Attending the 2017 PWBA Storm Sacramento Open

As I wrote in my previous post, I used to enjoy watching male professional bowlers more than I did female ones because they receive more publicity and their games are generally more powerful. But then the renascent PWBA and New Hui Fen and her Singapore teammates (or, as I like to call them, the "Singapore Slingers") came to my home house of Fireside Lanes near Sacramento, CA last May, and I became as big a fan of the female pros and a bigger fan of Hui Fen than I am of the male pros. 

As I explained previously, the average bowler, and especially old guys like me, can never come close to throwing it like Belmo, Osku, or E.J., but we might be able to at least crudely approximate the masterful techniques and results of a New Hui Fen, Danielle McEwan, Kelly Kulick, or Liz Johnson and be fairly effective in our leagues or local tournaments. I believe that emulating Hui Fen's relaxed fluidity, effortless release, and outward equanimity as best I can has helped my game immensely over the past year. And so I think most of us have as much if not more reason to follow the women's game than we do the men's.

So, I was delighted to learn months ago that the PWBA was returning to Sacramento this May for the third consecutive year. But I was extremely disappointed that Hui Fen and her team weren't on the roster and that she didn't know, even a few weeks out, whether they were coming or not.

I finally resigned myself to their not coming but still looked forward to the Storm Sacramento Open on May 5-6. And then one day out of the blue, Hui Fen messaged me that she and some of her teammates would be competing in Sacramento after all, and I was like a little kid anticipating the imminent arrival of Christmas Day.

That anticipation swelled to near manic excitement the day before the tournament began when I drove the ten or so miles from my house to Steve Cook's Fireside Lanes that Sacramento summer-like evening to watch the ladies warm up for an hour-and-a-half. When I began walking from my car to the building, there was the legendary Kelly Kulick walking right in front of me, and I shyly said, "Hi, Kelly" to one of my lifetime bowling idols.

When I got inside, there were a goodly number of the best female bowlers on Earth waiting for their practice session to commence, and, as corny as it may sound to the uninitiated, I don't know that I could have been happier anyplace else on Earth.

But it became immediately apparent that I wouldn't be seeing stratospheric scores over the next couple of days. Though, for reasons I still don't fully understand, the PWBA wouldn't be releasing the oil pattern specs until weeks later, it was obvious that the oil pattern went very long and would require well-executed shots with the right equipment from a tight, inside line to hit the pocket and carry with any consistency, and that superb spare-shooting would be imperative. In other words, it was going to be a challenging grind-fest to the Casher's Round, match play, and the stepladder final.

And that's what it was. I think 279 may have been the highest score of the tournament, a 194 average was enough to place in the top 32 for the Casher's Round, and a 207 average was enough to make the top 12 for match play.

What I saw again and again was players executing a great shot for a strike and then missing by just a tiny bit to the right or left or throwing the ball with just a little more or less speed or with a slightly different release in the next frame and missing the pocket entirely to leave a nasty washout or split respectively. And if right-handers threw the ball outside ten board, the ball would skid as though on ice and they'd be lucky to get a three count, and lefties were playing deep inside. It certainly wasn't the Fireside house shot that enabled an old and mediocre bowler like me to average 218 for 136 games this season in my senior league throwing old urethane equipment.

A case in point was the struggles of my favorite bowler New Hui Fen. Last year she was the only right-hander to make the televised stepladder final of the Sacramento Open. And, for almost two games of the stepladder final conducted on last year's oil pattern but held in Las Vegas weeks later, she made the pattern look, in the words of commentator Kelly Kulick, "like league" with powerful strike after strike after strike. But she wrestled incessantly with the lanes this time around. She'd throw one or two great shots and then miss a little right or left or with some other aspect of her delivery and leave washouts, splits, or multiple pin spare combinations that sucked the pins from her score. She seemed to have almost no margin for error, and many of her high-rev shots went high, since she was especially afraid to miss right in the long oil. I had the impression that by late in the Casher's Round Saturday morning, she was mentally exhausted even though, at least on paper, she remained in contention for the top 12 and match play until she was a few frames into her final game.

But it also became apparent that some of the players were likely to do comparatively well with their games and the way they were playing the lanes. Liz Johnson, Rocio Restrepo, and Diana Zavjalova, among others, distinguished themselves relatively early on with their consistently good shotmaking and scoring. 

