The U.S. Women's Open

Waking up early to catch a morning flight after bowling 16 games the day before (and throwing a majority of more than one shot a frame) was a bit tough. However, I made it safely to Newark, NJ (sleeping the entire flight of course.) thank goodness I can sleep on planes! 

Being the first to arrive out of my roomies, I got the rental car and then had a couple of hours to kill. So what did I do? Coincidentally there was an outlet mall only 7 minutes away and off I went. The rest of the day was a lazy Sunday, resting up for the start of the U.S. Open. 

Prior to the start of the practice session the next day, my roommates and I had a little fun celebrating the last week all together. 

My Roomies - Maria Jose Rodriguez, Clara Guerrero and Sandra Gongora

The lane pattern for the U.S. Open was 39' using the ice oil. The lanes seemed very playable and I had a variety of bowling balls that looked good. However, that quickly changed when the tournament actually started. 

Moving from pair to pair at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes is always difficult because each section of the house can be very different from the last. Having bowled there enough times, I had my notes on the center ready and was open minded about lane play. 

Well, the first block of qualifying started out about as bad as it can get. Not being able to stay out of trouble and leaving split after split after split using 3 or 4 different balls, I shot 120. I can't even remember the last time I bowled a games that low. 

Although I was slightly in panic mode after game 1, I knew that this tournament was a marathon not a sprint. So I had plenty of games to make up for it. Unfortunately the rest of the block didn't go much better. I missed too many spares and didn't execute consistently enough. I ended up shooting -152, even with shooting 235 my last game.  

After a disastrous Day 1 of qualifying, I definitely needed to get my mind off of bowling and have some fun. So the girls and I went to NYC. It was Sandra's first time there and she was very excited. I played tour guide (although I've only been to the City 3-4 times prior.)

We went to Times Square. Then headed over to Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center and went to the Observation deck at the Top of the Rock, 67 stories high. I had been to the top of the Empire State Building, but not Rockefeller Center. We had so much fun and got some amazing pictures. We ended the night walking along the famous 5th avenue and had some yummy NY pizza before heading back to NJ. 

The next day, we bowled on the burn squad, meaning they did not re-oil the lanes after the previous squad's 8 games of qualifying. I can't remember the last time, I bowled a burn squad when there would be a total of 16 games bowled without a re-oil. 

Luckily, I started out steady and kept the ball in play shooting +98 for that block, which was high for our entire squad. That put me at -54 overall. I used my Track LX16 and a newly drilled pin up Warrior for most of the block. 

After bowling, we had a quick dinner and then went to sleep, as we had to then turnaround and bowl our final 8 games of qualifying early in the morning.

All I can say about the final block of qualifying is that I did not match up, missed too many spares and did not execute to my ability. Even though the lanes were extremely challenging, which I love, I couldn't seem to get anything together. 

I ended up in 60th place at this year's U.S. Women's Open and missed the cut to the cashers round of 51 people. 

Am I disappointed? Of course! But with failure, comes learning and with learning and hard work comes success. I guess if we always bowl well all of the time, then the wins wouldn't be as sweet. 

Even with my disastrous performance at the U.S. Open, I still managed to qualify for the Top 16 Players Championship next week in Arlington, Texas. A few days of rest at home, as well as a lot of practice and then I'm off again for the last stop of the PWBA Tour.

Stay tuned...