in game 3 and I would be right in the mix. I have a lot of work to do over the next couple of days. Here is a recap of my games today.

GAME 1:
I bowled a 214 right out of the gate. I was bowling really well, just taking my time making good shots. I left two 7 pins, two 6 pins, a 10 pin, a 4-6 split and had six strikes. I was playing the gutter and my timing was really good. The change in my mechanics allowed me to stay down at the line and not rare up causing the ball to go high or brooklyn. Good start.

GAME 2:
I bowled a 194. Started off the game making a bad shot. Had to wait on the next pair of bowlers. We had three to our pair and the pair we went to had four bowlers. I just hate that. So, I just had to make sure to slow down even more so the wait would not have to be so long between games. I had four strikes, left two 7 pins, one 10 pin, two 4-7's, and two 2-4-7's. This pair was a little tricky. I was fighting high-light the entire game. After shopping the 2-4-7 I stayed clean. So after two games I am plus 8 and have only one open. Really good start.

GAME 3:
I bowled a 149. OUCH. This pair sucked. I could not get comfortable. I washed out in the first frame. I had a hard time today starting off my games as you can see from my scoresheet. I left one 7 pin, had three strikes, two 6 pins, a 2-7 split, 2-4-7 and a 3-6-7. This is the worst I would bowl all day. Just did not match up to the pair very well. All three of us on the pair did not do well.

GAME 4:
I bowled a 202. Started off with the 3-6-7 split and picked it up. I then threw three strikes and a bunch of 9 pin spares. I had one 3 pin, one 2 pin, one 4 pin, two 7 pins and I had three strikes. I feel really good how I did this game after coming off a horrible game 3.

GAME 5:
I bowled a 183. Started off the game missing my first single pin spare. It was a 7 pin that I missed to the right after sticking on the approach. I then left another one in the next frame but was able to shake it off and pick up my spare. This lane was a lot different then the other 3 pairs I bowled on today. Did not have a good reaction at all. So I changed balls to The One that I had sanded with 2000 abralon. That seemed to do the trick as I struck on the next four shots. Now I am back on track. I then left a 1-3-7 washout that I picked up. That led me to the tenth frame where I went high and left the 2-7 split again. I never picked this up all day. I either went high into the 2 pin or the ball would not hook up and all I would get would be the seven pin. This combination hurt me all day. If I could have picked this up I would have had at least 50 more pins. That would have put me even for the day. So, after day 1 I am a little disappointed, yet feel good about the number of quality shots that I made. It was a good learning experience and I am hoping I can make better shots over the next couple of days. The lanes are going to get tougher as I bowl "B' squad tomorrow and then "A" on Wednesday. Realistically, this should have been the easiest of the 3 squads. So, you see, I have some work to do to get myself back in contention. It can be done as you can see from the standings, it is very tight, top to bottom.

My total score for the day is 942 (-58). I am currently 146th out of 296 bowlers. Real close to the cut score. I am 83 spots out of the cut and but only 56 pins shy. This is why every spare and every mark is so important. I had eight opens on the day. Five of the eight opens were in the first and tenth frames. I now know where my concentration needs to be today. I need to get off to a good start and finish stronger. Not too bad, but I did not get enough doubles to make up for them. So, if I stay clean for the entire day, I would have been in the TOP 30. No small task on this very demanding lane condition. Mark Roth is currently at 62nd with a 999 score. They will be taking the top 63 into Match Play on Wednesday night.