Rocio qualified first last week in the Sonoma County Open on a very challenging flat pattern, and if someone were to ask me who I thought will win PWBA Player of the Year this season, I'd pick Rocio without hesitation. First of all, the Singapore bowlers will only be bowling three tournaments here this season because their main focus is on team competition overseas that takes place during the same time as most of the PWBA season, while Rocio will probably bowl every tournament if she's physically able. Second, there seems to be no lane condition out there right now that Rocio can't hit and carry on as well as anybody. And finally, Rocio may be small in physical stature, but she's a tiger on the lanes. She seems to put everything she's got into every shot, and this appears to keep her enthusiasm high and her focus sharp through every game if not frame of the tournament. I don't see anybody else out there who appears to want to win as badly as Rocio does, and when you combine that attitude with her great physical and mental game, you have a potentially dominant combination. I'd pick Liz Johnson, the previous two seasons' Player of the Year, and the formidable Danielle McEwan as Rocio's main competition for PoY.

In my next blogpost, I'll have more to share about the Storm Sacramento Open and, especially, about some of my personal reflections on my experiences over those two wonderful days.

Bowling Video--Kelly Kulick Interview Before U.S. Women's Open

Bowling Video--Kelly Kulick Discusses "Survivor Reno"

Final Thoughts on 2012 U.S. Women's Open Fiasco, With Complete Video

                                                 (Photo from examiner.com)


Well, the telecast has aired, and now I can openly congratulate Kelly Kulick for winning her third U.S. Women's Open without spoiling the suspense for any of my readers. I can also offer some concluding comments about the whole messy business after having seen it, or at least most of it, with my own eyes.

I say "at least most of it," because one of my gripes, shared by many, is that ESPN2 cut out several frames of the competition in order to squeeze two hours worth of bowling action into 90 minutes. I seem to recall that last year's telecast was two hours and didn't edit out any frames, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

However, now that I've watched the telecast (and you can too below if you haven't seen it already or you want to see it again), what more is there to say that I haven't said already? Quite a lot, actually, but I'll try to keep it relatively brief.

First of all, I confess to being pleasantly surprised that things didn't turn out worse than they appeared to. I half expected to see a swirling dust storm all but blocking out our view of the action at times and sending papers and other debris flying past the bowlers and landing on the lanes and having to be removed between shots. And I more than half expected to see the ladies throwing balls that hooked off the lanes even though they were plastic, losing their footing on the dusty approaches, and looking really flustered at times. Instead, I saw consummate poise and professionalism from all the competitors as they as gracefully as humanly possible posted hapless shot after shot and made the best of a terrible situation and scored amazingly well under the circumstances. I have nothing but unbounded respect and admiration for how well Lynda, Shannon, Stefanie, Missy, and Kelly handled it all and how gracious the runners-up were afterward.

Second, I want to repeat what I've said before. I think Dave LaMont and Chris Barnes are the best announcing team in bowling today, and I'd love to see them doing ESPN's PBA telecasts together (Randy Pedersen could be there too) when Chris doesn't make the finals. They too made the best of a bad situation with that telecast.

Now, with due praise delivered, it's time to get to the criticism. I begin by asking, What were they thinking when they decided to hold the finals in a dusty wind tunnel? Don't tell me they had no way of knowing what the weather would be like when they planned things. Reno is a windy place all year round and any respectable meteorologist could have told them that if only they'd asked. Or perhaps they did ask but didn't care when they got the answer. Perhaps they were so busy falling all over themselves shouting, "They can bowl outside by the Reno Arch. How cool is THAT?!" that they didn't give the integrity of the bowlers and the competition a second thought.

I'm guessing they were thinking that bowling outside in that venue would inject a WOW factor that would put women's bowling on the map and draw more onlookers to the actual event as well as more viewers to the telecast. But is there any good reason or evidence to suggest that it would or did? How many extra viewers do they think the telecast actually drew because of where it took place, especially when the telecast was aired almost a week after the fact and everybody knew the outcome? Why do they keep showing these ballyhooed events a week or so late?. Yes, I've heard from someone who should know that showing these events live doesn't seem to affect the ratings any, but I'm not sure how they came to that definitive conclusion. I can't help but think that last year's finals in Cowboys Stadium with its one million dollar offer for a perfect game in the final match would have drawn more viewers had they been shown live.

