i was at the first round of qualifying in council bluffs tday. thunderbowl has amf synthetic lanes that are only several years old. that smooth surface and the high scoring chamelion pattern that was layed down by the pba made it possible to score well from a variety of angles. the breakpoint was outside the first arrow but farther down the lane than when the cheetah pattern is used. there were many gutterballs with players trying to get the ball out near the channel. three lefthanders in the top twenty is about normal and couch, p. allen, and riga kalfas were knockem' dead. the versatility of some of these players really surprised me. guys that really cover a lot of boards were going very straight from the outside. should be an interesting tournament.
