The 07 TOC was not a Barnes choke job. He threw it as well as anybody could have hoped, especially on that obscenely long TOC pattern. And he has proven to be one of the most versatile on tour, behind Norm Duke alone, from what I've seen. But he couldn't carry with TJ last Sunday.
Truth be told, there aren't many that could have. Norm couldn't, Tony couldn't, and Chris couldn't, and they are obviously all very good players. If there was ever a tournament to dismantle the opinion that the cranking doesn't have some very considerable benefits, it's this one. Or maybe we should look back at Couch's 3-peat at the TOC.
The game has changed from the Roth vs. strokers days. Clearly, TJ and Couch have proven that they are versatile and consistent enough to play on tough patterns, and they very often out-carry their competition when the ball gets to the pins because they can combine revolutions with consistency. The TOC was not blind luck, or half-pocket, or whatever excuses you want to give. TJ's revs gave him more area to play with, and obviously plenty of power at the pins. And anybody who's watched enough telecasts with the TNV knows that that ball thrives in the swish zone.
That kind of power isn't ugly. It's nasty. Not sucking up to TJ, but that was impressive.
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Just call me the rifleman... but god help any innocent bystanders!
Anybody got any finesse for sale?
Edited on 4/3/2007 5:04 PM