This weekend I participated in the PBA South Ft. Pierce Open, at Ft. Pierce Bowl in Ft. Pierce, FL. It marks the 26th consecutive year that the PBA has run a tournament in the Ft. Pierce / PSL area, the longest by far of the South Region.

I bowled on B squad, on lanes 1 / 2. I crossed with a bowler by the last name of Langton (sorry, I don't remember or know his first name!), regional champion J.R. Georgeadis; and national tour champion Bob Learn, Jr. Although from Pennsylvania, Bob usually competes in several events in the South region.

I started out the first game pretty much how I wound up bowling the entire day - A strike here or there, then a few splits, and then a washout. Add it up, and it doesn't add up well. A score to the tune of 1303 is incredibly discouraging, but only at face value. I had a 100% single and double pin spare conversion percentage. All my open frames came via splits, or washouts (unfortunately, I went 0-7 on washout conversions, usually I make about 1/3 of them).

It's impossible to make a check, or the cut, when you can't strike but twice or three times a game, especially if they are not consecutive strikes. Trust me, I know first hand. Hopefully one of these days, I'll be able to strike a lot more, along with converting all of my makeable spares like I have been doing.

An interesting thing did happen, though. At the end of game 1, on the final fill ball, I decided to throw another ball, just to see what would happen. I decided to throw the Rebel ECX, which is made by Revolution. This is really one of my favorite balls, so I decided what the heck. In game 2, I threw my first shot on 5 and 6 for a strike, and was informed that the ball I was using was not product registered. I though I was going to get DQ'ed right there on the spot, but gladly that didn't happen, and I was just asked to remove the ball from the playing area. Phew! I seriously had NO IDEA about that ball. For one, I remember using it before at a regional event, and secondly, I thought Revolution was made by Brunswick, therefore product registered. I also found out that international balls are also not product registered, which includes the Icon Quad, by Columbia.

So then I switched back to using my Icon 2, and had the next four strikes after that. Maybe I shouldn't have switched at all! So I have to remember to drill something similar to that ball the next time I bowl a regional event. Maybe a Wicked B/R/T. The specifications on that ball are close enough, and I like the core construction as well.

Update: I will not be bowling the Cream of the Crop event. In it's place, I will be bowling an 8-game scratch / handicap SFMBA tournament on Sunday, which is sweet, because long formats are my favorite. I'll let you know what happens there.

- Joe Tex

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