Foundation Games III

May 2001  PBA Midwest Regional  ( At Bowl-A-Vard )

1.  Steve Jaros, Bolingbrook, Illinois
2.  Pete Weber, St. Ann, Missouri
3.  Brad Snell, Mt. Prospect, Illinois

Steve Jaros Wins In Madison, Wisconsin

The PBA Midwest Region, and Bowl-A-Vard Lanes in Madison, Wi., hosted the 3 rd Foundation Games tournament on the weekend of May 4-6, 2001. Emerging victorious was PBA veteran, Steve Jaros. This was his 22nd Regional title and he earned $2200.00, along with an all-expense trip to the finals of the International Foundation Games Championships to be held at a later date.

The concept of The Foundation Games is to provide a tournament format AND lane conditions that will allow for predictable ball reaction and credible scoring, with the hopes that those players making the best shots will rise to the top. This particular event showed that The Foundation "concept" worked, as joining Jaros in the top-5 positions were; Pete Weber, Brad Snell and David Traber. Their combined resumes included 32 PBA National titles and 85 PBA Regional titles. Based on those statistics, this was the strongest "top-4's" in the history of the PBA Regional program - which has included over 3000 events.

The format featured the entire field of 76-participants, all bowling on the same squad. They bowled on 3-separate and distinctly different lane conditions which were very demanding. The 3-different patterns were short (32 feet), medium (38 feet), and long (44 feet). The volumes of oil increased with each distance which featured mandatory shot-making. The ratio of oil (2-1), was very similar to what the ABC has determined to be; Sport Level Bowling. Most "house conditions" are in the 5-1 "ratio" range.

Bowl-A-Vard lanes is a beautiful 40-lane center with synthetic lanes. When Regional Director John Weber first approached them about the idea, they welcomed it. General Manager, Bill Pounders, Jr., said, "We would love to host this event. I think that the Pro's should be challenged. It should be very interesting."  Owner Don Bussan and his entire staff did a great job and were all very cooperative. They even went as far as building a huge wooden stand for the awards presentation which consisted of Medals for the top-3 finalist. Jaros received Gold, Weber received Silver and Snell was presented with Bronze. The platform was finished off with material of those same colors making that presentation very classy.

The entire field started on Saturday morning, bowling 4-games on the short pattern. They took a break for about 2-hours while the crew cleaned and re-oiled for the next squad. Jon Binger, the lead tech from Kegel, headed the crew which consisted of Head Mechanic Mike Gannon, Jim O'reilly from Bob's Business, Rory Holland from Madison, along with Len Nicholson from The Foundation. That next squad bowled 4-more games on the medium pattern. The crew went back out and prepared the lanes once again for the final squad - that being the long pattern. The 3-patterns put a premium on versatility, which The Foundation feels is important in determining who the best bowlers really are.

At the completion of those 12-games of qualifying, the field was cut to the top-12 finalist. It took a score of plus 56 to qualify for the finals (a 204 average), and a score of minus 24 (a 198 average) for 24th place, which was low in the money. Jaros was the qualifying leader with plus 331, averaging just over 227 for those first 12-games. Snell was the leader after the first round with a score of plus 109, also a 227 avg. The top 12-finalist returned on Sunday for the match-play finals which consisted of 12-more games.

Day 2

The lane crew put out all 3-patterns that were used on Saturday during qualifying. The 12-finalist would now be bowling 12-games of "head-to-head" match-play competition. They would be bowling one-game against each of the other 11-finalist, with the final game being a position round match. That would allow each finalist one last opportunity to move up to the all-important step-ladder finals.

Match-play was very exciting as the players would move after each game to a different pair to bowl a different player. After a few games, it became evident that the cream was rising to the top. However, the battle for the 5th spot was up for grabs throughout the day. Newcomer to the Region, Rich Blake from Chicago, put on a gritty performance and nailed down that 5th spot for the "show".

Another twist to this Foundation Games format added strategy for the top-5. The highest qualifier would get to choose the pair of lanes (the lane condition) that he preferred to bowl his opponent on in the step-ladder finals. This choice would seemingly give him the advantage that he had earned by being the higher qualifier of the two players. Over the years on the Tour, the tournament leader has only won 40% of the time, as they all bowl on the same pair of lanes for the TV Show. The leader would have to bowl the player that had just won the previous match, and some feel that "that" just isn't fair.

Match number one featured Traber against Blake. Traber, being the higher qualifier, wanted the short pattern and chose lanes 3 and 4, where the more experienced veteran easily won the match, 211-164. In the next match, Weber who had been practicing while waiting-in-the-wings, also chose the short pattern. This came as a shock to most onlookers, but Weber told the crowd that he preferred lanes 5 and 6 because he had rolled a 250-game on that pair earlier in the day. Weber prevailed with a 246-191 win. In the semi-final game, the talented Snell had the choice of lanes and marched Weber to a different pair, that being the medium pattern. It was a close and exciting match all the way until the ninth-frame when Snell left a solid 10-pin, which is highly unusual for a lefty. Weber then threw a double in the 10th frame to lock-out Snell.

This set-up the much anticipated Championship game from the two most prolific champions in the Midwest Region. Jaros also chose the medium pattern, but on a different pair from the one that Weber had just won his previous match on. Jaros jumped out to the lead with a 4-bagger, but a pocket 7-10 split reduced his lead through 8-frames. Weber could have tied it up with a double, but a solid 10-pin thwarted his chances. Jaros then finished with 3-strikes and a 9-count for a 234-212 victory.

During the awards presentation, Jaros stated, "This was fun, I'd like to see them do this on the Tour."  He definitely committed to being at the International Foundation Games Championships. Weber also said that he would be there, saying, "This was great, all tournaments should be like this one."  Foundation Member Dave Traber was disappointed about finishing fourth and not receiving a Medal, stating, "I really wanted to be eligible for those Championships. I hope we do this again, so I will get another chance."  He then presented The Foundation with a generous donation and thanked us for what we do.

Here was only one complaint registered by one of the bowlers, who said, "This isn't fair. There should be only one condition, and if you don't bowl good on it, you should go home. Three-conditions gives too many players a chance."

Those types of complaints are the ones that lanemen like to hear.