Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open champ crowned
December 14, 2009
In a tournament characterized by an historic scoring pace and a leader board full of lefties, it is only fitting that a left-hander would both win the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the Untied States Bowling Congress and flirt with perfection along the way.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, shredded rack after rack to post the front nine strikes in his title match against Wayne Garber of Modesto, Calif., before a fired-up crowd, ultimately settling for a 278. A flat seven-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame stood between him and the $10,000 perfect-game bonus check that awaited. Garber, a 42-year-old regional player who earned an exemption on the national tour at the Regional Players Invitational in Reno last December, was held to a 229 due to carry problems.
The USBC developed the new Red, White and Blue program to fill the void between "house shot" lane conditions and those used in PBA Experience and other Sport-compliant leagues. The Red pattern is similar to what is already found on a typical house shot, while the White pattern is a bit tougher, with a smaller ratio of oil from inside to out. The Blue pattern - the condition featured in the tournament's final round - is slightly easier than Sport conditions, but more challenging than the White pattern.
If the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open proved anything, it is that players on the PBA Tour are the best bowlers in the world, and that they will score like the best bowlers in the world when given the chance to bowl on patterns more forgiving than those they typically face on Tour. In that context, it was almost a surprise that only one player found himself three strikes away from a 300 game in the final round of an event in which 31 perfect games were thrown, Mike Machuga of Ernie, Pa., attracted the attention of ESPN News with his 40-game average of 252, and Ritchie Allen of Columbia, S.C., posted an 877 series in match play.
"When you're averaging 250 and the people chasing you are averaging 245 or so, you don't have a comfort zone,” Machuga said of the tournament's torrid scoring pace. "Throw a couple 220s in a row and lose those matches, you'll give away 80 pins a game. Things can change very quickly.”
It was not a surprise, though, that Machuga's 244 was not enough to oust all-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., who shot 257 on his way to the afternoon's most exciting match, a 237 tie with Garber that concluded with a sudden-death rolloff. Both bowlers opened the rolloff with strikes before Williams opened the door with a 2-4-10 split, burying his face in a towel as he took his seat virtually assured of a loss. Garber, who almost never missed the pocket all afternoon, got a nine-count to move on.
"That was my worst shot in recent history,” Walter Ray Williams Jr. said of his second rolloff shot. "I don't know what happened. It was strange because I was the most relaxed I have ever been bowling on TV, partly because I had such a good shot at the pocket. I just threw it way to the right and I thought it might hook up a bit, and it did, but just not enough.”
Wayne Garber's bizarre approach earned as much attention as his success at the event. Drifting up to the line in a series of about 13 baby steps, Garber, who once broke both knees in a fall and was subsequently told by doctors that he would never bowl again, has been "diagnosed” by some with "Barry Asher Syndrome.” Asher, a Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer who won 10 titles in his career, is famous for suddenly losing his footwork on the approach and resorting to hypnosis and psychotherapy to recover his timing.
"At one point my feet stopped moving, I had to circumvent my mind,” Asher explained in an interview earlier this year. "My feet and brain got crossed. I went to hypnotists, psychologists. I had to invent ways to start my approach.”
Garber's style may not be the stuff of coaching textbooks, but it also nearly brought him the first national PBA title of his career at age 42. Blasting the pocket throughout his championship match against veteran Scroggins, Garber came within a few bad breaks of a 290 game, thwarted by a stone 8 pin in the 6th frame as well as several ten pins and a 4-pin late in the game that put Scroggins out of reach.
Scroggins had previously defeated a hapless Michael Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., 218-183 in the round of 4, and moved on to defeat Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., who secured the top seed with a 300 in the last game of matchplay, by a score of 227-215 in the semifinals. With the win, he joins the ranks of PBA Hall of Famers Ernie Schlegel, Mark Williams and Bob Strampe as a seven-time PBA titlist.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas, shredded rack after rack to post the front nine strikes in his title match against Wayne Garber of Modesto, Calif., before a fired-up crowd, ultimately settling for a 278. A flat seven-pin on his first shot in the 10th frame stood between him and the $10,000 perfect-game bonus check that awaited. Garber, a 42-year-old regional player who earned an exemption on the national tour at the Regional Players Invitational in Reno last December, was held to a 229 due to carry problems.
The USBC developed the new Red, White and Blue program to fill the void between "house shot" lane conditions and those used in PBA Experience and other Sport-compliant leagues. The Red pattern is similar to what is already found on a typical house shot, while the White pattern is a bit tougher, with a smaller ratio of oil from inside to out. The Blue pattern - the condition featured in the tournament's final round - is slightly easier than Sport conditions, but more challenging than the White pattern.
If the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open proved anything, it is that players on the PBA Tour are the best bowlers in the world, and that they will score like the best bowlers in the world when given the chance to bowl on patterns more forgiving than those they typically face on Tour. In that context, it was almost a surprise that only one player found himself three strikes away from a 300 game in the final round of an event in which 31 perfect games were thrown, Mike Machuga of Ernie, Pa., attracted the attention of ESPN News with his 40-game average of 252, and Ritchie Allen of Columbia, S.C., posted an 877 series in match play.
"When you're averaging 250 and the people chasing you are averaging 245 or so, you don't have a comfort zone,” Machuga said of the tournament's torrid scoring pace. "Throw a couple 220s in a row and lose those matches, you'll give away 80 pins a game. Things can change very quickly.”
It was not a surprise, though, that Machuga's 244 was not enough to oust all-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., who shot 257 on his way to the afternoon's most exciting match, a 237 tie with Garber that concluded with a sudden-death rolloff. Both bowlers opened the rolloff with strikes before Williams opened the door with a 2-4-10 split, burying his face in a towel as he took his seat virtually assured of a loss. Garber, who almost never missed the pocket all afternoon, got a nine-count to move on.
"That was my worst shot in recent history,” Walter Ray Williams Jr. said of his second rolloff shot. "I don't know what happened. It was strange because I was the most relaxed I have ever been bowling on TV, partly because I had such a good shot at the pocket. I just threw it way to the right and I thought it might hook up a bit, and it did, but just not enough.”
Wayne Garber's bizarre approach earned as much attention as his success at the event. Drifting up to the line in a series of about 13 baby steps, Garber, who once broke both knees in a fall and was subsequently told by doctors that he would never bowl again, has been "diagnosed” by some with "Barry Asher Syndrome.” Asher, a Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer who won 10 titles in his career, is famous for suddenly losing his footwork on the approach and resorting to hypnosis and psychotherapy to recover his timing.
"At one point my feet stopped moving, I had to circumvent my mind,” Asher explained in an interview earlier this year. "My feet and brain got crossed. I went to hypnotists, psychologists. I had to invent ways to start my approach.”
Garber's style may not be the stuff of coaching textbooks, but it also nearly brought him the first national PBA title of his career at age 42. Blasting the pocket throughout his championship match against veteran Scroggins, Garber came within a few bad breaks of a 290 game, thwarted by a stone 8 pin in the 6th frame as well as several ten pins and a 4-pin late in the game that put Scroggins out of reach.
Scroggins had previously defeated a hapless Michael Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., 218-183 in the round of 4, and moved on to defeat Patrick Allen of Wesley Chapel, Fla., who secured the top seed with a 300 in the last game of matchplay, by a score of 227-215 in the semifinals. With the win, he joins the ranks of PBA Hall of Famers Ernie Schlegel, Mark Williams and Bob Strampe as a seven-time PBA titlist.