LAS VEGAS - Before competition started Saturday at the 2017 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, only three perfect games had been rolled through 91 days of competition at the South Point Bowling Plaza.

By the time the 92nd day of bowling concluded, the total was up to six, with Marc Massie of Alexandria, Kentucky, and Sheldon Cole of Durham, North Carolina, adding their names to the list during the final squad of the day. Chris Bardol of Brockport, New York, fired the first 300 of the day during doubles Saturday afternoon.

Massie said he'd been struggling during his trip to Las Vegas for his 20th USBC Open Championships appearance, but things finally fell into place late in his doubles set. What followed was 17 strikes on his first 18 shots of singles, including the second perfect game of his tournament career.

The 47-year-old right-hander became the 29th bowler in 114 years of Open Championships competition with multiple 300s on the championship lanes. His first came during his team event at the 2014 tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.

"I'm a history buff, so I've recently been studying the history of this event, and considering how much talent has come through over all those years, to do something like this even once is an honor, and to do it twice is unbelievable," said Massie, a three-time Professional Bowlers Association regional champion. "The third game of doubles, I started to see how well we set up the lanes, and I really felt like I could do something special if I stayed focused."

Massie is experienced enough to be able to maintain his composure despite the excitement of the 300, especially since he had his sights on the bigger picture, the 802 at the top of the Regular Singles standings. The top spot is shared by Matt Gasn of Clarksville, Tennessee, and Steve DeKerf Jr. of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin.

The momentum for Massie continued in his second game of singles as he started with a spare and five consecutive strikes on the way to a 247 game. He knew a big set was possible, but the transition of the oil pattern late in the final game slowed the pace.

"I really just tried to stay in the same rhythm and stay focused, knowing I still had a lot of work to do," said Massie, who finished tied for fifth in Regular Doubles with Patrick Dombrowski in 2013. "I was in a good position going into Game 3, but we started to see some tricky transition late in the game. I corrected it in time to double in the 10th, but that was a little too late."

Massie finished with a 222 game and 769 series, the best set of his tournament career by 10 pins, and he settled into a tie for eighth place in Regular Singles. He added 657 in doubles and 569 in team for a career-best 1,995 all-events total, which is just outside the top 30 this year. Jacob Boresch of Kenosha, Wisconsin, leads Regular All-Events with 2,122.

"That 802 is a big score, and while I'm disappointed I didn't get there, I know I did the best I could," Massie said. "To be a small piece of the big history of this event means a lot. Winning obviously is the goal each year, but earning a special place in the record book is really great."

Massie's performance also helped Fehr Calhoun Bowlers Corral into seventh place in Team All-Events with a 9,615 total. Massie was joined by Louis Franzetti (1,950), Eddie Graham Jr. (1,932), Eric Abner (1,884) and Dombrowski (1,854). Team NABR of Fairport, New York, leads with 9,957.

Cole made his first appearance at the Open Championships since 2013, and he celebrated his return to the biggest stage in bowling with a perfect game and the highest series of his 15-year tournament career.

The 58-year-old right-hander is one of a few hundred bowlers pulling double duty this week by competing in the Open Championships and The National Bowling Association (TNBA) Annual Tournament, being held at a pair of local bowling centers.

A special Open Championships Affinity Partner Program helped cross-promote the events, since they're being held in the city, and Cole was excited to be able to bowl in both tournaments, rather than choose one over the other, like he has had to in recent years.

The program also includes the American Wheelchair Bowling Association and Japanese American National Bowling Association (JANBA), both of which will be well-represented during the 149-day run of the 2017 Open Championships.

"It really made it worthwhile to come out from North Carolina this year, and I love being able to bowl in more than one tournament," Cole said. "We'll have at least 18 games in when we're done, and we might even bowl in The Forty Frame Game as well."

Though Cole didn't throw more than a double during his first seven games this weekend at the South Point Bowling Plaza, he was able to figure out why, and the persistence paid off with the sixth perfect game of this year's tournament.

"I was pretty frustrated during the first game of singles, and I lost a lot of frames because I was not able to slow down and let the ball roll," said Cole, whose previous high set at the Open Championships was a 623 in doubles at the 2003 tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee. "Once I was able to focus on those things, I knew I'd be able to get the ball to the pocket more consistently. Then, it was just about not letting the moment get to big and throwing a bad shot."

Cole sandwiched his 300 between games of 189 and 190 for a 679 set. He added 505 in team and 498 in doubles for a 1,682 all-events total.

Now that Cole has had a taste of success at the Open Championships, combined with the 2018 tournament in Syracuse, New York, being drivable from North Carolina, it sounds like he'll be in the squad room next year to be introduced as a celebrity for the first time.

"The pinnacle of this sport is to shoot 300, and to do it here is unbelievable," said Cole, who bowls regularly at Durham's Village Lanes. "I actually might not be able to sleep tonight. And, to have my wife and son here, along with many of the friends I bowl with back home, makes this extra special."

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