I discussed this yesterday with someone very much in the bowling industry, and he said, as others have said, that they should have added the money they spent on constructing those outdoor lanes to the prize fund instead and held the finals in the ready-to-go National Bowling Stadium. That way, the finalists would have bowled on conditions at least similar to what they mastered to get them to the finals, they would still have been doing it in a great venue, and they could have used the special occasion to showcase the bowling stadium and talk about the extensive renovations planned for it that will make it an even more spectacular place for tournaments of every stripe in the years to come. Instead, they turned arguably the most prestigious women's bowling tournament on Earth into a freak show.

But, say some defenders of the format, they were all battling the same conditions, and, besides, the U.S. Open SHOULD be tough. Well, does this mean that we should move, say, the NHL Championship game to an outdoor parking lot filled with cracks and crevasses, outfit the players in antiquated field hockey gear and roller skates, and decide the championship THAT way? Or should we make the bowlers throw every shot between their legs to create that WOW factor and make it "tough" on them the way a U.S. Open should be?

Kelly Kulick averaged a blistering 240 + over qualifying and match play to achieve the top seed. Now maybe that was higher than the conditions of any U.S.Open worthy of the name should have allowed, but she should have been able to use the skills in the final match that brought her to it, and not have to resort to throwing plastic with no hand as straight as possible over 25 board and leaving 5-8-10's. The whole thing was a travesty.

As I said, and as you will see if you check out the videos below, the ladies were gracious afterward. And as I disclosed in a previous entry, some of them came to the defense of the BPAA, who sponsored and ran the tournament, because they were just grateful to get any chance to bowl for decent money anymore and were afraid that criticism could take even THAT away from them.

Well, what do you think? Do you think the BPAA will be scared away by all the criticism from sponsoring the event next year and nobody else will step up to the plate? Should we bowlers and bowling fans just keep our mouths shut, unless we have effusive praise for a bowling event and its sponsors, and just take it the way we get it and be happy that we get anything at all?

I think we can be pretty sure of one thing. If there is a U.S. Women's Open next year, and I pray that there is, the bowling ball manufacturers will probably make sure that they're held in a venue where the ladies can show off the latest, fanciest new balls on the market instead of ragged polyester equipment savaged by parking lot conditions. And hopefully the highest game of the stepladder finals will exceed 182.

You can watch the entire telecast in the first video below, followed by brief interviews with all the participants afterwards.

Bowling Quote--Kelly Kulick's Steely Determination

"I'm just going to try and put myself into a little cubby hole, bowl the pins and not worry about the outside factors. I'm going to try to adjust and adapt when I need to. Whether it's windy, calm, people are screaming or not, my goal is to find the pocket and knock down 10 pins at a time. It's going to be a great showcase. Whatever happens, it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I get to share in that." ~ Kelly Kulick

Five of Bowling's Best Will Brave the Elements Tonight in the Finals of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open

I got myself into some trouble yesterday during BowlTV's live streaming of the final match play round of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. I made some ill-advised remarks in the online chat window accompanying the bowling action in which I playfully questioned the intellectual capacities of those who planned and approved the holding of the televised finals outdoors in the fierce winds sure to be blustering under the Reno Arch this evening, and I got unceremoniously booted out of the chat and had my subscription to BowlTV revoked.

I concede that I could and should have expressed myself more tactfully. The powers-that-be behind this tournament are to be commended for seeking and finding a novel and exciting way to bring bowling to the public, and having Lynda Barnes, Stefanie Nation, Shannon O'Keefe, Missy Parkin, and, of course, Kelly Kulick compete in the stepladder finals of the most coveted and lucrative women's bowling tournament in the world under the semi-famous Reno Arch is nothing if not novel and exciting.

However, the point raised by my indelicate remarks is not entirely without merit. These outstanding female bowlers rose to the top of the 200 + elite player field by bowling superbly INDOORS at the National Bowling Stadium, and now you're going to put them OUTDOORS for the most important part of the tournament and force them to bowl not only against each other but against a wild wind and a whole host of other variables profoundly different from the ones they mastered to earn their way into the finals?

