On
Tour with Brian Voss
World Championship - Grand Rapids,
MI (Mar. 14 - 18, 2007 )
Well folks, if you like drama, this was the week. So much on the line
for some many people. Either bowl good enough to stay ahead of other
players, or bowl good enough to pass other players. To be honest with
you, my intentions this week were simply to win. I knew I was bowling
good coming into this event, so it was going to be close. I played
real good during qualifying. All of my blocks were reasonable, nothing
spectacular, and nothing disastrous. I pretty much used scorpions
all week. I had three of them laid out, a real strong one, one a little
less, and another drilled weak. The pattern was long, so I needed
a ball to would make a good move. Almost all of my blocks with fresh
oil, I started out playing right around the second arrow, right up
the back of it. I stayed there for the first 2 or 3 games, then had
to jump inside, just left of the third arrow, and then meandering
in as play continued. After making the top 40, I was paired against
Jack Jurek, a player coming into his own this year. I was paired against
Jack in one other event, so we had a little history already. Most
of the mathematicians on tour had calculated that I needed to finish
13th or better, to make the exemption, so I knew I had to win this
match. It was a pretty easy victory, as I was really bowling well,
and Jack struggled a bit. I ended up winning the match 4-0. My next
match was against Ritchie Allen, who had just defeated WRW Jr., so
he had some momentum going. This was another match I knew I had to
win, and it was a good one. We split the first two games, and the
third game provided some excitement. As Ritchie struck out in the
10th, he forced me to double to win the game. I felt like I was on
TV again, as most players had already finished, and were watching.
Everyone knew how important this match was. I pured the first one
in the tenth, but the second one, I leaked just a little right, but
it made it back, sending a messenger into the ten pin for a dramatic
strike, which I held nothing in when they all fell. I can get a little
vocal sometimes. Ritchie battled back and evened the match at 2 games
apiece, but the next two games went to me, and I ended up winning
them match 4-2, setting up a match between me and Tim Criss, who was
also battling for his exemption. At this point in the event, all the
mathematicians had calculated that I had to finish 13th or better
to get enough points. The only thing that could prevent me from finishing
lower than 13th would be a sweep. And guess what happened, you got
it. It was one of those matches where everything went his way. I was
ringing ten pins, pocket 7-10's, just about everything, and of course,
the bad shots were splits, almost every time. He had a great ball
reaction, and just stayed left of me the entire match. He had some
trip 2 pins that followed my ringing ten pins, so it was not fun to
watch. He beat me 4-0, sending all of my hopes down the drain. It
was an emotional match, but to be honest with you, I was there to
win the tournament, and anything that would come from that victory
would be gravy. So, as it stands, my performance the last 5 weeks
moved me up in the standings, only to finish first out of the exemption.
But, as the saying goes, there's always tomorrow. Next week is the
tournament of champions, so there's one more week of drama left. Stay
tuned, if I make TV, it will be drama. Thanks for following my progress
for the year, and we'll see what happens next week.
BV
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