USBC Open Championships - Las Vegas, Nev.

Over 4th of July weekend, my team and I bowled the USBC Open Championships. Not a bad way to spend the 4th and it ended up being a weekend full of surprises!

A few of my teammates and I went up to Vegas a little early to bowl a few of the side events. So on Thursday, I bowled the Bowlers Journal International Championships at Gold Coast. The lanes weren't easy and I ended up shooting 200, 267 (with the front 8), 214 and a 187 for 868. That is currently one pin above the cash number, so fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Then on Friday, we bowled the Bowling this Month tournament at the Golden Nugget. The lanes were really difficult. For example the tournament has a $10,000 pot if you can throw 40 clean frames, and NO ONE has done it yet! And there have been a lot of bowlers competing for that prize over the last 5 months. I shot 807 for the 4 games, and will cash in singles. My partner Scott Norton and I are currently 33 for regular doubles and in 1st for mixed doubles with 1636.

Later on Friday I got the surprise of my life - I got engaged! I knew that I had to dress up that night for a surprise. (I thought I was going to dinner and to see a Cirque show. LOL!) Little did I know. The evening ended perfectly with a surprise dinner with my entire nationals team, parents and friends as we celebrated the engagement. So everyone was in the know except me...

After all of the engagement excitement from the night before, it was back to business on Saturday and Sunday, as my team bowled nationals at the Cashman Center. We bowled team event on Saturday, the 4th of July. Our team shot 2947 and I shot 173, 224, 257 for a 654 series. That night we hit the strip and watched some firework displays and a horrific magic act that left everyone a little disappointed.

On Sunday, we bowled doubles and singles. I bowled doubles with my dad, which I always enjoy and we shot 1177. I shot 189, 214 and 239 for a 642 series. Then in singles I died. I only shot 205, 184 and 224 for a 613 series. I shot 1909 for all events.

Although I have had a lot of fun competing and traveling to other USBC Open Championships, the 2009 Open Championships in Las Veas, Nev. definitely tops them all.

Bowl Expo 2009 - Las Vegas, Nev.

This year I attended Bowl Expo at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Only being to the giant tradeshow once prior, it was just as I had remembered - a lot of bowlers, pro shop operators, big wigs from all over the industry and of course ALL of the NEW products for the year.

Prior to the tradeshow, Brunswick and the Ebonite International brands both had special days set aside for pro shops. Monday was a Brunswick seminar with free food and drinks and each pro shop received a FREE Seige bowling ball. Then on Tuesday, we attended the Ebonite International and Etonic showcase, where I was able to demo all of the new balls from Ebonite, Columbia, Track and Hammer. My personal favorites were the Magic Touch and Evolve from Ebonite.

Then on Wednesday and Thursday we had the tradeshow. It's always fun going from booth to booth, seeing the massive variety of companies that attend. From the normal bowling ball companies to pizza vendors, if you can sell or use it in a bowling center, then it was there. My personal favorite booth was a toss up between the slushy machines with free samples and the personalized woodwork of a company which makes bowling pin design tables and artwork.

Be on the lookout for each company's new products, catalogs and posters in your local pro shop.

Rohnert Park and Modesto PBA Regionals

Hello everyone!

Sorry I've been lagging with keeping up with my blogs.

Here's a recap of how the PBA Rohnert Park and Modesto Regionals went...

First, I drove to Rohnert Park, which is north of San Francisco, up in Wine Country, Calif. The weekend was full of fun because all of my closest friends came, including my boyfriend Drew. Now, driving back and forth from San Francisco to Rohnert Park proved to not be as fun, as Nascar was having a race up in the area that weekend, which made hotel arrangements impossible. We did get to go over the Golden Gate Bridge though.

Well, we bowled on the new Shark pattern, and I was very surprised to actually see my ball hook a little. The scoring pace was REALLY low, as I shot +26 and was in 13th, after the 8 games of qualifying. We bowled the 5 game semifinals right after, and boy was that fun. (Not really!)

I started out my first game of semis with four straight splits/opens. I managed to shoot 153 that game, but didn't ever recover from that stellar start. The final game, I shot 227, trying to make a comeback, but fell 10 pins short of making the cut to the top 16 matchplay finals. So overall, I came in 19th in the tournament.

On Sunday, we did manage to go around wine country and take in the sights. We went to five different wineries and did sample some of the wine too. The best part of the day was having a picnic lunch at Armida winery on the patio deck that overlooks the whole valley. Simply gorgeous! (See picture above.)

The following weekend, I bowled another regional in Modesto, Calif. I only had to drive 5 1/2 hours up North. LOL! This regional hosted by Wayne Garber and sponsored by Vanessa Brown Homes is always a great tournament to bowl. The bowlers in that area are always excited to have us there and there was even a good size crowd for the practice session. Both pro-ams were full and everyone seemed to have a great time.

As far as the tournament goes... we bowled on the old Cheetah pattern, so the lanes were really high scoring. I shot +274 for the 8 games of qualifying and was in 16th. We then bowled the semis the next day and I shot another 92 over for the 5 games of qualifying, putting me at +366 overall and did NOT make the top 16 matchplay finals. I ended up just missing (again) and came in 18th overall in the tournament.

All in all both regionals were great practice and I'm definitely making up for not driving my car for six months this past year. LOL!