Duke Bowls Like Duke, and Bohn Like Bohn

You knew it was going to happen. You knew it had to. You knew that the great Norm Duke wasn't going to fly all the way to France to compete in the Brunswick Euro Challenge, bowl only one squad, and end up somewhere in the lower 48 of the top 64 after qualifying where he'd have to jostle with the other 47 to earn his way into the second tier of 16 for single elimination match play. You knew that, as surely as the sun will rise in the morning for at least a few billion more years, Norm Duke would bowl again and raise himself into the top 16 where he'd be able to sit it out until match play begins.

And Duke, being Norm Duke, didn't just sneak onto one of the precarious lower rungs of the top 16 ladder; he catapulted himself into the bedrock security of fifth place yesterday with games of 234-279-259-300-236-207 for 1515 and a 252.50 average. And with his 300 game and optional entry into the "300 Game Pot-Play" bracket, he will compete with everyone else who paid their optional entry and bowled 300 in a special shoot-out after the finals for at least 2,500 Euro. So far, this field consists of Kimmo Lehtonen of Finland and "The King of Swing" and defending Brunswick Euro Challenge champion Mike Fagan.

What's more, PBA hall-of-famer Parker Bohn rose to 10th place on the leaderboard yesterday with a nice series of 1477 and also shot 300, but he didn't pay the 50 Euro required to make himself eligible for the 300 game shootout. I'll bet he's kicking himself over that unfortunate decision.

By the way, fellow hall-of-famer and last year's runner-up to Mike Fagan, Brian Voss, moved into 42nd place. I'm happy to see him hang in there.

Stay tuned for further developments.