Greetings all!
Finally have settled in an have started to do some tournament bowling here in Europe. Went to the Irish Open in Jan and stunk it up but that was to be expected as hadn't really put in any time or practice in the last 6 months due to moving and such. I updated my arsenal (which will be in my profile as soon as I get done being lazy...lol) and got in some quality practice before attempting my next tournament in Luxembourg. Here is a link to the lane conditions for you.
http://www.luxembourg-open.lu/docs/2007%20Ebonite%20International%20Luxembourg%20Open..pdfand here is a link to a story on Bowling Digital that lists qualifiers so far..
http://www.bowlingdigital.com/bowling/node/13963/1I bowled 2 squads, the 7th and 8th squads. My score that is counted is from the 7th squad and the 8th wasn't counted as was a little lower..
Here is a complete listing so far..(after the 10th squad finished)
http://www.luxembourg-open.lu/?page=resultswhere you can check out each squad and such...
Conditions were very sport like. Out of bounds on the ditch. There was a nice little track around 10-5 as long as you didn't get it out too wide and didn't get around it too much. If you came inside of 10 you had very early read...and had to go really deep and wheel it but carry was tough and one minor error in release or targeting was maximum penalty. Transition periods were a bear as can be seen by my lovely second game (that is rustiness from not being out there competing that is for sure.) Bowled game one with a Storm Special Agent (box surface) pin at 1 O'Clock, cg 3/4 inch right of center of grip playing 12 to 5 with some good speed. Second game got the ball to start reading a touch early and before I knew it 2 4-9's in 3 frames. Made hand position change and swishin 7-10...whoops...got very deep 20 to 10 and couldn't carry and ended up with one more 4-9....ugh...last ball pulled out the Ebonite Total NV(Drilled with Pattern 1) I didn't have it at the start as it was being worked on by Denny Torgerson as needed to have the thumb fixed and take a bit of surface off the ball..decided on 2000. Played a small bump shot 10-5 and dead flush. Moved to the next pair...same line...front 4...then 2-4-8-10 which was complete stupidity as I set up exactly one dot (five board) left of where I was the 4 shots before (told you the mental game was rusty) and ball never had a chance. Move my dot left....flush the rest.....dummy..:-) Really like the look of the Total NV and the carry...Ebonite hit on something special I think. I missed exactly 1 spare my 6 games and am pretty happy with my results. Squad 8...my scores were more consistent but made a couple errant throws and the wrong time that hurt.
The quality of players over here is unbelievable. I will need to do some more serious work on my game to really stay competitive out here but am having fun.
Hopefully my score holds for the top 34 and will give you a report of the finals on Sunday!
Have fun!
Mike
Okay...Part 2!
Well at the end of qualifying I ended up in 21st place, easily above the cut line and was quite happy. I had a good night's sleep, a good drive and was in good spirits to begin the day....
Practice started and could not get a decent look to start with. Started practice with the Total NV but was really turning hard off the breakpoint. Tried to go deep with the Special Agent but read the lanes way too early.Horizon was extremely touchy so decided to fight with the Total NV and see what I could do. Struggled to a 170 but was happy as didn't shoot myself in the foot and made the most of it. Started to get a good look in the 10th so was thinking the next game would be better. Game 2...lanes tamed down and made 12 quality shots. 2 9-pins, 1 8-pin and 2 10-pins meant a low duece but was in the pocket when others were really struggling. Game 3....finally started to string strikes playing 12-5 (same as in game 2) and put up a nice 246 game and got me into the top 12. Then disaster stuck...moved to 1-2 which was the pair I shot the lovely 150 game during qualifying. I started right where I was in game 3....through the beak on Lane 2 for a Greek Church...ugh...Next shot on one....ball skidded through the break point...2-8-10....interesting. Back on 2...came inside a hair...15-5...never wrinkled...2-4-8-10.....uh oh.....pull out the Special Agent for Lane 1.....Ball catches about 20 feet down the lane....through the beak...4-6-7-10.....yes I am having fun now....at the end...a serious 122...wooohooooo! Serious pissed but doing well to keep it from getting to me and take a deep breath and say still have a shot. Game 5...Total NV 12-5....a couple taps...236...making progress...thinking 230 to get to the cut...Game 6...solid double to start....then a swishing 7-10 on a shot I got around a little too much on and didn't catch a break. Couple strikes and a couple one pin spares...strike in the 8th....solid 8 pin in the 9th..(ouch) and strike out for 213...and miss the cut by 19....
Overall I really had fun and was quite happy with my performance other than a couple obvious bad games. Did a bit better than I thought with not having bowled much at all and nothing competitive in the last 6 months. I still need to learn my equipment a little more due to just getting it but all in all had a good time, made a couple Euro's and for the most part know that I can play with the big boys....
Thanks for reading my novella!
Here is a link to check out all the scoring..
http://www.luxembourg-open.lu/?page=results--------------------
"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward." - FDR
Edited on 2/25/2007 1:49 PM
Edited on 2/25/2007 1:53 PM
