PBA Dick Weber Open

This past week, I competed in the PBA Dick Weber Open in Fountain Valley, Calif. Making the event more special is not only the fact that the event is named after one of bowling's "Greats"- Dick Weber, but also the fact that this event marks the only PBA National Tour event that is close to home.

With many friends and family in attendance, I wanted to have a good showing at the tournament. With this tournament being only my second event back at almost 100% after my leg injury, I still had high expectations.

We bowled three 5-games blocks of qualifying. The first day, everyone bowled two squads - one block on freshly oiled lanes and one on the burn (meaning that the lanes weren't re-oiled after one squad).

I bowled on the fresh first, and had the most roller coaster block I think I've ever had. I started out strong shooting 199 and 235, which was good considering the scores were lower. Then I had a mental lapse and absolutely made the wrong decisions with some ball changes. Everything I tried resulted in a split or washout, as I shot 161 and 139! Yes 139! I finally got lined up in the 10th frame of the 139 and was upset at my self enough that I decided I wasn't going to miss the next game. I ended the block with a nice 248 game, leaving me at -18 for the 5 games.

Then we had a LONG break and came back for the night block on the burn. Keep in mind that the lanes started out the day hooking pretty good, so by the time the other squad finished and we started on the burn, I was already playing 20 at the arrows (to start). So you can imagine all of the guys lofting the left gutter cap by the end of this block.

I bowled really well on the burn, shooting 225, 213, 244, 177 and 199. By the end of that block, they got pretty nasty. I was already walking around the ball return on the right lane, throwing it hard and trying to loft it. So the last game I even decided to go to my plastic ball on the right lane and struck for a key turkey to save the game. I ended the day at +40 overall.

The next day, we came back for our final qualifying block and everyone bowled on the fresh. I knew I needed to shoot about +120 to make matchplay, which was the goal. I made a bad decision to start and started out playing the wrong part of the lane with the wrong ball, ultimately shooting 164 my first game. Not the start I had hoped for!

I then switched balls and angles to play straighter up the track and had a much better reaction. I then shot 246, 199 and 246. Going in to the last game, I needed a BIG game to jump into the matchplay number. I ended up on a bad pair and grinded out a 181 to finish the block. I ended the tournament in 42nd place overall at +76, cashing in the event, but missing the top 24 match play.

All-in-all it was a good week. I bowled pretty good, had our first guests stay at our new house and had a successful house warming party. Til the next event...