Well, obviously that IS what they're going to do, and I'm as eager as anyone to see what happens, even if, barring a trip to Reno to see it in in person this evening, we have to wait until next Tuesday to watch it on ESPN2 at 8PM Eastern. But is it the RIGHT thing to do? What do you think? Or do you want to wait until after you watch the tournament to weigh in?

You can read bowl.com's story on yesterday's match play and tonight's finals here, and you can view Matt Lawson's even better-than-always superlative rundown below.

Video--Who Do You Think You Are? Kelly Kulick Is!

It's the biggest non-surprise in bowling. But that doesn't make it any less impressive. Kelly Kulick is leading the 2012 U.S. Women's Open after the first three rounds of qualifying and will take that lead into the final six-game round of qualifying today.

Then, barring catastrophe, she'll move on to match play and, in all likelihood, be looking for redemption (and the $40,000 first prize) under the Reno Arch Wednesday evening for her loss to Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg in last year's final match in Cowboys Stadium.

And I, for one, wouldn't bet against her no matter whom she faces.

Kulick and Sandelin Lead After Qualifying Round 3 of 2012 U.S. Women's Open

After three days of qualifying, the field of 201 has been winnowed down to 50 in the regular division of the U.S. Women's Open, with Kelly Kulick regally occupying her customary spot in first place and a predictable Who's Who of female bowling talent populating most of the other positions, including defending champion Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg rising from 38th place the previous day to twelfth place yesterday. In the senior division, Lucy Sandelin continued her round-by-round dominance ending with a pinfall total that would have been good enough to land her in 28th place in the regular division, and the field of 60 has been cut to 15.

The remaining bowlers will roll six more games of qualifying before the regular field is narrowed to the top 16 and the senior field is cut to the top eight for 16 games of round-robin match play beginning this (Monday) evening. The top five in the regular division at the end of match play will meet under the famous Reno Arch Wednesday evening to battle it out stepladder fashion for the championship. It will be shown the following Tuesday on ESPN2 at 8 PM Eastern.

You can check the results of the first 18 games in both divisions and read the USBC's synopsis of the action here. Below, you can watch Sunday's qualifying round 3.

Elite Bowling Coverage Should be Better

Reno is now hosting the 2012 BPAA U.S. Women's Open at the National Bowling Stadium. Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg is defending her championship that she won last year in the novel venue of Cowboys Stadium by defeating Kelly Kulick in the final match. This year's televised finals, albeit shown on ESPN2 six days after the fact, will be held in the even more unusual venue of outdoors under the famous Reno Arch.

As you can see from reading entries such as this, I covered last year's Open with considerable enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, I blogged a lot here about the PBA, women's tournaments, junior tournaments, international adult and junior tournaments, and bowling in general for a couple of years.

But I finally began to lose my enthusiasm not for the sport so much as for the haphazard way the bowling industry itself seems to conduct and promote it. I figured if they didn't care enough to do a better job of promoting, covering, and fostering elite level bowling in this country and, as a result, people don't care that much about the sport to follow it, why should I bother to blog about it? Why even people who call themselves bowling fans seem to suffer from a serious enthusiasm problem, and very few appear to regularly watch bowling telecasts much less read blogs such as this one, so, again, why should I spend a lot of time writing blogposts when almost no one cares enough to read them?

As an example of my displeasure with the way the bowling industry is handling their sport, I posted the following comment just a few minutes ago to the USBC's Facebook wall in connection with their coverage of this year's Open. It echoes, to a considerable degree, this blogpost of mine from a while back. A PBA representative took private issue with that blogpost. He said the bowling industry is doing all it reasonably can to promote the PBA and bowling in general. What do you think?

Elite  women's and, for that matter, men's bowling is in a sad state in this country even as it seems to be growing in popularity in other parts of the world. I agree...that the PBA seems to be hanging on by its fingernails, and there's certainly no indication that any kind of women's professional tour will be coming back. And although many will disagree with me, I think part of the reason for this is that the bowling industry has not made as concerted an attempt as it might to publicize and popularize the sport but, rather, continues on with business as depressingly usual.

I'm not sure what it would take, but maybe if they hired the best PR and advertising minds to barrage the media with compelling commercials, human interest stories, and intelligent and entertaining treatments of bowling, rather than the occasional clownish parody, in television series and movies, more participants and viewers could be brought into the fold. As it is now, bowling and bowlers "don't get no respect," and they should, if people had any idea how challenging bowling really is at the elite level.

