BELMO
Member
Considered the hardest tournament in the world to win. It certainly lived up to its reputation.
Walshy and I stayed at one of our good friends houses Bill O'neil's. Bill is of the PBA exempt players and not only did he look after us, he explained how the PBA works and what the good points are and what the bad points were of joining. He was very honest and understood the reasons as to why I didnt want to join.
Before you ask, i'll give you the biggest reason as to why i wont join (there are more reasons but this is the main reason)
The move:
I would have to live in the USA for over half the year, I have a wife who has her own dreams and i know being a bowling wife is not one of them.
I would never ask my wife to stop doing what she wants just to follow my own dreams. 50/50 is how a marriage works and thats how i intend to keep it.
Ok the US OEPN.
Walshy had fallen sick at the beginning of the week and was in no shape to be bowling on the toughest pattern in the week. He knew it, but like all Aussies, he dug his heels in and did the best he could considering how he was feeling. I was really feeling for him.
More than 24 hours travelling only to be hit by the sick truck 1 day before the event was to start.
The pattern is 40ft flat, low volume and makes the player basically grind for 5 days straight.
What makes it harder to bowl is when you look left and then look right there are bowlers like Doug Kent, Pete Weber and Walter Ray making concentrating on your own shots much harder when all your doing is watching them bowl.
If the pattern and keeping an eye on the bowlers you have looked up too doesnt make it hard enough, you have 492 other bowlers bowling on the lanes. More than 375 of them wont go on to average over 180 and basically trash the pattern, throwing the ball everywhere.
Dull balls up the middle and shiny balls up the track. Making it turn into the hardest reverse block in the world.
If all that wasn't hard enough you then have to contend with the cross. The bowl is 82 lanes large and split into 2 sections.
Up stairs is lanes 1-40, down stairs are the rest. The ends play about 20 boards different making the cross impossible.
Day 1 and 2 I bowled great and made some great moves, even if they were lucky moves, but i made them and bowled some great shots.
Something you wont understand about the pattern until bowl on it is that the slightest change in speed, rotation, ANYTHING results in the ball doing something different every time.
The 3rd day i bowled 30 under and i really didnt bowl that bad. I missed a couple of spares (due to frustration) but the cross killed me. Pair to pair was impossible and becuase of the low volume of oil, the heads were drying up faster and faster everyday, making what seemed like a good shot off the hand turn hard left at the arrows, leaving you shaking your head and wondering what to do.
If you move left you might catch some head oil and send the ball past the head pin, or you could hit a drier part of the lane missing the head pin to the left altogether.
These were the thoughts going through not just my head but everyones head.
ANYWAY:
I made the top 24 and the round robin.
We used both ends of the house and if you look at the scores you will notice that a 170 game or lower was bowled by everyone, that was of course because of the cross.
I was mentally and physically drained at the end of each block of 8 games. I have never felt so tired in my life.
Each pair wanted you to bowl some what differently and you had no idea what that was till you were 5 frames in, and even on some pairs you could go the whole game and no know what to do.
Mika impressed me more than anyone else there. He won the tournament as far as im concerned. To lead the field on that pattern meant you were the strongest mentally and physically and Mika should of been the one holding the cup in his hand.
I watched Mika bowl many times, he seemed to be one step ahead of the lane and everyone else. I guess thats why he was the best.
I had my chances to make the show. I was 220 out with 8 games to go and started the day off great. But like a kick in the balls, lanes 51-52 dropped me to the ground.
Im not happy and im not upset with how i bowled. 11th at my first US OPEN is not so bad, but looking back and seeing what i could of done.....well im sure you know what im thinking.
The Pro's are great guys. All of them were happy to help or have a yarn. Barnes and Mika kept trying to convince me to join the PBA but like i told you guys at the top, i do not want to do it unless its the best thing for me and Kimberly.
Actually talking about Pro's.
The crowd were so close and were able to talk with almost all the guys in the matchplay and not one guy was not happy to answer a question or take a photo or sign something.
Its not easy trying to bowl in the US OPEN and still have the time for your fans. They really do give true meaning to the word professional.
Would i recommend this event to everyone......hmmm not really.
There are other events you can bowl that the pro's do aswell, but the US OPEN will kill your game if your not ready, not to mention shatter any confidence you had.
The USBC Matsers or the PBA world Championship is a better start (thats where i started).
All in all, the US OPEN has taken everything out of me and I fell short of where i wanted to be. I have some things to work on and wont be entering this tournament next year if im not ready.
Im back home now and only get 10 days rest, im off to the world masters in England and then Kuwait.
Sleeping and movies are what lies ahead in my future, sounds good huh?
The US OPEN is a tournament i think everyone who wants to take this sport seriously should bowl at least once in your life, but please do not just think its just a hard event. Its so much more than that....ITS THE HEARDEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make sure you are ready, if your not....well i hope your the luckest son of ***** there or you will be heading home early.
