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BOWL.com | Momentum carries bowlers to top of leaderboard in two events at 2022 USBC Open Championships

BOWL.com | Momentum carries bowlers to top of leaderboard in two events at 2022 USBC Open Championships

LAS VEGAS – Three bowlers who bowled well during team competition Sunday at the 2022 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships were able to carry that momentum into doubles and singles and find additional success Monday on the tournament’s second oil pattern.

Daniel Kimmer of St. Michael, Minnesota, and Eric Nelson of Minot, North Dakota, were the first to find the spotlight as they snuck into the lead in Regular Doubles.

Three games later, Robby Callan of Vacaville, California, cruised into the top spot in the Regular All-Events standings with a 2,139 total, finishing what he started Sunday when he rolled the first 800 series of this year’s event at the South Point Bowling Plaza.

Kimmer and Nelson combined for a 1,399 total, which looked like it was going to be about 50 pins higher, heading into their final frame.

Nelson, a 38-year-old right-hander making his seventh USBC Open Championships appearance, was working on nine consecutive strikes and a bid for the first perfect game of the tournament.

He left a 4 pin on his first shot, converted it and struck on his fill ball for a 279 game. His first two games were 191 and 216, and he finished with a 686 series.

Kimmer, a 26-year-old right-hander competing for the fourth time, had the hot hand over the first two games and entered the final frame on a string of five strikes, with a max score of 256.

His first shot was wide to the right, and he left a 2-4-8-10 split, which he was unable to pick up. He finished with 220 and a 713 series. He started the set with games of 214 and 279.

Timothy Behrendt and Shea Bittenbender of St. Charles, Missouri, previously held the lead with 1,391, but Kimmer and Nelson admitted they both thought someone already had broken through for 1,400.

When they found out they were the new leaders, there was some surprise and a lot of excitement.

“This is a crazy feeling, and I really don’t think it has settled in yet,” Kimmer said. “It may not feel real until we see the standings. I think we threw the ball really well, and the lanes played to our advantage, for sure.”

For Nelson, the excitement of being the leaders superseded any feeling about the run at 300.

“It was a good ball, but it started to read a little early, and I knew it wasn’t going to sit there,” said Nelson, who bowls at Minot’s North Hill Bowl. “The best I could hope for was to trip something, but it is what it is. Overall, I was able to turn a slow start into something, and we put up a good number.”

Kimmer was in a similar position during Sunday’s team event. He started the second game of the day with 10 consecutive strikes, before a seven-count ended his run.

Despite coming up short, Kimmer was happy with the 684 series that kicked off his 2022 tournament campaign, and that helped his confidence for doubles and singles. He closed with a 569 series in singles for a career-best 1,966 all-events total.

“I was throwing it well yesterday and had the front 10, but I didn’t get it done,” said Kimmer, whose home bowling center is McPete’s Sports Bar & Lanes in Big Lake, Minnesota. “I thought about it all night and came to the lanes today just wanting to make shots. I’m satisfied with all nine games and progressing from past appearances.”

The final game of Nelson’s team event started with seven consecutive strikes on the way to a 262 game and 647 series. He added 554 in singles for a 1,887 total. His best all-events effort came in his 2011 debut (1,936).

The new leaders came to Las Vegas as part of a four-team group that includes bowlers from Minnesota and North Dakota. They met for the first time at the South Point Bowling Plaza in 2021, and they didn’t see each other or speak again until they returned to Las Vegas this week.

Robby Callan action at 2022 Open ChampionshipsCallan on the other hand, shared the lanes this week with friends he has been bowling with for decades. The mood was light, the communication was good and the strikes added up over their two days.

On Sunday night, Callan’s 808 series helped BowlTec of Rancho Cordova, California, into second place in Regular Team with a 3,291 total.

The group returned to the lanes motivated for a run at the lead in doubles, singles, all-events and Team All-Events and armed with the confidence they found while competing in the 2022 Bowlers Journal Championships, which features the same oil pattern as doubles/singles competition at the Open Championships.

Callan, a 48-year-old right-hander, started the day with games of 202, 217 and 231 for a 650 series in doubles, a score he said he felt definitely was earned, based on how the lanes transitioned.

Singles included games of 217, 247 and 217 for a 681 total and career-best all-events performance.

“This is a first for me to be leading in all-events, and it feels really good,” Callan said. “It took a while for the pair to break down, and it was pretty flat most of the time. I was fortunate that I didn’t miss any makeable spares, and I was able to break up some splits along the way.”

David Carroll of Wyoming, Michigan, previously held the lead with 2,080.

On paper, Callan’s total was his highest in 22 trips to the Open Championships, and he felt it was the best performance-wise, too. It was the result of months of hard work and adjustments in his game with help from a friend with a keen eye. Then, it was just a matter of making good decisions, staying patient and making spares.

“It was a solid nine games and definitely my best by far,” said Callan, whose previous high all-events total was 2,115, rolled in 2009. “Most of the year, I bowl three games a week in league, but I have been bowling three or four days a week for the last two months trying to get a rhythm and get some games in on different patterns.”

