Bowling Philosophy-U.S. Open

"The Final Four"
by Tommy Scherrer

After 5 days and 51 games, bowling's greatest championship has been dwindled down to 4 finalists on Sunday afternoon. What every professional bowlers lives for is a chance to survive the truest test of bowling: the United States Open. Let's quickly sum up today's final four and who could walk away with the $60,000 check and a coveted 3-year exemption.

Mike Scroggins-last year's champion and this year's top seed overall stand to personally gain the most from a victory today. He will continue his late blooming career with a possible 3rd major and start the Hall of Fame talks for the left handed Texan. Scroggins also stands to make some history as well today: with a win, he will join the ranks of multiple Open championship winners and be only the second player in the modern era to win back-to-back Open titles (Dave Husted in 1995-96). Scroggins could aslo benefit just to silence some critics of last year (myself included) that he had lucked out on beating Chris Barnes en route to beating Norm Duke to win the title. Say what you want about Scroggins, but he continues to show off his great skill for the game and with a win, he can silence any doubters.

Bill O'Neill- "The Real Deal" makes his second TV appearance in a major this season. He finished tied for 3rd in the 2009 World Championship and is the only player in the final four without a major title on the ledger. The game's best young player has flicked one monkey off his back this season by winning his first career title in the 2009 Chameleon Championship. He is the game's future, no question about it. A possible title win for O'Neill could give him a late charge for the 2009-10 Player of the Year and possibly start bowling's next generation: a symbolic passing of the torch from the Walter Ray-Weber-Duke-Bohn days to the Fagan-Rash-Belmonte-Page future days. Time will only tell if that comes true, but an O'Neill victory would certainly help the cause.

Tommy Jones-former U.S. Open champion, former Player of the Year, former future, still possible future, still good enough to win, still good enough to flat out dominate today's show. But that's the main question: will he? In a 4 year span, Jones claimed 12 PBA titles and two major championships and appeared he would only take his game to new heights. Last year was a quiet year: no wins, only one top overall seed. This year: he came out of the blocks making the Motor City Open final five, however no shows since then. This is not to say that Jones has had a bad year at all, sitting 12th in points and 8th in average. However, bowling is a game where you are defined by Sundays and we as viewers have short term memory. Jones has not been on TV as much as he was 3 or 4 years ago but he also stands to further his legacy with a win today. He too would have multiple Open titles and would have his 3rd career major title on his resume.

Jason Couch-if you are Walter Ray Williams, Jr. this morning...you are sick to your stomach. Absolutely sick to your stomach. You had to chance to accomplish just some unthinkable history just by making the telecast Saturday night. He had the position round match again Norm Duke won, over, done, handed on a pike. Williams needed two strikes and count to beat Duke, leapfrog a wounded Jason Belmonte to the 4th seed, and give yourself a death grip on a record 7th Player of the Year award. After Jones beat Belmonte, it was widely assumed that the Duke-Deadeye winner was going to make the TV show. Go to pba.com this morning and view the position round matches: Belmonte is limping around on a bad hamstring, Duke is leaving a 5-7-10, Walter Ray is leaving the 3-6-9-10, but then it appears Walter Ray is gunna sneak his way in with his clutch 10th frame double. Seven on the fill and he is in.

Note: give Duke tremendous credit: he had zero ball reaction in the last game, strikes out after his 5-7-10, washout episode to shoot 201. He forces a double out of Walter. Meanwhile Jason Couch doubles to beat Pete Weber to go past Belmonte and force Walter Ray to win his match or else be a spectator. A retro diary finish courtesy of Xtra Frame:

24:05-Williams strikes on the first ball, crowd is totally behind him.

24:59-BAM!!! Walter Ray flushes the second strike, crowd thinks it is over. Mike Jakubowski thinks its a done deal. Bowling Doctor said it was enough...then, "6 is a tie, 7 is a win..."

25:37-Three-six-nine-ten...Walter Ray shoots 201, which was a tie against Duke meaning they split the 30 bonus pins, and Couch's clutch finish ended up giving him enough pins to beat Williams by two pins...two pins!!!!

For Jason Couch, this is a free roll for of the dice for him. After knee struggles and lack of consistent bowling this season, this is a chance for Couch to re-establish his Hall of Fame career. We seem to forget that Couch has 15 titles and 4 majors, as well as back-to-back Dick Weber Open titles. Again, our minds don't have as much long term memory retention as they used to...this guy was one the sport's elite for many years up until recently. A chance at major number 5 could be the jumper cables he needed to get his bowling career in the 40's on the right track.

Now it's time to break this down concentrically and find out what the four finalists have to gain from all this:

Player with most to gain: historically, it is Scroggins. Personally, it might be O'Neill. Professionally, it is Couch. I will take the historical take on this: Scroggins can officially be a Hall of Famer in the Scherrer Book of Bowling with a win today, no question about it. Hard to keep a man who has won two U.S. Open titles off any Hall of Fame roll call.

Most to lose: Couch. This could be one of his last gasps as a professional bowler. Even if Couch were to never win again, his career is still Hall of Fame caliber. However, the other side of his career has been one of remembering his younger, more powerful, animated days where he was an absolute force in major tournaments. From the professional angle, you want Jason Couch as an integral part of the PBA: talented still, opinionated, and vocal.

PBA can gain the most if...O'Neill wins. This is a lay-up drill for the PBA. You are considered a generational sport, and with that, maybe a little too old to make it relevant to a younger audience of viewers. O'Neill winning would give this generational shift a little balance. What if Jones wins, you ask? It doesn't hurt but the PBA needs a stand alone face of the next generation: one that stands above all the young guns. O'Neill can be that man with a win.

PBA gains the least if...Scroggins wins. No knock on Scroggins, but the previous statement is why it is a bad thing for Scroggins to repeat, despite what it can do for his career.

Player that can dominate? Tommy Jones. We forget this man has the highest TV winning percentage in the tour's history. He can own this telecast bowling in the first match against Couch and just run away with the field if the lanes play to his strength.

Player that can struggle? O'Neill. When O'Neill made the '09 World Championship, he tried his own strategy to play the oil pattern and it failed. In this case, he'll have one game to see what is going on and dictate his strategy that way. When it's a major, you just have to play what it out there and survive and not try to contemplate oil patterns. This comes down to straight talent and we all know O'Neill has got plenty of it.

Prediction: The seriousness of this tournament cannot be devalued. A United States Open champion is a benchmark to a season, a bowler's season, and their career. Win this event and you go down with names like Day, 'Papa, Dick Weber, Carter, Holman, Roth, McMahon, Lillard, Welu, Pete Weber, Ballard, Husted, Williams, and Duke. The winner of this championship will have history. Scroggins and Jones have been to this mountain before and have chopped it down with the edge of the their hand. Couch came close in 1999, losing to Bob Learn, Jr. in the title match. O'Neill may have more chances in his future, but you cannot predict that. What you can predict is that arguably the best player in the world right now is from Southampton, Pennsylvania. Bowling needs Bill O'Neill to usher in a new generation of superstar bowlers. Yes, it is not just enough to win a pattern named after an animal...it is time for the torch to be passed.

Please, Bill...grab the torch.