It feels like the weekends are flying by these days. Between TGIF league bowling on Friday night, my weekend "honey do" list around the house, and of course awesome PBA action on ESPN on Sunday. This past Friday at TGIF was one where you have a chance to execute what you practice, feel like you bowled great, but wind up with a humble 600 even. The goal was to transition my foot work and balance that I worked on in the middle of the week to my fun league that I get to apply it on. It's always good to have a league in the mix that you can just blow off steam, not freak out about not carrying a 230+ average in, but keep it real enough to make you execute your game. This one is exactly that. So what transpired was a great game at the line and lots of spares. Only one open on the night and it was the mental miss we have all made where you "know the first shot was great and you shouldn't even be shooting at this spare" shot. Well, I poo pooed a clean 30 because of a mental break in my temper. Now looking back at the night, I am more upset about missing a clean 30 than rolling the weak 600! As they say, it is what it is and this will help me "build character", not that I need any more of that.
At the Tournament of Champions this Sunday, it was shaping up to be a perfect storm, no pun intended. You had the field of Pete Weber, Dan MacLelland, Wes Malott, Dom Barrett, and the two handed phenom Jason Belmonte.The thing that stood out to me the most about this line up wasn't the power house list of major wins, or PDW attempting to defend his title, or even the fact that Jason Belmonte is taking his two handed game to a whole new level. It was that there was a great representation of bowlers from around the world. Three out of the five bowlers in the finales were from outside the United States. Dan MacLelland hails from Canada, Dom Barret from England, and Jason Belmonte from Australia. This shows that the recent feelings of bowling sliding into obscurity as a sport couldn't be farther from the truth. Bowling is becoming a true international sport at the highest competitive levels. The PBA is reaching the four corners of the world and showcasing talents that take an amazing level of dedication to achieve.
As the match got underway, PDW showed brash confidence in his pre-match interview, but that quickly faded as he struggled to get the pair under control with two opens and it wasn't until about the 7th frame that he settled into his shot. By then, MacLelland had a comfortable lead pounding PDW 259 - 211. In match two, Wes Malott stepped in to see if he could wrestle down the hot McLelland. It was shaping up to be a punch for punch match until the lanes started tightening up on MacLelland. He had been playing a straighter line and didn't have much room for error. That margin finally folded on him when he ran high with his shot and left the big 4-6-7-10 split in the fourth frame. Failing to convert, Malott turned into a strike machine to put MacLelland away with a convincing 248 - 199 win. Canada may have to wait for it's fist PBA Tour Title, but today showed why they have reason for their high hopes in a more than capable Dan MacLelland. Match three featured Malott moving up against Dom Barrett. The highlight of this match was Malott putting on a spare clinic and Barrett showing that you don't have to hit the pocket to strike. It's great to see competitive sportsmanship as Barrett went high into the nose of the rack for a strike and apologizing to Malott for it. Good show old chap. Malott on the other hand was in the pocket every single shot and left the 10 pin in just about every way imaginable. Calling his shot at one point in the game as the ball was on it's way, you could hear a faint 10 pin comment from Malott at the line and sure enough, the 10 pin stood firm in its place. In the end, this match showed why spares win games. Malott's ability to convert all of his 9 counts gave him a 205 - 202 win over Barrett.
With the final match ready to run, Belmonte was looking for some revenge from the 2013 loss he suffered from Malott at the U.S. Open title match. That 214-156 loss is something he will most likely never forget. However, today would yield different results. The match stayed anyone's game until the 10th frame. Like two titans in the ring of battle, both bowlers knew they needed to show up to force pressure and win. Belmonte up first in the 10th, rolled a 9 spare and a strike to put Malott in a position to strike on his first ball for a chance to win. In an all or nothing 10th frame, Malott balked, reset, and rolled a great shot. Unfortunately, like most of his previous game, it was a 9 count. With that, Belmonte sitting on the bench, had won the Tournament of Champions. Smoking the field all week long, it was a deserving and dominating finish for the two hander from down under. His one pin 219 - 218 win put that horrible performance at the U.S. Open far away. To put a cap on the day, Bill O'neal with the skills of a ninja, rewarded Belmo with a Barbasol pie in the face. Who says bowling isn't fun at competitive levels. Congrats Jason Belmonte on a great tournament and a solid win at the 2014 Barbasol Tournament of Champions.
0 comments:
Post a Comment