Anthony LaCaze didn’t win with quite the flare and attention of some of the other first time titlelists this year, but like Tom Smallwood, he has pretty good story to tell about his first Tour Qualifying Round (TQR) experience last year when he was fined for not owning a shirt with his name on the back.
Good news Anthony! You’re going to get some custom Gemini jerseys with your name on them when you come out on tour next year as an exempt player! I imagine you’ll also have some companies vying to fill up all that logo space based on your performance. Last week’s victory says a lot about how good Anthony is to come back just one year after his first TQR experience to win a PBA title.
And how about getting a spot in this week’s PBA Tournament of Champions on top of all the success he relished in last week? Players strive to be a part of this tournament. Spend years perfecting their craft intent on winning a PBA title and entry into this event. Cloud nine anyone? Probably not high enough and probably not enough time for last week’s success to sink in.
Maybe bigger than Anthony’s win is another success story from the PBA Tour Qualifying Round. Every time people argue for the PBA to open up fields, someone squeezes through a TQR and finds success. They work for a variety of reasons but, most importantly, for half the price you can bowl in a rabbit squad that if you were to finish in the top 6 or higher each week, would advance you into the main tournament against the 58 best players in the world. Not only that, but the TQR has its own prize fund just in case you finish outside of the cut to the main tournament. It’s the perfect place for someone to test the waters without spending a full $500 or $600 on an entry into the tournament.
It’s also the perfect place to gain valuable experience that may one day lead a player to exempt status on tour via other means. At the beginning of the season it was Ryan Ciminelli making back to back championship round appearances after qualifying through the TQR. Ryan didn’t win either of those events, but I’m sure the experience assisted him in landing an exemption through the Regional Player’s Invitational this past December.
How many players of the past can you name that had success in TQR’s and are now exempt players on Tour today? Rhino Page, Sean Rash, Edward VanDanicker Jr., Dino Castillo, Jason Belmonte, Stevie Weber and Troy Wollenbecker are just a few I can name.
Now we can add LaCaze and Ciminelli to those ranks.
THE BIG FOUR
- What better way to win your first title than by throwing three clutch strikes and forcing your opponent to show up with his own set of clutch strikes. A solid 10-pin by Machuga in the 11th and for the fifth consecutive PBA season, a TQR qualifier has won a title. Sean Rash in 2006, Mike Minemen in 2007, Rhino Page in 2008, Jason Belmonte in 2009, and Anthony LaCaze in 2010. Of all the guys who have earned their exemption via wins out of the TQR, only one is not still exempt (Mike Mineman).
- Speaking of LaCaze, he was in 69th in points before this event. With this win, he won’t even crack the top 40 in points. In all likelihood, by season’s end, he’ll be outside the cut for a points exemption, which means there will be one points exemption available at season’s end.
- Watching the show this week, I thought of two things: 1. How great was it to be watching the finals of a tournament I spent no less than 7 or 8 hours watching on Xtra Frame during the same week? 2. How the finals could have easily been Rash versus Wolfe if not for some failed spare conversions by those two.
- This Sunday, while the six bowlers battled it out on ESPN for PBA titles on a pretty difficult lane pattern, I myself was competing on a pretty difficult lane pattern that saw only 5 people average over 200 with a cut into the top 24 at 174. Senior PBA Tour Player of the Year Ron Mohr ran the table from the 5th seed to win; which included a trampling of the #4 seed, me. As much as I love a tournament where you grind it out for every pin, I wonder how well that goes over on TV to the average viewer. More on that in my Forum Topic of the Week.
MY TOP TEN: (Most recent Tournament finish in Parenthesis. Last tournament completed was the Earl Anthony Memorial.)
- Chris Barnes (17th ) Another cut made only to be defeated in the round of 28 in 7 games by Stevie Weber. Hard to believe that a 17th place finish is his 2nd worst finish this season.
- Sean Rash (3rd ) Some might argue with this considering his performance on TV in some one-game roll-offs, but he’s been pretty unstoppable this year in best of seven formats. He’s one of only two players with three shows. Has only missed one cut in nine events.
- Walter Ray Williams, Jr. (19th) Tough when the guy you draw in the Round of 28 shoots 258, 257, 222, 222, 256 and 256. And to think Williams Jr. won the two games Patrick didn’t shoot over 250.
- Rhino Page (39th ) August was a great month for Rhino with four top-6 finishes, but two back to back finishes outside the cut number have him dropping to the four spot in my rankings.
- Tom Smallwood (33rd ) Respectable 33rd place finish only 12 pins out of the match play cut.
