walter ray, weber, and mika are obviously at the very top...but i think tim mack over the last bunch of years has been just as successful overseas as the main touring pros have been here. my driller knows tim, and has told me stories of mack's struggles this season, and i think he is not accustomed yet to the style of bowling on the tour. as far as i know, at most of the overseas tournaments, mack was able to compete with only a few balls. he only had about 5 or 6 with him, because traveling restricted him of the amount of equipment. basically, he just adjusted with what he had, and was still able to win. he rarely changed balls or threw anything new. on the pba tour, as just about everyone is aware of today, bowlers can drill up more than 10 or 15 balls within a 4 day period, sometimes having the same ball drilled 4 or 5 different ways. they create a perfect matchup for the lane condition, and execution becomes alot easier. macks struggles result from the fact that he isnt accustomed to the idea of constantly changing balls and drillings every 9 games to adjust to the condition. thats why hes had excellent DAYS of tournaments, and mixed them around with average or less than average performances. he is an excellent bowler, but i think he has proven this year that bowling around the world is a completely different game. if he had been on tour for 5 or 10 years already, he would definitely be among walter ray and weber today.
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Erik Olsen - e13ez85@hotmail.com