One thing I find so disheartening is that bowling seems to get so little respect even from bowling organizations and sponsors. For instance, the BPAA, God bless 'em, is sponsoring the U.S. Women's Open, yet they don't seem to be willing or able to get the finals aired live. We have to wait several days after the fact to see them, and, of course, by then only the most hardcore bowling fan will tune in because everyone else with any interest in the results but not enough to watch a seriously delayed broadcast AFTER learning the results will already know the results and won't bother. What's more, the USBC website's coverage of the tournament seems like a confusing maze. Their videos are great, and Lucas's herculean one-man coverage is to be roundly applauded, but where the hell are the results encompassing ALL the bowlers and not just the top 49? And why can't the BPAA and/or USBC, in the interests of fan interest, provide help to Lucas and the USBC website in tracking results as they occur instead of us having to wait hours to find out how the bowlers are scoring?

If even national bowling organizations and sponsors don't respect their sport enough to give it professional level coverage, how can they expect the public at large to respect it enough to follow it and participate in it? We need a real shakeup in the bowling industry in this country, or elite level bowling here seems all but doomed!

Should Jason Belmonte Have Won the ESPY for 2011 Bowler of the Year?

"Of all the award shows, the ESPYs have got to be the dumbest award show there is. First of all, award shows in general are sort of silly and ridiculous and we know they're just for creating publicity, but at least it makes some sort of sense within that framework to have an awards show for movies, or television, because there is no way with those to know which is the best. But when we're talking about sports -they actually play the game. We don't have to give an award to the best team. We know who the best team is - they've already won! That's the great thing about sports, there's a built-in objective mechanism by which we can ascertain who the winners are. But no, you have to win a second time in a tuxedo, and a spokesmodel has to hand you a trophy; that's what's important."

--Bill Maher

"I love John Walsh, and I have a fond feeling for ESPN. But I find the ESPY Awards objectionable. We already have awards. The World Series is an award. An MVP is an award. We don't need more awards. They make up this crap so they can fill time with it - the worst."

--Bill Wolff, former ESPN producer

I apologize for not posting for awhile, but now I'm back and have a lot of news and views to cover. Let me begin with this year's ESPY's. As you may or may not know, the ESPY awards are sports network ESPN's "Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly" awards that go to athletes in a wide variety of sports. The candidates in each sport or category are chosen by the ESPY Select Nominating Committee and then voted on through online fan balloting. The winners are honored on an ESPN television program.

You may be surprised that even though bowling seems to garner little respect in the sports world or among the public at large, there IS an ESPY award for "Best Bowler." I didn't agree with last year's choice of Walter Ray Williams Jr. over Kelly Kulick, but Walter Ray did have a good enough year that his selection wasn't the travesty this year's was.

This year, Jason Belmonte was selected "Bowler of the Year" and received his award on last night's ESPY broadcast. Now Jason has been known to read this blog on occasion, and I want to make it perfectly clear to him and to everyone else that I'm not slamming Belmo when I say that he didn't deserve to win the award. As I think I've made very clear on this blog, I stand in awe of Belmo's talent and skill and think he's one of the best bowlers on the planet and destined to get better and better still. However, I don't see any way in proverbial hell that he was this season's "best bowler."

If we look at the PBA Tour stats, at least three bowlers on tour had better seasons that Belmo did. Of course, there was PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi. But there were also Chris Barnes, who led the Tour in overall points, and Bill O'Neill, who surpassed Belmo in every statistical category. So, why did Belmo get the award?

I have to think it's because people voted without looking at the stats or caring what they revealed. I have to conclude that, at least so far as bowling is concerned, the ESPY award for "Best Bowler" was the result of a popularity contest or, perhaps, a coordinated voting campaign and not the result of an informed and reasoned pick of the highest performing bowler of the year.

I'm guessing that Jason knows this as well as anyone and is not as happy about his award as he'd like to be. I'm sure he'd like to know, in his heart of hearts, that he deserved it. But the one good thing about it is that it seems to show that the Bottlegate episodes have not significantly lessened his popularity with the bowling public. Nor should they.

