In front of the Vienna Opera House
Recently, I competed in the Columbia 300 Vienna Open
at Plus Bowling Center in Vienna, Austria. Coming straight from Thailand to
bowl this event, I flew in on Tuesday, but choose not to bowl a squad until
Wednesday.
The qualifying portion of the tournament consists of 6-game
blocks. You can re-enter as many times as you’d like and the top 64 make the
cut, including those making it through in the one-game desperado squad and
squad leaders from the first two days of qualifying.
The other unique part about this tournament is that it is
also a doubles event. So every squad you have a doubles partner that you are
bowling with to try and cash for extra prizes, but your singles scores only
count towards making the finals. You can bowl with as many people as you’d like
and can cash multiple times in the doubles portion, but may only cash once with
the same doubles partner. A little confusing…
My first squad, I bowled with Kelly Kulick. I did not bowl
well that set, but did figure out a few things about the conditions and what
balls to use, etc. Kelly bowled very well shooting +160, which would be high enough to
make the cut.
I then bowled again that same day with Scott Norton. Although I
figured out a few things, I was having trouble carrying and didn’t score as
well as I felt I had bowled, shooting games of 236, 180, 201, 200, 194 and 194
for 1205 scratch (1253 with my 8 pins of handicap per game.) The bowling center
has twister pins, making the carry very difficult at times. I left more 9 pins that week then I think I have left in almost a year (or at least it felt that
way.) It was pretty ridiculous. Scott didn’t fair too well that squad either.
The next day, I again bowled two squads, so 12 games in all.
The first squad I shot 204, 245, 186, 219, 203 and 204 for a total of 1309 with
my handicap. I decided to bowl again as this total score was expected to be
VERY close to the cut number. I again bowled with Scott in the doubles portion.
This time I bowled really well using my Ebonite Game Breaker, Ebonite Innovate
and Hammer blue cobalt Vibe. I shot games of 274, 221, 205, 224, 222 and then
ended on a bad note shooting 168. However, I did have enough to make the
finals, shooting 1362 with my handicap.
Scott and I decided to take the next day off from bowling
and went sightseeing in Vienna. We had an original schnitzel which is breaded veal,
pork or chicken and is super yummy!
We saw quite a few sights that day
including St. Peter’s church, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the Hofbron Palace, Parliament,
City Hall, Votive Church and ran into an outdoor small market. It was a lot of
fun!
In front of the City Hall building in Vienna
On Saturday, we were again at the bowling center. I didn’t
bowl again, as I already had enough to make the cut. However, I watched how the
lanes were and cheered on Scott while he was bowling. The cut ended up being
only 1309 (+109) with the lane conditions as tough as they were and with the
twister pins not helping the situation. I will say, it was very easy
to bowl a bad game by simply hitting a bad pair, opening and then not being
able to carry.
The next day was the finals. Everyone making the cut, with
the exception of the top 8 bowlers from qualifying, bowled 6 games and the
field was then cut to the top 22 players. In the finals, I couldn’t get matched
up quite right and struggled to carry. I shot 187, 222, 165, 179, 196 and 200
shooting 1197 with my handicap. The scores were pretty low across the board,
with 1260 (+60) making the cut.
I didn’t advance and thus finished the tournament in 44th place for both men and women. Congratulations to Chris Barnes on an outstanding performance. He took
home the title and received a PBA title for the win, as the tournament was part
of the World Bowling Tour and thus now awards a PBA title.
After the tournament was over, the tournament hosted an
after party commemorating the 10th anniversary of the tournament’s
existence. It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time.
The day after the tournament, Scott and I decided to stay an
extra day to go sightseeing. So we again ventured into Vienna and saw many of
its magnificent sites. We toured the Vienna Opera house, which was incredible
and even had the chance to go backstage. We then took a tour of Schonbrunn
Palace, which is very big and gorgeous. Afterwards, we visited one of Mozart’s
apartments and finished the day in the center of the city buying souvenirs and
window shopping.
Schonbrunn Palace
Although the bowling didn’t go as well as I had hoped, I did
have a lot of fun visiting the incredible City of Vienna.
