I bowled this weekend in the Best Bowlers Challenge, held at AMF Boynton Beach Lanes. I decided to bowl qualifying on Saturday night at 6PM. The lanes were oiled, and the heads were slick, but the back-ends were on the hooking side, so I decided to use my Ricochet, standing on 22-23, and playing around 10 at the arrows, swinging the ball slightly. In the first game I had no opens and a four bagger for a 227 game. On the next pair, I spared in the first two frames, before throwing the next eight strikes. I left a solid 10 pin in the second fill ball to shoot a much needed 267 game. The last game, I alternated spares and strikes all the way out until the 9th frame, where I struck out for a 218 game.

For the qualifying round, I shot 711, good enough to make both cuts in this tournament. I also had no opens, which was very nice. I also won a $100 prize and a $300 prize for breaking 2 different jackpots (this definitely counts towards my yearly total earnings).

In the finals, the back-ends seemed to hook quite a bit more, and the heads were also a bit more hooking then they were in qualifying, so, using the same ball, I started by standing on 24, and swinging the ball out to 7 or 8. The first game, I unfortunately alternated strikes on the left lane and splits on the right lane until the 7th frame, where I actually left something to convert. I wound up bowling a bad 164 game. In the second game I had more of the same problem, as I couldn't carry, and also split a few more times. In the middle of the game, I decided to switch balls to a Ti Messenger, and tried to get lined up for the last game. I figured I was long gone from either top 5 at this point, so I wanted to see if I could at least win a nassau or jackpot. For the third game I was playing the third arrow, and standing on 27, swinging the ball out to about 7. I was able to throw a five-bagger in that game, and finish with a 240 game. Yes, I did win a nassau.

So in the finals, I did not bowl well at all, except for the last game. The $400 I made the day before softened the blow of not making the top 5, which would have been great. My next tournament is also a BBC tournament, which is next weekend, at Holiday Springs Lanes. I would like to at least make both cuts again, and get my stats up some.

- Joe Tex

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