Do you believe that Belmo deserved to win this year's ESPY award, and, if not, who do you think DID deserve it?

2011 U.S. Women's Open Finalists Reflect on Upcoming Finals

"I am so excited. I kind of struggled last night and struggled a little bit today physically, and so I kept looking up at the scoreboard and thinking 'How am I still in the running when I'm throwing it this bad?' So, I'm really excited to be in the show, to go bowl in the Cowboy Stadium in front of all my home crowd and just have a great time."

--Lynda Barnes

"I actually get a chance in helping to break those down and hopefully get to break them down the way that I want them. 'Advantage' is a way that YOU look at it. I'm looking at bowling the first match as an advantage."

--Shannon O'Keefe

"We've bowled at some big stadiums but nothing like this. So, it's going to be an absolutely exciting, exciting day. I'd love to make it to the final match and see what goes from there. You know it's going to be a great show regardless."

--Liz Johnson

"Very seldom have I won being in the top position. I don't look at that as a plus or as a negative. But, considering as well as I've bowled this week, I'm just going to take that as a positive, see how the lanes play...I'll have the practice pair to warm up and I'll have a few minutes before the show starts for me. So, if I get lined up quick enough, I'll be alright."

--Kelly Kulick

"It's an even playing field. There's no advantage to anyone, I think, going in there."

--Shannon O'Keefe

"This venue is new to all of us, so we're all on equal playing ground. I'm just going to try to go out there, see what the lanes are doing...hopefully they're going to be similar to what they were like all week long. If I have the same look over there like I did now, I'm going to be tough to beat."

--Kelly Kulick

"It would be icing on the cake. I've always bowled well in the U.S. Open, so it would be a dream come true."

--Leanne Hulsenberg

Video Preview of Stepladder Finals of 2011 U.S. Women's Open

Tonight's the night. Not that you'll be able to see it tonight, for some unfathomable reason (more about that in an upcoming blogpost). But tonight's the night that Lynda Barnes, Shannon O'Keefe, Liz Johnson, Leanne Hulsenberg, and Kelly Kulick will meet on the grandest bowling stage in human history for the championship finals of the tournament jewel of women's bowling. And below is a USBC video preview of the participants and the glory and riches to be had.

Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg Seeded Second to Kelly Kulick for 2011 U.S. Women's Open Stepladder Finals

"It's great to be a part of the biggest tournament ever. I actually have a second, third, fourth, and a fifth in the Open, and I've led the Open and lost. This would be totally huge."

--Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg

Okay, I'll admit it. When Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg's husband, Gary, told me a week ago that Leanne was bowling "very, very well" and that he liked her chances at the 2011 U.S. Women's Open this year, I had my doubts. I didn't have any doubts about Leanne's bowling ability, mind you. Her 26 national titles, two PWBA Player of the Year awards, Queens title, multiple U.S. Open stepladder finals appearances, and over 100 televised bowling appearances amply proved her ability to perform masterfully at the highest level of women's bowling.

But what had me feeling a little doubtful was the fact that after the PWBA folded in 2003, Leanne's competitive fire seemed to wane somewhat. Oh, she bowled the Steve Cook Classic league at my home house, still bowled local tournaments, still performed admirably at the USBC Women's Opens, and placed seventeenth in last year's USBC Queens, fourteenth in last year's U.S. Women's Open, and thirteenth in this year's USBC Queens, but I still had the feeling that the absence of a professional tour, recent motherhood, the demands of work, and the fact that she'd be up against most of the finest female bowlers in the world, many of whom were young and hungry and superbly trained members of national teams, including Team USA, would make it difficult for Leanne to crack the top 16 into match play much less have a realistic shot at making the televised finals of the biggest tournament in the history of women's bowling.

Well, my doubts were dashed to pin dust by Leanne's remarkable showings in qualifying and match play over these past few days. She finished seventh in qualifying, rose to third after a blistering block last night in the first round of match play, and, following today's 8 games of match play, she finds herself seeded second for tomorrow night's stepladder finals. That's right, Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg needs to win only two matches tomorrow night to accomplish about the only great thing she has yet to accomplish in her storied bowling career--a U.S. Women's Open title.

