Wasn't a big tournament - 53 entries. Handicap tournament. I'm still using my 07-08
book (woo) so I had a little bit of handicap (15 pins per game) to work with. Anyway, qualified with a 701 (cut was 689). Then cut down to final 8. The top winner from each of 2 squads had byes for the cut round, so only the top 6 out of 11 moved on from the cut round.
I made it past that and on to the bracket finals where I knocked off the first guy. He jumped out to a nice lead, but I kept clean and was able to turn it on by finishing with a 6-bagger for a 233. He needed to strike the first ball in the 10th to win but didn't do it and threw a split instead. Yay me!
Then in the semi-final, my opponent fell apart. I shot 237 and he shot 130. I think the guy was just worn out. He was one of the squad winners, too. And oddly enough his wife was the other squad winner and she was my opponent in the finals.
She had 58 pins to my 15, so I needed a victory by a wide margin. She started out clean for the first several frames, and I opened the 2nd by missing a 9 pin. Kept it clean including strikes in the 6th, 7th, and 8th. Then the fateful 9th frame. I had thrown one split all day (and only missed 3 other spares, including the 9 pin) but I pulled it a bit and didn't have enough speed to keep it from turning up through the nose for the big four. UGH!
Went on to strike out the 10th for a 210, but my opponent was doing well and wound up with a 181 which was well within what she needed to beat me with her handicap. Alas, I still came home with almost $300.
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