by Mike Dias 8/2/2015
I bowled pretty well this week in the Senior Masters, reaching 5th at the end of the second block. I was using a ball that would hook and then “stop” or not have a strong motion down the lane to control the very difficult 40′ Senior Masters pattern. This pattern was 2.4:1 and the end of the pattern was tricky. I wanted to stay in control of the pocket as the scores were not high (the cut score to the top 64 was -38).
I struggled in the 3rd block of qualifying, dropping all the way to 33rd. In my first match (double elimination, 3 game matches) I bowled another left-hander, and thought I might be able to play a bit of defense, since his rev rate was lower and he would have trouble carrying if he had to move too far to the inside of the lane. That was a wrong assumption as he bowled well the last game and dispatched me to the losers bracket. I then won my next two matches. In the second match, Tim Mack suggested I use the new Roto Grip Menace on a particularly tight pair and won. I next bowled against fellow left-hander Ron Boroff and was able to use my new Roto Grip Hyper Cell Skid. I was not able to use this ball earlier in the tournament as it hooked too early and was too strong at the back of the lane. I was able to get better reaction and carry in this match and was successful
Every masters tournament ends the same for everyone but the champion. I bowled the next morning and was not able to execute well and generate good ball reaction, and I lost to Dale Traber to end my run in the tournament. Still a good week and on to the next tournament!