Belmo
Walshy and I stayed at one of our good friends houses Bill O'neil's. Bill is of the PBA exempt players and not only did he look after us, he explained how the PBA works and what the good points are and what the bad points were of joining. He was very honest and understood the reasons as to why I didnt want to join.
Before you ask, i'll give you the biggest reason as to why i wont join (there are more reasons but this is the main reason)
The move:
I would have to live in the USA for over half the year, I have a wife who has her own dreams and i know being a bowling wife is not one of them.
I would never ask my wife to stop doing what she wants just to follow my own dreams. 50/50 is how a marriage works and thats how i intend to keep it.
Ok the US OEPN.
Walshy had fallen sick at the beginning of the week and was in no shape to be bowling on the toughest pattern in the week. He knew it, but like all Aussies, he dug his heels in and did the best he could considering how he was feeling. I was really feeling for him.
More than 24 hours travelling only to be hit by the sick truck 1 day before the event was to start.
The pattern is 40ft flat, low volume and makes the player basically grind for 5 days straight.
What makes it harder to bowl is when you look left and then look right there are bowlers like Doug Kent, Pete Weber and Walter Ray making concentrating on your own shots much harder when all your doing is watching them bowl.
If the pattern and keeping an eye on the bowlers you have looked up too doesnt make it hard enough, you have 492 other bowlers bowling on the lanes. More than 375 of them wont go on to average over 180 and basically trash the pattern, throwing the ball everywhere.
Dull balls up the middle and shiny balls up the track. Making it turn into the hardest reverse block in the world.
If all that wasn't hard enough you then have to contend with the cross. The bowl is 82 lanes large and split into 2 sections.
Up stairs is lanes 1-40, down stairs are the rest. The ends play about 20 boards different making the cross impossible.
Day 1 and 2 I bowled great and made some great moves, even if they were lucky moves, but i made them and bowled some great shots.
Something you wont understand about the pattern until bowl on it is that the slightest change in speed, rotation, ANYTHING results in the ball doing something different every time.
The 3rd day i bowled 30 under and i really didnt bowl that bad. I missed a couple of spares (due to frustration) but the cross killed me. Pair to pair was impossible and becuase of the low volume of oil, the heads were drying up faster and faster everyday, making what seemed like a good shot off the hand turn hard left at the arrows, leaving you shaking your head and wondering what to do.
If you move left you might catch some head oil and send the ball past the head pin, or you could hit a drier part of the lane missing the head pin to the left altogether.
These were the thoughts going through not just my head but everyones head.
ANYWAY:
I made the top 24 and the round robin.
We used both ends of the house and if you look at the scores you will notice that a 170 game or lower was bowled by everyone, that was of course because of the cross.
I was mentally and physically drained at the end of each block of 8 games. I have never felt so tired in my life.
Each pair wanted you to bowl some what differently and you had no idea what that was till you were 5 frames in, and even on some pairs you could go the whole game and no know what to do.
Mika impressed me more than anyone else there. He won the tournament as far as im concerned. To lead the field on that pattern meant you were the strongest mentally and physically and Mika should of been the one holding the cup in his hand.
I watched Mika bowl many times, he seemed to be one step ahead of the lane and everyone else. I guess thats why he was the best.
I had my chances to make the show. I was 220 out with 8 games to go and started the day off great. But like a kick in the balls, lanes 51-52 dropped me to the ground.
Im not happy and im not upset with how i bowled. 11th at my first US OPEN is not so bad, but looking back and seeing what i could of done.....well im sure you know what im thinking.
The Pro's are great guys. All of them were happy to help or have a yarn. Barnes and Mika kept trying to convince me to join the PBA but like i told you guys at the top, i do not want to do it unless its the best thing for me and Kimberly.
Actually talking about Pro's.
The crowd were so close and were able to talk with almost all the guys in the matchplay and not one guy was not happy to answer a question or take a photo or sign something.
Its not easy trying to bowl in the US OPEN and still have the time for your fans. They really do give true meaning to the word professional.
Would i recommend this event to everyone......hmmm not really.
There are other events you can bowl that the pro's do aswell, but the US OPEN will kill your game if your not ready, not to mention shatter any confidence you had.
The USBC Matsers or the PBA world Championship is a better start (thats where i started).
All in all, the US OPEN has taken everything out of me and I fell short of where i wanted to be. I have some things to work on and wont be entering this tournament next year if im not ready.
Im back home now and only get 10 days rest, im off to the world masters in England and then Kuwait.
Sleeping and movies are what lies ahead in my future, sounds good huh?
The US OPEN is a tournament i think everyone who wants to take this sport seriously should bowl at least once in your life, but please do not just think its just a hard event. Its so much more than that....ITS THE HEARDEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make sure you are ready, if your not....well i hope your the luckest son of ***** there or you will be heading home early.
Belmo
