After a one-week break for Christmas day last week, the PBA World Championship resumed on New Year's Day with a show that was heavy with strong personalities and lots of strikes.
The Johnny Petraglia Division finalists (Sean Rash, Pete Weber, Ryan Ciminelli and Nathan Bohr) were trying to join Osku Palermaa and Ryan Shafer in the January 15th finals of the season's first major championship. Rash had choice of oil pattern, by virtue of his utter dominance of the 40-game qualifying rounds. To put Rash's dominance into perspective, he led by 296 pins over his next closest competitor - Tom Smallwood - and by 455 pins over Weber, who was his closest competitor on the telecast. He outpaced Bohr, who qualified in the 16th and final position by 535 pins. That's more than 13 pins a game folks!
Like Smallwood, Rash picked the Scorpion oil pattern, largely as an offensive move (before Wes Malott became the current owner of that pattern, Rash was considered the "Scorpion King" on Tour) designed to allow the young superstar to play to his strengths. It wasn't long though before it was apparent that the pattern would seem to play to all four players' strengths and that this week's show would be a very high-scoring one indeed.
Weber, the hard-to-believe-he's-49-legend is still going strong, and he proved it with a stellar 279 opening game to lead the pack. Ciminelli, with the left side all to himself, shot a big 266, leaving Rash and Bohr to duel it out for the third and final spot in the second match. Rash had the advantage, heading into the 10th with a possible 269 max score, but he needed a double to shut out Bohr, who still had room for 259. After crushing the first one, Sean's close-out shot inexplicably crossed over brooklyn and left a 6-10. After converting, his 257 score left the door wide open and he no doubt went back to his seat believing he would suffer the same fate (an early exit) that had befallen fellow Brunswick staffer Smallwood in the previous week's episode.
Bohr, making his first career TV appearance and rocking a green vinyl belt, was the black sheep on the telecast, opting to play the extreme outside line - which is highly unusual on the longish 41-foot Scorpion pattern. But he made it work and now just needed a double and nine pins in the 10th to advance. He made a great shot, but a stubborn 10-pin would not cooperate, giving Rash a huge reprieve and the third spot in match 2 as Bohr's 236 final score was good, but not good enough.
The strike barrage continued in match 2, with Weber and his heir apparent Rash, both starting the game with eight straight strikes. Ciminelli, despite bowling well, ran into some carry problems and couldn't keep up, mustering a 219 and ending any hopes that a lefty might win this year's World Championship. Weber's strike run came to an end in the 9th frame when he left a solid 10-pin while Rash also missed in the same frame, going high for a 6-10. But their respective scores of 268 and 246 were more than enough to set up a battle between the last two eras' most polarizing and exciting players.
Fans may remember that these two were featured together during the 2010 Team Shootout telecasts (available in the Xtra Frame archives "Interviews" section) with Weber acknowledging that, of all the current players on Tour, Rash is the one that reminds him the most of himself. Rash replied by paying Weber and his family a compliment that was so touching it almost reduced Pete to tears. But now that they were facing one another for the first time on TV, all niceties were put aside in favor of attending to the business at hand, namely that third available spot in the World Championship finals.
Weber ran into some lane transition early and got off to a rough start, leaving an open frame in the first and ultimately making a ball change in the 4th. Rash continued his smooth sailing, but left a little wiggle room for Weber heading into the 9th and 10th frames. Weber's ball change paid dividends, and he did in fact "keep him honest" as he said coming off the approach after throwing two strikes in consecutive turns to give himself a max score of 245.
When Rash stepped up in the 10th, he needed strike, nine-spare or better to wrap up the win. With memories of his near game-losing brooklyn from match 1 no doubt still rattling around in his brain, Rash went with the high hard one this time, except it was more hard than high and skipped by the pocket to leave what looked like a 2-5. But somehow the headpin wiggled its way back onto the deck, knifed between the two pins and tipped them both over, giving Rash the luckiest strike since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny Kaye. Still needing nine, Rash pulled himself together and jammed one high for a 4-pin and the win. When Rash came back he was all smiles, and said to Weber something along the lines of "I just want to be like you." Weber shot back, "Well, then at least hit the pocket when you need it!"
Weber's comment was probably a little bit sour grapes said in the heat of the moment, but there was also a boulder-sized nugget of truth in it. To be considered a truly great player on Tour you have to be able to perform when you need it, and for the last four years Sean Rash has struggled to do that on TV. He says all the right things in interviews, and he continues to be one of the very best players in the world during the week, but he clearly hasn't figured out his "go-to" shot (like Roth's rocket or Walter Ray's frozen rope) that he can execute without fail when he needs it on TV. Sean certainly bowled well enough on TV to deserve the win this week, and his complete dominance of the field during the World Championship shows that he is clearly, if not the best, then one of the best two or three bowlers in the world today. The next step for Sean is finding a greater level of comfort on TV in do-or-die situations. Once he does that (and given the number of opportunities he's given himself lately it is sure to happen), then he will assume what seems to be his inevitable place as one of the greatest bowlers of all time.
Moving on to the production, I continue to enjoy Chris Barnes' presence in the booth, especially his very dry self-deprecating humor. His comment this week about his usual timing for leaving the 7-10 split made me LOL. But his technical analysis is also spot-on and it also gives Randy a great opportunity to show his vast knowledge of the sport when the two carry on high-level strategy conversations.
Next Sunday's show is another doozy I can promise you, featuring Jason Belmonte, Mike Fagan, Brian Kretzer and Josh Blanchard competing on the nasty Shark pattern for the fourth and final spot in the PBA World Championship finals. Be ready for some chills, spills (literally - one of the finalists actually takes a very scary fall!) and thrills coming up this Sunday at 1pm ET!
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