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.
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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