Buffalo Regional 2023 Recap

bowlingball.com Staff Writer, Cortez Schenck

Published: 3/21/2023


I bowled an East Region PBA regional this past weekend in Buffalo, New York. We bowled on forty-foot Don Johnson this weekend, which typically plays very difficult. Having bowled on this pattern in the past, I typically notice that the scoring pace is low, and usually, the bowlers that can grind the best finish well. Unfortunately, I had a terrible start in game one; I shot 142.

This has been the lowest game I have shot all year, and it came at a bad time since the pattern was playing much high scoring than it typically does. There were a lot of people around me that shot 220 or higher. I made a big ball change, and moved deep in the lane. I shot 227 and 246 the next two games. However, even with these scores, I still put myself in too much of a hole early on to make a big move to the cut. I know I needed a strong back five games to have a chance at making the cut or cashing. I hit some tough pairs while the scoring pace slowed down and found myself about 20-30 pins out of the cash line with two games left.

I know I needed two solid games to try and salvage the tournament to cash and make money. I made an aggressive move in game seven by switching to an IQ Tour Solid. Previously I was throwing a Phaze II, so I felt this would be a great ball to go to next as the lanes kept hooking. This move didn't work out, and I only shot a 187 in game seven. We had one game left in the tournament, and I knew I needed a 240 game or higher to cash. I decided to make another ball change. This time into a much cleaner bowling ball; I went to the Exotic gem. I started with the first four strikes, then I left a split, threw a double, left a ten pin, and threw one more strike in the 9th frame.

We only had the tenth frame left, and I knew I needed a double to have any chance to make the cash line. I went up threw a double and got seven in the tenth to finish at +66 for the 8 games. Luckily, this was barely enough to cash by 4 pins. I wanted to share this experience because I easily could have thrown in the towel after the first game and given up. However, I chose to keep working and fighting to try and get to cash in the event. It can be easy to give up when things are difficult or going poorly, but with some small adjustments and a good mental game to stay strong, you can still finish high/profitable in the event/tournament you are competing in.



-Cortez Schenck