Well, the tour is in full swing, starting here in Sacramento first. Live scoring is up as well at pwba.com/live.

You can tell that the nerves are hitting the ladies as they get settled in, but there is some excellent bowling going on. I'm heading straight up there early afternoon and will be up there for the pro-am as well. But so far, this is looking good!

BL.

It's being held at Fireside.

holy smokes i thought today was just the pro am dang i miss out

I thought it was too, until a couple of weeks ago when I checked the schedule. Looks like most of the events are going to be in the format where there is the welcoming dinner the night before the qualifying rounds. Friday would be 2 rounds of qualifying and the pro-am, Saturday would be 2 rounds of match play, then the finals. Done by Sunday.

They definitely weren't kidding when they said they were trying to balance the tour with family life. And to be honest, I actually like this., as it gets those mothers bowling home sooner to their children.. and it gives those with the time to follow the tour from location to location the time to get to the next stop and get settled in.

BL.

I might swing by tomorrow gotta head to the river catch me dinner first. How is it going over there any local or nearby talents in lead??? Or just the usual leaders or some new upcoming talents.

Alrighty.. Just got home from the Open. And for the record, one of the guys I bowl league with helped to organize this, and this also comes from his mouth as well as my own observations.

We seriously UNDERESTIMATED the amount of response for this tour. Yes, 64 entries were made, and an extra 16 were opened. Those were filled. They even extended the number of entries for the Pro-Am. We had people driving the 9 hours down from Portland, Oregon for this, let alone the bay area.

The place was absolutely packed, and while Fireside is a challenging house, 32 lanes was just not enough. For what this tour will do and bring, a 40+ lane house is needed. If the amount of popularity this stop was is any barometer, the other events will also have entries expanded. And when you think about it, Houston, Topeka, Wichita, and Lincoln are all college towns, so all the ladies in that area will definitely want to get in if they already aren't in now.

Because of the expanded field, the pro-am started at least an hour late (was scheduled for 8pm; we didn't get started until around 9:30). 3 separate divisions: juniors, adult, seniors. So there should be winners in each division. The kicker that made it great compared to previous PWBA pro-ams: no redress of the lanes to the THS; we bowled on the tournament condition. Due to the format of the tournaments, I'd say to expect this at every other stop.

All in all, this was a great tournament, and much better than anyone imagined. Oh.. and You get to meet Lucas Wiseman. More to follow tomorrow, as match play starts.

BL.

Im just curious i never done a pro am before. is that just so u can bowl with a pro?? or is it a real tournament u win money etc.

Both. So Consider it a 9-pin no tap tournament which you bowl with pros. Previous tournaments gave the linemen time to redress the lanes from the tournament pattern to a THS to help out the amateurs. With how short the stops are (the weekend and not the entire week), there is no time for the redress. So that made it a bonus that you are also bowling on the pro's pattern. So it helped to watch the qualifying rounds, to see who is throwing where.

Plus they had some giveaways here as it being the first stop and to also garner attention. Leanne raffled off an IQ Tour Nano and Sky Rocket, plus Logo Infusion and Mongoose are here giving away swag.

So there's a lot to do at the pro-am, including autographs and pictures, but to be blunt, Sacramento needs a bigger house, and Mardi Gras Lanes isn't going to cut it.

BL.

BL.

Here's to hoping they do better than the PBA. GO LADIES!

Call me biased, but they have, just by nature of TOURING.

BL.

Still packed up here at Fireside for match play. Absolutely packed. And this is with most local THS bowlers at Fireside, plus those from the bay area coming up and staying overnight. Like I said, if this is any barometer on how the rest of the tour will be, then there is no way that this will be a huge success.

Oh.. all of this is happening WITHOUT Liz Johnson, CDB, Kulick, McEwan, Guerra, or Guerrero, as most of them are bowling in Japan this week. Of the more known bowlers, Duggan, Tish Johnson, Parkin, Rodriguez, Stef Johnson, Leanne, Pluhowsky, and Asbaty were here. The rest should be available for the other stops, if the PanAm Games don't interfere (which would be sometime between the Wichita and Houston stops). I expect those to be huge.

Oh.. The pattern we have for the tournament:

http://scores.bowl.com/2015_PWBA/Sacramento/LanePattern.pdf

I won't say it was like Shark, because it was definitely different; I was playing 5th arrow after the carry down, so there was a lot of moving in and everyone was playing deep inside, regardless of lefty or righty. We still are now.

Anyway, heading back up for the finals!

BL.