Outside of the individual push from Callan, there wasn’t any additional noise from BowlTec on Monday. The team settled into fifth place in Team All-Events with a 9,317 total. Supreme Deck of Grand Haven, Michigan, leads with 9,917.

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BOWL.com | Michigan bowler and team leading three events at 2022 USBC Open Championships

BOWL.com | Michigan bowler and team leading three events at 2022 USBC Open Championships

LAS VEGAS – David Carroll of Wyoming, Michigan, is confident in his bowling ability, and he was hoping to find a team that would fit both his game and his goals for his career at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships.

When he was invited to join a large group for the 2022 event, he thought for sure he’d need to spend at least the first year proving himself and getting to know everyone, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Instead, his reputation and past success earned him the chance to compete with the group’s top team, and he didn’t disappoint.

The 33-year-old right-hander left the South Point Bowling Plaza on Sunday as the leader in Regular All-Events, while helping Supreme Deck of Grand Haven, Michigan, into the lead in Team All-Events with a 9,917 total, 360 pins better than the previous leader. Supreme Deck moved into the top spot in Regular Team on Saturday.

Though he started the weekend with a pair of open frames and a 168 game, Carroll was able to regroup and strike when it mattered most. He closed the team event with 11 consecutive strikes, and his 686 series helped the team to a 3,372 total.

Heading into doubles and singles Sunday, he felt confident based on the look he had earlier in the week at the Bowlers Journal Championships, which features the same oil pattern.

His intuitions were right, and he added sets of 637 in doubles and 757 in singles for a 2,080 total.

Carroll actually stepped up in his final frame with a chance at the singles lead, too, with a max score of 792, but he left the 2-4-5 combination on his first shot. He failed to convert the spare.

Entering the day, Justin Studer of Rupert, Idaho, and Aaron O’Brien of Dupo, Illinois, shared the top spot in Regular All-Events with 2,057, while Ryan Schlotfeld of Lincoln, Nebraska continues to lead Regular Singles with 772.

“Going into it, I was just going to throw a few shots, and if I had the same look I had at the Bowlers Journal, I’d know where to be and have an idea of what moves to make,” Carroll said. “Of course, we expected there to be some differences based on who was on the pair and how we broke it down, but we had a plan for when to chase it left. Then it was just about making quality shots, just like yesterday.”

As expected on a stage the size of the USBC Open Championships, there are nerves and feelings that come as the strikes add up on the scoreboard.

When Carroll started his final game with six consecutive strikes, he knew he still had a shot at 300, 800 and the lead in both individual events, all while focusing on getting as many pins as possible for the Team All-Events tally.

Being able to handle those situations is something he has worked on.

“I’ve learned some breathing exercises to help keep my heart rate down,” Carroll said. “A good shot that kicks the 10 out or all the high-fives can get your heart going, so I have a process for that. Then, it’s about focusing on the next frame. You can’t think about what already happened, good or bad.”

Throughout his fourth Open Championships campaign this weekend, Carroll was conscious of both his pre- and post-shot routines.

When he needed to be picked up or calmed down, or just had a question about what was happing on the lanes, he was able to rely on his new teammates. Communication and teamwork were priorities during every frame of all nine games at the Bowling Plaza.

“Charlie (Brown II) is one of the best doubles partners you could ask for, and we worked together the whole time, even in singles,” Carroll said. “We could’ve done our own thing in singles, but things were going well, and we were going for Team All-Events, too. We didn’t know exactly what the numbers were, and we didn’t have any specific goal in mind. We just wanted to put up the best numbers we could.”

Brown also was a front-runner in the all-events race and held a 26-pin advantage over Carroll heading into the final game. Brown rolled a clean 206 in the finale, but he was unable to keep up with Carroll’s eight-strike 244.

Brown contributed a 2,068 total, which is second overall, to the Team All-Events number and was followed by Robert Schepis (2,021), Jason Porter (1,894) and Michael Maynard (1,854). Schepis started singles with a 299 game, the highest game of this year’s event, on the way to a 672 set.Supreme Deck on Day 2 of 2022 Open Championships

Team All-Events combines the all-events totals of all five team members and awards the winning team Eagle trophies and the coveted Earl Anthony Trophy, based on their 45-game (nine games for each bowler) pinfall totals. Strike It Rich Pro Shop 1 previously held the lead with 9,557.

Supreme Deck’s success continues an amazing run for Michigan at the Open Championships in recent years that includes the Regular Team and Regular All-Events titles in 2018, Regular All-Events in 2019 and Regular Singles in 2021.

Individually, Carroll has seen improvement year over year, starting his career with all-events totals of 1,893, 1,902 and 2,009, and he believes his new teammates will help him continue to elevate his game.

“I bowled well in past years, but this weekend was special, and I owe a lot of it to my teammates,” said Carroll, who bowls at Fairlanes in Grandville, Michigan. “I’m such an emotional player, and I like to really get into it. They help me keep my nerves down. It feels good to know I have their support and that I can compete at this level.”

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