The USBC's Lucas Wiseman reported during the live streaming of today's match play that when he talked to Leanne briefly this morning after it became certain that she'd make the stepladder finals, she confessed that she'd be feeling very "nervous" when it came time for her to bowl under the television lights on specially constructed lanes in the middle of Cowboy's Stadium in Texas tomorrow night. But I'm guessing that her less experienced and less accomplished opponents will be feeling just as nervous if not more so, and that she has a very good chance to win the title.

For even if she wins her first match and faces top seeded Kelly Kulick--who in one mind-bending five game stretch of match play today strung together games of 279, 278, 269, 279, and 248--in the final match, anything can happen in one game, and anyone can win. Leanne can certainly beat any female bowler on the planet, as she did this morning when she defeated Kulick in the position round to close out match play. She can do it again tomorrow night, if she gets the chance.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to watch the action until ESPN2 airs it Saturday at 6 PM Eastern. But I know I won't be able to resist finding out what happens as soon as possible after it happens.

You can watch the position round of today's match play below.

Video streaming by Ustream

Kulick Shines, Hulsenberg Rises, and Pluhowsky Falters in U.S. Women's Open

The first 8 games of match play of the U.S. Women's Open were not kind to Shannon Pluhowsky last night. After residing in first or second place throughout most of the qualifying rounds, Pluhowsky went a disastrous 1-7 and averaged only 210 in match play to drop like a rock from solid second to shaky seventh place with only 8 games of match play remaining today.

However, while Pluhowsky stumbled, Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg was busy going 6-2, shooting 300 in her sixth game and 279 in her eighth, and amassing the highest match play total of the field with a 1909 scratch total for a 238 average to rise to third place.

Meanwhile, Kelly Kulick cruised along to a 6-2 record and 231 average for her eight games of match play to increase her imposing lead over the rest of the field.

The ladies will bowl eight games today to determine the field for the stepladder finals. Stay tuned for the results, click here for the details on yesterday's match play round, and check out the video below of yesterday's match play.

Video streaming by Ustream

Video streaming by Ustream

U.S. Women's Open Top 16 Qualifiers Head Into Match Play Tonight

At 8 PM Eastern, the top 16 qualifiers of the U.S. Women's Open will take to the lanes for 8 games of round-robin match play tonight, followed by 8 more games tomorrow to decide who makes the historic finals to be held in Cowboy's Stadium Thursday evening and telecast by ESPN2 this Saturday, June 2 at 6 PM Eastern.

After four rounds of qualifying (32 games), Kelly Kulick leads second place Shannon Pluhowsky by 153 pins, followed by Liz Johnson, Shannon O'Keefe, Jodi Woessner and Lynda Barnes (tie), Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg, Stefanie Nation, Lisanne Breeschoten, Rachel Perez, Tennelle Milligan, Diandra Asbaty, Helen Johnsson, Kristal Wilson, Kim Terrell Kearney, and Mai Jinge Jensen.

This year's USBC Queens winner, Missy Parkin, finished 20th, and Carolyn Dorin Ballard finished 30th. It's interesting to speculate on how these outstanding bowlers might have fared on tougher, tighter lane conditions than the score-a-thon lanes they faced this year, but it looks like Leanne Hulsenberg's husband Gary was right when he told me last Wednesday night that Leanne was primed and ready for the tournament. I would love to see Leanne and Kelly in the televised final match, and, as of right now, that's a real possibility.

Click here for a summary of the fourth and final round of qualifying and the top 32, and check below for video of today's fourth and final round of qualifying. Also don't forget that Bowl.com and ustream will be live streaming tonight's and tomorrow's match play rounds. That is where some of our USBC membership dues go each year, and this hardcore bowling fan thinks it's well worth it.

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Video streaming by Ustream

Kelly Kulick is Back in the Saddle Again

After Kelly Kulick's "annus mirabilis" or year of wonders in 2010 when she won the TOC, the Queens, the U.S. Women's Open, the Malaysian Open, and a PBA regional, expectations for her may have soared to impossible heights this season, only to see her unsuccessfully defend her TOC and Queens titles. However, she did dominate her Women's Team USA teammates on all four sport patterns at last month's Pan Am trials, just as she is dominating the qualifying rounds of the 2011 U.S. Women's Open.

In fact, she put on a spectacular performance yesterday by shooting games of 278, 247, 279, 258, 238, 268, 277, and 255 for a blistering 2100 series and 262.5 average for eight games.