- Wes Malott (41st ) When you finish 6th, 4th, 2nd and 7th in consecutive tournaments, you’re bound to have a bad week. First cut he has missed since the opening event of the 2009-2010 PBA Tour Season.
- Tommy Jones (5th ) Last four tournaments he’s finished no worse than 14th and at the Earl Anthony Memorial he lead qualifying and lost to the eventual champion in the Round of 8 in a 7-game thriller.
- Bill O’Neill (30th ) Missed the first cut by 3 pins. Continues his roller coaster season so far.
- Jason Belmonte (6th ) Had Rash down 0-2 in the Round of 8 but lost momentum and four straight games to get eliminated. However, five out of his last 6 events have resulted in top 12 finishes.
- Mike Scroggins (10th ) Followed up his win at the Super Regional in Wichita with a win at the Red, White and Blue Open, and a 10th place finish at the Earl Anthony Memorial.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“I always knew I could win, but when you actually do it, it’s different. I’m up in the clouds right now.”
Anthony LaCaze after winning his first PBA title.
“I don’t think it was about the money. The pressure was more about your dreams coming true.”
Tom Smallwood in an interview with Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle article.
"If you had asked me five or six years ago if I’d still be bowling on tour, I’d have probably said no."
Mike Scroggins on www.Amarillo.com as reported by Les Giles.
FORUM TOPIC OF THE WEEK
When Patterns Are Too Difficult Than(sic) Bowling Is A Joke
Disagree...difficult patterns do not make bowling a joke, but difficult patterns do have their place on the PBA Tour. One of those places though is not on live TV.
Over the course of this PBA season, we have seen some of the lowest scoring tournaments in recent history. The scoring pace that you would most often expect to see at one of the PBA’s most cherished majors like the U.S. Open or this week’s Tournament of Champions.
As a serious bowler who bowls predominantly on Sport patterns these days, I love a good scoring grind on the lanes. If you can make a double and stay out of trouble, you are never out of contention. And I bet the pro bowlers love it too for that same reason. However, when the lights come on, and the show goes live, I personally wonder how the average viewer reacts to these low scoring affairs. Let’s take the recently completed Earl Anthony Memorial for example. It took Stephanie Nation’s three strikes in the 10th frame to register the day’s first 200 game; a 201.
Until then the men had averaged a whopping 179 over four games. Hardly anything for the crowd to cheer about. Hardly anything for the players to get animated about. Even Rob Stone was subdued and, as a result, the telecast for the most part had a very subdued vibe to it.
That is until LaCaze threw his first turkey of the day to close out the title match and put the pressure on Machuga. This year, not including the tournament intended to be a scorefest (the Pepsi Red, White & Blue Open presented by USBC) and the Cheetah Championship (which was televised in such a way that scoring pace was of little value), the television pair is averaging 202 over 44 games (men only).
Bowling typically only has one match going on at a time. We can’t switch to a guy who just stroked a golf ball 3 inches from the cup on a 200 yard par-3 or switch to an 80-yard touchdown run by Chris Johnson. We can’t switch to a more compelling game.
The PBA is constantly fighting the battle to define how tough it is to score on the PBA Tour versus any traditional house shot league to the average viewer, but sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the battle. I recently told someone that no matter what you put out on the lanes, the cream of the crop will rise to the top. If it’s easy, the best will win. If it’s hard, the best will win. We’re a sport, but we are also a venue of entertainment.
Tough shots have their place on TV and it’s at our Majors. As a professional sport, we have to keep that in mind when we send six of the best bowlers in the world out on live TV to entertain not only the crowd in the building but the ones watching on TV. When spares outnumber strikes, I wonder if we’re still entertaining those average TV viewers or if they are changing the channel.
FANTASY BOWLING CORNER
Yes, the fantasy game is back. Did I have any part in that? Not sure. All I know is I said something last week and the fantasy game is up and running again. Last week was a bad week for my picks as someone was so kind to point out in a comment. But there weren’t any points awarded last week so we’re all tied atop the standings at zero.
Interestingly enough, Tom Smallwood is the number one pick on the fantasy game this week, but I’m going a different route. My team this week is Mike Fagan, Jason Belmonte, Sean Rash, Michael Haugen Jr. and Lonnie Waliczek.
Why? Fagan has been knocking on the door for his first solo PBA title for some time now and it seems like this is the year for those first timers. Two, it would be too easy to pick Walter Ray or Chris Barnes and run with the masses. No, you have to take a shot in the dark on the “A” player.
Jason Belmonte and Sean Rash are the two best “B” players on the board. It’s like getting two more “A” players for the price of “B.”
Slim pickings in the “C” column so I’ll go with a recent major champion in Haugen and an underdog pick in Waliczek.
