Open Championships 2015
Well, another USBC Open Championships has come and gone. As usual, the experience was filled with some good, some bad, and some ugly. Here's how things went:
Team Event
Game 1
X 9/ 81 9/ 7/ 8/ X 9/ 7/ 9/X - 178
As most teams have, we tried to break the pattern down by playing up the lane around 5 to start. My mistake was staying there once the lights came on. I should've immediatelyl balled down and moved 3-4 boards left. Instead, I stuck with my Mastermind and fought a tricky reaction off the outside. Still, other than a chopped 3-10, I managed to stay clean and get myself off to a not-disastrous 178 start..
Game 2
X 7/ 81 X 9/ 7/ 9/ X X XXX - 213
One of the keys to OC success is to stay on top of moves, so after watching some teammates, I decided to continue creeping left and switch to my Melee. It was a nice choice as the ball gave me the control I needed on this tough pattern. Other than giving the 3-pin away on a 3-6 in the third, I managed to keep my nose clean and finish with a five-bagger for a low two teen.
Game 3
9/ X X 8/ 9/ 9/ 81 X X 9/9 - 201
This game was a bit disappointing. After finishing Game 2 with the last five, I could easily have started this game with five of the first six. Sadly, one bad shot and some poor carrry led to what you see above. Then, as is often the case at the OC, a split (4-10) tripped me up in the 7th. I came back with a double in the eight and ninth, but I went shaker 7-pin and wide 2-pin in the tenth for 201 and 592.
Doubles
Game 1
X X X 8- 7/ 63 X X X 7/8 - 204
Trying to learn from the mistakes I made in Team, I went the Mastermind, but I started about 3-4 left of where I had the day before. It worked out nicely as I started with a triple before I left another 4-10. I threw poor shots the next two frames and caught a bad break when I managed to chop the 1-2-4-8 on a shot that looked perfectly placed to make the conversion. Thankfully, I shook that up and threw another triple before a lackluster 10th frame left me at 204.
Game 2
9/ 9/ 72 X 9/ X 61 9/ 9/ X9/ - 168
I had switched to the Melee and moved left toward the end of Game 1, and the move was the right one. Sadly, it didn't lead to much good fortune. Other than getting slow in the third for a 4-6-7, five of the first six balls were in the pocket and could easily have carried. Obviously, most of them didn't and that made it really hard to get something going. I washed out in the 7th, threw decent shots just a smidge wide for back-to-back 2-pins in the eighth and ninth, and then went strike/spare in the 10th for 168.
Game 3
X 9/ X X 9/ 9/ 81 X X 9/7 - 201
Again, tough breaks galore here. I was in the pocket on each of the first six shots, but a ringing 10-pin in the second and back-to-back shaker 7's in the fifth and sixth slowed me down. I threw a bad shot in the seventh, leaving the 2-5. Like a dope, I gave the 2-pin away, just picking off the 5. I doubled in the eighth and ninth before a 10-pin slowed me down on the first ball of the 10th, giving me 201 for the game and 573 for the set.
Singles
Game 1
X 61 8/ 8/ X 7/ X 54 X 9/X - 170
This is where things really started to turn in the wrong direction. The pattern kept forcing me deeper and deeper, which would've been fine had I had the confidence to throw the ball. Sadly, I didn't, and that led to terrible first shots. Other than a washout in the 2nd and a 2-4-5-7-8 (chop) in the eighth, I managed to stay clean, but that wasn't enough to get anything going. In the end, it was a very lackluster 170.
Game 2
X 9/ 72 62 63 9/ 9/ X 9/ 9/X - 161
I came out of the gate strike, solid 10-pin, but then I went 4-6-7, big-4, washout to notch three opens in a row. I was able to shake it off and the pocket on five of the last six shots, but shoddy execution and minimal carry only resulted in two strikes and my tournament-low 161.
Game 3
63 X X 8/ 9/ 9/ 8/ 61 X XX7 - 193
Not much to say here. I washed out in the first and eighth, and I sandwiched a few strikes and several spares in betweeen. I finished strong, but not quite strong enough to erase the damage done the first two games.
In the end, I'm not really sure what to say about this year's tournament. In some ways, I'm really happy with myself. I played the lanes correctly for the most part, chose the right bowling balls, and did a great job of converting my easy spares. On the other side, my inability to throw my first ball with confidence made things much more difficult than they needed to be. Had I cut the ball loose and thrown it with confidence, I have no doubt I could've easily been 1800 plus instead of the very modest 1689 that I finished with. I'm very frustrated by my lack of execution, but I'm motivated to work that much harder going forward in order to avoid having those same issues trip me up in Reno next year!
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this year's tournament, let me know. As always, thanks for reading!