Yes, I know the lanes aren't especially challenging for a U.S. Women's Open, but I don't care how "easy" they are, Kelly Kulick bowled great to do what she did, and she is the best female bowler on the planet. And she was already leading by an appreciable margin after 16 games, but her block yesterday rocketed her to a commanding lead over second place Shannon Pluhowski after the end of yesterday's third round and overall total of 24 games.

This morning, the top 32 qualifiers bowled 8 games to determine who made the cut to the top 16, and tonight those select bowlers will bowl 8 games of match play followed by 8 more games tomorrow to decide the top 5 for Thursday night's stepladder finals that will be televised on delay Saturday, July 2 at 6 PM Eastern on ESPN2.

Click here for a wrap up of yesterday's action, and look below for video of all three squads yesterday.

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Video streaming by Ustream

Video streaming by Ustream

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Video streaming by Ustream

Bowling Video of the Day--Kelly Kulick Anchors Her Team to Intercollegiate Championship

Some things never change.

2011 U.S. Women's Open Qualifying--Second Round

Left-hander Shannon Pluhowski led the U.S. Women's Open after the second round of qualifying, shooting 268, 204, 277, and 269 for her last four games Sunday to amass a 3872 pinfall total for 16 games. In second place was defending champion Kelly Kulick, followed by Liz Johnson, April Ellis, and Jacqui Reese. Sacramento area bowler Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg sat in 22nd place.

The bowlers will complete their final round of qualifying today, and the top 32 will advance to match play tomorrow. The scores have been very high, with Del Ballard predicting that it will take somewhere around +550 to make the cut.

Click here for a summary of the bowling and standings after the second round.

2011 U.S. Women's Open Qualifying--First Round

Bowling is underway in Texas for the U.S. Women's Open, and a bowler from the Netherlands is leading after the first round. Lisanne Breeschoten averaged almost 250 for her first 8 games. Shannon Pluhowsky sits in second, Shannon O'Keefe in third, Liz Johnson in fifth, defending champion Kelly Kulick in seventh after shooting 1014 for her last 4 games, Lynda Barnes in tenth, and Sacramento favorite Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg in sixteenth.

The record field of 286 bowlers is divided into three squads, and each squad will bowl 24 games of qualifying, with 8 games each on fresh oil, on intermediate breakdown, and on "the burn" before the field is cut to the top 32 on Tuesday and the top 16 on Wednesday. The finals will take place on Thursday night in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX and, for some inscrutable reason, be telecast by ESPN2 on Saturday at 6PM Eastern. The winner will receive a record $50,000. Furthermore, if anyone shoots 300 in the title match, she will receive $1 million. I can't imagine the pressure of going into the tenth frame with all strikes, but I hope somebody does it. Unfortunately, those of us who watch the telecast will almost certainly know not only who won the tournament but also whether she shot 300, which kind of takes away the tension.

You can click here for the story and standings of the first round, and you can view yesterday's first round of qualifying action below. Moreover, you can access live streaming of all the qualifying and match play rounds on bowl.com.

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Video streaming by Ustream

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Kelly Kulick Dominates Pan Am Trials (With Video)

Last year, Kelly Kulick could seemingly do no wrong. She enjoyed what was arguably the greatest season any bowler has ever had. I certainly can't think of a female bowler ever having a greater season than Kelly's last year when she won the PBA Tournament of Champions, the Women's U.S. Open, the USBC Queens, a PBA regional championship, the Malaysian Open, and placed high in other important national and international tournaments and led the women in virtually all statistical categories. It was a spectacular season by any reasonable person's standards.

This year has been more challenging. Kulick made it to match play but finished 49th in the TOC, made it to match play but got eliminated fairly early in the Queens, and has reported some trouble with her physical game. Yet, she still has the Women's U.S. Open ahead of her, and lest you think her best bowling is behind her, take a look at her recent performances in the 2011 Team USA Women's Pan American Trials at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas. Kulick asserted complete dominance over her fellow Women's Team USA members on all four international oil patterns put out for them.

Now that's versatility for you and proof positive that Kelly Kulick is still a bowling force to be roundly reckoned with.

You can read the USBC's press release about the Pan American Trials here and watch videos of all four eight game blocks below.

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Video streaming by Ustream