Day 2 from Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick NJ
By. Michael Valanzano
Upon arriving at Carolier Lanes tonight, I had to walk thru the bitter cold New Jersey air, but once entering the doors of the center, the chill had left and bowling was hot!!! 468 of the world’s greatest professional and amateur bowlers made the trip to North Brunswick this week to compete for the 2nd major championship of the year. Watching the “A” squad tonight bowl, they had some work to do as the scores from the earlier squads were very, VERY high. Tom Daugherty completely owned the lanes today on the “burn” block. He went +263 on the burn, with a 299 game tucked in there. That block got him to 4th place overall. Tonight however, the scores were high, but not as high as they were earlier in the day. I got to watch the tail end of the block. I got to watch Todd Book, Mika, Bill O’Neill, Diandra Asbaty, and Ryan Shafer. Not a bad couple of pairs of bowlers if you ask me. To give you an idea of the lane pattern, this is how they played. Book was in deep at the 5th arrow throwing a dull Defiant Soul. Mika was playing around 8board with a Vow, O’Neill was kind of around 15 with a shinny Arson Low Flare, Diandra was in at the 4th arrow with an IQ Tour, and Shafer was throwing the gold ball(IQ Tour Pearl) from around the 4th arrow. Multiple angles to the pocket, all of the bowlers trying to get to a breakpoint at around 8 board. For a major championship, I personally think this lane pattern is a little on the “soft” side. I Know this is not the US Open, but this is the Masters, and honestly, the cut for 63rd to end day 2 requires you to have a 215 average. Personally, I think the cut will be going up tomorrow, and the number for cashing I think will be around +150 and the cut for match play will be around +170. That is WAY too high.
Ending day 2, the reigning player of the year Sean Rash is leading at +381, but right behind him is the 2 handed master Osku. And oh yea, in 3rd is some guy named Pete Weber. That Weber guy has 9 total majors, but this is the only one that he has not won. So I am sure that he is going to make this one count. In the history of the PBA Tour coming to Carolier Lanes, nobody has won more in the Garden State than Pete Weber. Does PDW have one more NJ trick in him? You all know I am very biased towards Weber, this bloggers money is on Weber. And don’t count out reigning PBA World Champion and local hero Parker Bohn III. PB3 is sitting in 22nd place at +255 and is looking ahead towards match play on Friday. The former Masters champion I would say is the dark horse this week. Nobody works harder than Parker, so a Weber vs Bohn title match on Sunday could be a possibility.
Let’s also not forget the local guys bowling this week that are bowling great. In the top 63 are local guys Walter McKnight, Tommy Dakouvanos, Jeff Kubasak, and Dan Dunleavy. Currently all 4 of these men are in the top 63, I know all of them personally and wish them all the best for the last round of qualifying. It is always great to see the local guys make a run when the tour comes to town. So with this final paragraph, do you think that a typical guy who works the 9-5, 40 hour work week can compete against the best in the world? Stay tuned, I am following a local bowler for this week and how he prepared for the Masters. That piece will be done at the end of the tournament.
See you all tomorrow. From Caroleir Lanes, good night bowlers!!
Mike Valanzano, 29 from NJ. Bowled for Morehead State University and has competed and had success at all levels of this game, he is the holder of 21 300 games, 10 800 series, with a high of 856 (with an open frame). Mike is married to his wonderful wife Lynda and have a baby girl, Daniella. Some of Mike’s interests, he’s a HUGE New York Mets fan, he loves poker, traveling, and fine dining. He is also a big advocate of zumba classes. Mike has one of the largest video collections of old bowling shows anywhere. He has every amateur bowling show ever aired and has a wide collection of numerous PBA, Sr PBA, LPBT shows from the 1950’s thru today.
