Well, after 96 days of watching, strategizing, wondering, contemplating and hoping, I had my chance to shine at the USBC Open Championships.
On Sunday afternoon, we did the one-hour team practice session with Mike Jasnau at Holiday Bowl. While it went quickly, and the environment was a lot different, the experience gave us a rare opportunity to see the tournament pattern. I left the session with a good plan about how I was going to attack the lanes, but with an open mind and the realization that what I was going to see at the stadium could be completely different.
I marched down Center Aisle with five balls and a lot of confidence after a few good days on the lanes recently. After my big No-Tap win at Tenpins and More in Rio Rancho, I decided to bowl in the Isleta Masters, and I am currently second with +309 for six games. I also bowled the Roto Grip Sport Bowling Challenge and ended up three pins off the cash number.
Anyway, back to the Open Championships. It's always nice to see my teammates and actually get the chance to go out there and compete. This year, I posted my highest team series in 10 tries (640) and as a team, we had our best total (2,885). I thought the lanes were similar to what we saw at the practice session. The fresh condition was a little bit touchy, and even the smallest mistake resulted in a split, but once we broke them down a litte (we had three lefties on our pair), they were a little more forgiving.
After a solid performance Sunday night, I was excited for doubles and singles. It turned out that we did not follow any lefties, so I struggled a little in doubles and shot 581. Singles went a lot better, and I even had the front eight the last game before finishing with 269. It would've been something special to be able to write about myself. Maybe next year. I finished singles with 687 and a career-best 1,908 all-events total. Definitely an exciting year on the lanes.
Then at league Monday night, my good luck continued, and I started with 20 strikes, including my 10th 300 game. Good times.
But now that the excitement is over, it's time to focus on work and the last 40 or so days of the tournament. Still a lot of good bowler expected to come through. In fact, yesterday I got the opportunity to watch Bryan Young shoot 832 and take the lead in singles and all-events. It's always nice to see people succeed here, and it's a pleasure to write about them.
Well, someone has the front seven, so it's back to work for me.
