Last week, I competed in the Australian Adult Championships and the Australian Masters at AMF Rooty Hill bowling center, just outside of Sydney.
As mentioned previously, the Australian Adult Championships consisted of three games of team, doubles and singles and you could re-enter as many times as you'd like in the doubles and singles portions of the tournament. Also, an interesting twist, your top two doubles and or singles scores counted towards advancing to the Australian Masters.
I bowled well in my first set of singles, shooting 254, 214 and 212 for 681 using a Columbia 300 Omen. The next day I bowled team event with Kelly Kulick, Carol Gianotti, and Amanda and Kylie from Australia. We shot 2916 scratch for our 5-person team. I bowled games of 224, 213 and 245 for a 682 series using a Hammer jet Black Taboo.
Our team - Amanda, Carol, Kelly, Kylie and myself
Later that same day, I also bowled in a doubles squad with Carol Gianotti. She held me up, as we shot 1284. I shot 607.
The next day, I bowled with my roommate Kelly Kulick in doubles, as well as bowling in another singles squad. The singles squad didn't go all that well as I shot 623. However, the doubles squad we both bowled well shooting 1331 and winning first place in the doubles portion of the tournament. I shot games of 175, 232 and 245 for a 652 using my Ebonite Innovate.
Kelly and I having fun in Sydney
I bowled another singles squad the following day and had a great set. I used my Ebonite Innovate, playing pretty direct and shot games of 269, 248 and 208 for a clean set, shooting 725. This number combined with my previously bowled 681 score put me in 2nd place for the Australian Masters qualifying, which was enough to win 2 byes into the finals.
I didn't have to bowl the first day of the finals because I had received two byes from my qualifying scores. So I watched the finals a bit to get an idea for the next day and had an early night and headed to bed, as I woke up sick that morning.
Round 3 of the finals (which is where I was automatically seeded into) consisted of 6 games of qualifying and then the field of 16 bowlers were cut to the top 8 bowlers for head-to-head single elimination, best of 3 game matches.
In Round 3, I started out the gates very well using my Columbia 300 Omen, shooting games of 247, 233 and 247. Then I struggled a bit with the transition and shot 180, 201 and 189 for 1297, which was good enough for 3rd place. So I advanced to the top 8 finals.
In my first match, I faced Kristel Oh Shao Jing from Singapore. In the single elimination, best of 3 games format, I knew I needed to start out of the gates very well. I shot 255 the first game, defeating Kristel's 158. The second game, I again won shooting 220 to her 171.
In the next round, the top 4 players were left. I bowled Kate Pilkington from Australia. This match was much closer. However, I defeated Kate 222 to 185 in the first game and again defeated her 220 to 207 in the second game.
This put me in the championship match against Diandra Asbaty, who had just defeated Carol Gianotti in a very close match that went to 3 games. The final match was again best of 3 and it was live streamed, which was an added bonus for my family, friends and fans back home wanting to watch all of the action.
In the championship match, I didn't have as good of a look as I had all day and didn't carry too well, leaving a couple pocket 7-10s in the middle of both games. In the first game, I needed to strike the first ball in the 10th frame to win the game and I didn't throw it well, leaving a 2 pin. Then in the next game, Diandra starting striking a lot and I starting striking in the middle of the game, but was stopped by another 7-10 that ended my chances, thus coming in 2nd place.
Overall, I had an amazing week and met a lot of really nice people! I came in 2nd place in the Australian Masters, winning $7,500. I also won singles, all-events, doubles with Kelly Kulick and came in 3rd place with Carol Gianotti in doubles in the Australian Adult Championships. The 2nd place finish also earned me 40 points for the World Bowling Tour, which secured my top seed position for the World Bowling Tour TV show.
Congratulations to Diandra Asbaty and Jason Belmonte on their wins at the Australian Masters!
Kelly, Carol and I at the Awards dinner at the end of the tournament
