Pictured Second From Left Is: Madison Holman. Photo Courtesy Of SFT.
Holman Wins First SFT Title. Glenfair Lanes May 25, 2020.
Glendale - - - It was only about 9 days ago that we spoke with Glenfair Lanes and decided we were going to try having the Memorial Day major event. Of course we were worried about a laundry list of things. Some obvious things like concerns around COVID and if we’d even have a large enough turn out worth the time and energy of trying. Boy are we glad we took the risk and the challenge on of having the event. The entire weekend felt like a reconnecting and rekindling of many friendships and social circles. The COVID precautions slowly became a thing in the background and many people began to really enjoy being together again and bowling like they used to.
Not only did it seem special in a lot of sentimental ways, it was very special in a very data driven way too. Like a new entry record kind of special! Our previous record was 277 entries with 185 qualifying entries. This weekends event drew an unprecedented 317 total entries with 226 qualifying entries. We never imagined this great of a turn out! We can’t thank the bowling community enough for all of the help in creating such a great turn out and such a successful event.
The event had 81 cashers, a 1 in 3.9 cash ratio and paid out over $13,000.00 in main and side event prize fund. We even had 33 new bowlers come out and try the event for the first time! The players bowled on a 43ft Patriot oil pattern that was very temperamental. There were some bowlers that seemed to bowl some very high scores, but for the most part the average cut score was in the medium range. The scores were higher on Saturday, but it seemed that with each strip and re-oil, the pattern played truer and truer and got harder and harder, with Monday having the lowest cut scores of the weekend.
The quarter finals was a big one with 60 bowlers on the floor and cutting to the top 6 in each division, but broken up into pairs of 3 people. The top score in a one game match out of the 3 bowlers would be the winner and move on. We had the #1, #3 and #6 seeds on one pair and the #2, #4 and #5 seeds on the other pair.
In the A division, we had #1 seed Bobby Hornacek vs #3 seed Kenneth Lange vs #6 seed Martin Purnell on one pair. The other pair had #2 seed Joey Damon vs #4 seed Dylan Taylor vs #5 seed Jon Mayer. On the first pair we had #3 seed Kenny Lange upset the red-hot Bobby Hornacek who had our high scratch set of the tournament with an impressive 790. On the other pair we had top seed (on the pair) Joey Damon staying very strong. He, like Bobby, had been bowling very well, cashing in the sweeper a few times and winning some side pots.
In the B division, we had #1 seed Josh Anthony vs #3 seed Chris Wheat vs #6 seed William Cleveland. On the other pair we had #2 seed Madison Holman vs #4 seed Gary Jenkins vs #5 seed Ron McDonald. On both pairs the top seed was the winner, which doesn’t happen often. Josh Anthony and Madison Holman would move on to face each in the B division final match.
In the C division, we had #1 seed Dave Lloyd vs #3 seed Tyler Morgan vs #6 seed Luke Sullivan. On the other pair we had #2 seed Jordan Potts vs #4 seed Chris Stafford vs # 5 seed James Rivera. On the first pair, the lowest seed and under dog Luke Sullivan came out with a dominant win. On the other pair, ironically enough, his very good friend Jordan Potts also won by a large margin, setting a battle of big match play scores against two friends that bowl them together.
The division final matches are always fun to watch. When over 300 entries come down to the top 6 bowlers, there is always some pressure in the atmosphere. In the A division match, we had a very impressive performance with Kenny Lange running off the front 11 and bowling a very nice 299 game to defeat Joey Damon. In the B division, we had a very back and forth match, but a big double in the 8th and 9th allowed Madison to get the lead and maintain it to move on. In the C division, Jordan was able to take down his buddy Luke and move on to the final match. Luke was looking to redeem himself from a previous performance that I supposedly “roasted” him for, but was unable to do so.
The final match at our Memorial Day event we use the eliminator format. So the 3 players bowl one game with the low score dropping out and then the final two players bowl one more game to determine the champion. The first game we had Madison heading out to a pretty good size lead and the low man coming down between Kenny and Jordan. Jordan needed to mark in the 10th to be able to move on, and after leaving a very difficult 3-10 split, was unable to pick it up allowing Kenny to move on to the final match.
The final match was a game of hot potatoes with both players having open frames and not being able to put anything together. A late double by Madison gave her the lead and enough to stay in the lead and win with a 198 to 153 final match! To top it off, both Madison and Kenny both didn’t get in the progressive pot, which made the total progressive pot being re-distributed add up to over $1,300, increasing everyone else’s progressive payout by $25.
Strike Force Tour News March 14, 2020.
