Sean Swanson has had arguably more success at the Holiday Doubles tournament at Red Bird Lanes in Cahokia, Illinois than any other bowler in the history of the tournament. Swanson has won 2 out of the last 3 years with his partner Sean Quinn from Mississippi, but this year Swanson was forced to find a new teammate. Quinn is taking a break from bowling at the moment, so the Sean & Sean show currently does not exist and their future is unknown.
Casey Murphy (2011 Bowler's Journal Champion) was selected by Swanson to replace Quinn in this year's edition of the tournament. This year's event filled to a maximum number of teams totaling 72 which is incredible considering the economy and overall drop in tournament play throughout the country. This event may have reached 100 entries if the venue could hold it.
Two admirable decisions made by tournament director Jerry Anderson were the cause of filling the tournament. Jerry decided this year to take less money for lineage and give more back to the bowlers which allowed for an advertised top prize of $5,000 instead of $3,000 in years past. Also Jerry approached my company Insidebowling.com about promoting this year's event and we were happy to do so considering the rich history of this event. It was a tournament we felt very strong about promoting as our own.
Insidebowling.com gave the event a new look with a revised flyer, 25 hours of live streaming coverage, additional staff in jerseys provided by Gemini, networking through social media, and an overall upscale bowling look and feel. One of the best things Insidebowling.com brings to the audience at home is updated scoring posted online along with a very interactive chat platform which keeps viewers guessing what might be said next. This weekend we had tremendous participation in the chat with a handful of guests logged in the entire tournament. Over 100 watched the last position round game on our Ustream channel late Sunday afternoon. I personally want to thank all of the commentators that signed up to sit in the booth with me during this event.
Upon our arrival, Jerry had a few surprises for us as well. He had a very large Insidebowling.com Holiday Doubles cake made which was a huge hit with the bowlers and their families. He also rented two nice sofas so the tournament staff could enjoy breaks throughout the very busy weekend. Combine that with all of the hard work he has put into Red Bird Lanes with fresh paint and new flat screen monitors, he has certainly established a top tier venue for tournaments and leagues.
The talent pool doesn't even begin with Murphy and Swanson, as this tournament attracts some very well known professionals. Pete Weber, and Jeff Carter can be seen every year, but this year other pros including Parker Bohn III, Mike Wolfe, Tom Hess, Jason Queen, Brian Valenta and the midwest's best of the best amateur bowlers rounded out a field that rivals a PBA National Tour stop.
Bohn visited this tournament under special circumstances. His biggest fan is Kathy McGarry who just so happens to bowl league at Red Bird Lanes. Every year she jokes with Anderson about bowling this event with Parker Bohn III. With her birthday just around the corner, McGarry's husband arranged for Parker to fly in and bowl with Kathy. More on this story can be found here as it truly was an amazing experience to witness in person.
I spent a lot of time talking with Parker Bohn during the weekend and to say he is a class act does not do him justice. He arrived Friday night and signed countless autographs to the league bowlers and spectators while practicing for the tournament. Of course, McGarry and her closest friends had most of Parker's time, however there was not one person denied of an autograph or picture to be uploaded to their favorite social media outlet. On Saturday, Bohn and McGarry took to the lanes where Parker made her feel special by keeping a very positive attitude and allowing filming of the entire block so Kathy could re-live the experience for years to come. After they bowled, Parker then went to lunch with the McGarry family and told stories about tour life.
As if getting ready for this sold out event wasn't enough, Pam Anderson (tournament director Jerry Anderson's wife) received horrible news early Friday morning as her dad had a heart attack which resulted in triple bypass open heart surgery. When Parker got wind of this, he insisted on making a stop by the hospital Saturday afternoon to surprise her recovering father. This just blew me away and inspired me to be a better person. Parker even said to me "I try to treat everyone as I like to be treated." Parker bowled again on C squad with long time friend Dennis Hacker (resides in a St. Louis suburb) who created and maintains Parker's website. Parker was nearly 900 over between his two blocks but failed to qualify for Sunday's match play. He told me that he was here to have fun first, and making the cut was secondary.