Union Hills- - - Our event this weekend was at AMF Union Hills lanes and it was our second Saturday event of 2020. With all the craziness going on out in the world it was a nice time to relax, have some fun and bowl. We had a great turnout with 92 total entries with (64 qualifying entries & 28 economy parlay entries) which is probably one of our highest turnout for a Saturday event in a while. We had 26 total cashers, a 1 in 3.5 cash ratio and paid out over $4,600.00 in main and side event prize funds! The players bowled on a 43ft Mexico City oil pattern, which started with higher scoring on the fresh pattern, but the scoring pace remained the same for all three squads with the average cut being around +40 for all three divisions.
We want to welcome some new bowlers to the SFT AHT family. Jason Gootzeit and Mark Haensel both bowled in their first event this weekend and we want to welcome them both to our ever growing SFT community! It’s amazing to see that we still are getting new bowlers every week. We hope you all had a good time in your first event, and we look forward to seeing you at the next one! For the first time in quite a while, there was no Parlay Power Player this weekend. This just goes to show you how difficult the pattern was pair to pair. Congrats to Chris Tucker on winning Momma’s Mystery Score today. Chris won $250.00 with a score of 178. Also, congrats to Brandon JohnsonKroman for winning the drawing for a free plastic ball, with an option to upgrade to any high-performance Track bowling ball for $85.00.
The quarterfinals were bowled on freshly oiled lanes and the scores showed it. There were some bowlers that were able to take advantage of the oil and they played a down and in shot making sure to avoid splits. Your A Division leader was Kyle Gilbert (+133) and he would take on Josh Mullen (+63). In the B Division, the scores weren’t as high, but your #1 seed would be Eric Carroll (+1) and he would face off with Dishawn Byrd (+0). In the C Division, we would see Chris Stafford emerge as your leader (+43) and he would have to square off with John Fitzgerald (+4).
The A Division semi-final would see both bowlers start off hot with Kyle and Josh striking back and forth for the first few frames of the match. Towards the middle of the match Josh began to have issues with transition and Kyle would pull away winning the match 233 to 187. The B Division match would also be the same as Eric and Dishawn would start off even, but Dishawn would struggle with transition eventually losing to Eric, 183 to 156. In the C Division we would see an upset as John Fitzgerald was able to throw strikes in the ninth and tenth frame to shut out Chris Stafford, winning 219 to 185.
This would set up our Final match with all three bowlers looking for their very first AHT SFT title and the $960.00 first place prize. All three bowlers have been in the Final match before, but only one would emerge as the winner.
Going into the Final match your #1 seed overall Kyle Gilbert decided to start off the match and boy did he ever. Kyle would throw four strikes in the first five frames to jump out to an early lead. Eric and John would both try to keep pace as Kyle would overcome the handicap disadvantage quickly. John would throw a turkey in frames five, six & seven, but an open in the eighth frame (a nasty 1-3-4-6-7 split which he was unable to convert) would halt his momentum. Eric would struggle with transition on the championship pair and would finish with a score of 183. Kyle would strike out in the eighth, ninth & tenth frames to finish at 244 scratch, winning his first ever AHT SFT title and $960.00. John would finish the match up with a score of 216. Congrats to John for 2nd Place and also to Eric for coming in 3rd Place.
We would like to thank everyone for coming out this weekend and supporting our event. We look forward to seeing you all again next Sunday at AMF McRay Lanes for our last event of the 2020 Winter Circuit! Hope you all stay safe and have a great week!
Remembering The 2019 PWBA Tucson Open.
It's hard to believe that it's been a year ago, this weekend, that the PWBA was in Tucson. For the Tucson Open and its first tour stop in Arizona. It's also hard to believe that it has been a year this month, that Golden Pin Lanes closed its doors. There are a few things that I will remember about this event. It was the last major tournament at Golden Pin. The support the event got from the Tucson bowling community. Watching Shannon O" Keefe win her second title of 2019, and 10th overall. Watching Liz Kuhlkin roll a 299 in the first game of the finals. And watching Kelly Kulick roll the last 300 game in the bowling centers history during the semi-final round of qualifying for the finals. Personally, we will miss Golden Pin for the great customer service we got there. And the success we had bowling there.
Openings For Midweek Madness Summer 2020 League.
Chandler - - -The Midweek Madness Summer 2020 League at AMF Chandler on Wednesday nights still has room for one single and one team. If you are interested, please contact Dan Kittrell at 480-334-6096 or on the Facebook page. Current members, please share this message on your timelines. Thank you.
Metro Phoenix Annual Meeting.
Phoenix - - - Metro Phoenix USBC Annual Meeting.
We have been able to secure a venue for our annual meeting.
AMF Union Hills Lanes
Sunday June 28th from 2pm - 4pm
3424 W Union Hills Dr
Phx.
This is an important meeting for all certified bowlers in the Phoenix market. You have the ability to elect officers and voice your opinions.
You will elect a new president and some new directors.
Please take a couple of hours and join us.