The scoring pace of the tournament really showed what top bowlers can do on a house pattern. It took +653 (236 avg per person) for 9 games to make the top 16 cut for Sunday's match play. Tom Hess and Jeff Carter led at +879 (248 avg per person) including team scores as low as 391 and as high as 578.
Top 16 After Saturday's Qualifying:
1 Hess - Carter 536 503 482 556 479 451 391 503 578 4479 2 Swanson - Murphy 508 425 587 494 474 537 462 486 491 4464 3 Bittenbender - Valenta421 459 476 538 577 441 494 469 558 4433 4 Fitzgerel - Shields 444 464 453 465 524 534 507 448 535 4374 5 Taylor - Look 483 494 524 516 536 431 441 474 454 4353 6 Purkey - Choat 478 492 524 426 493 413 470 547 509 4352 7 Peters - Smith 493 501 442 479 460 557 459 460 481 4332 8 Helferstay - Shucart 463 468 486 566 449 485 459 459 490 4325 9 Hammond - Raymond 535 495 507 439 451 500 484 455 439 4305 10 Hayes - Hayes 459 472 424 506 485 500 527 494 429 4296 11 Miller - Stepp 526 489 480 480 456 513 461 420 468 4293 12 Lay - Cleveland 486 537 431 493 556 463 480 448 396 4290 13 Adcock - Queen 452 506 460 487 451 514 457 506 455 4288 14 Partl - Dwiggins 481 504 492 455 536 494 438 425 450 4275 15 Wilson - Lesser 548 429 480 459 458 493 460 434 503 4264 16 Hunt - Brown 522 482 479 450 461 458 462 478 461 4253
All qualifying rounds were live streamed, recorded and can be found here.
Sunday's format included 15 games of round robin match play awarding 30 bonus pins for each victory with the 16th game being a position round. Going into the last game, Swanson and Murphy had a 98 pin lead over Choat & Purkey with the rest of the field far enough back to where winning the game and bowling a respectable score would solidify Swanson's third Holiday Doubles title and Murphy's first. Swanson and Murphy bowled 452 while Choat and Purkey struggled with only posting a 402. Bittenbender and Valenta posted a huge number with 532 which moved them up to 2nd place dropping Choat and Purkey to 3rd.
Final Standings & Payout:
Team G 1-8 G9 G10 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15 G16 BONUS TOTAL 1 Swanson - Murphy 8554 432 443 451 497 458 500 510 452 150 12447 $5,000 2 Bittenbender - Valent 8400 430 468 494 479 427 493 484 532 180 12387 $2,500 3 Purkey - Choat 8482 515 441 428 465 522 379 515 402 120 12269 $1,250 4 Hess - Carter 8317 462 556 362 428 454 516 514 484 150 12243 $900 5 Hunt - Brown 8183 459 546 499 469 516 434 440 472 210 12228 $800 6 Peters - Smith 8325 457 452 414 473 463 462 470 423 90 12029 $700 7 Adcock - Queen 8287 473 462 474 459 405 440 450 412 120 11982 $600 8 Wilson - Lesser 8094 472 382 523 506 464 475 409 435 210 11970 $560 9 Partl - Dwiggins 8143 489 450 461 502 410 438 412 403 120 11828 $540 10 Helferstay - Shucart 8200 439 452 492 382 416 424 431 442 150 11828 $520 11 Miller - Stepp 8226 432 420 475 411 420 503 401 431 60 11779 $500 12 Lay - Cleveland 8184 463 483 508 377 418 465 405 422 30 11755 $480 13 Fitzgerel - Shields 8051 485 462 390 472 448 420 395 446 150 11719 $460 14 Taylor - Look 8071 522 427 466 398 384 511 404 343 60 11586 $440 15 Hammond - Raymo 7829 547 448 407 454 447 408 432 428 90 11490 $420 16 Hayes - Hayes 8046 382 438 434 446 402 398 443 433 30 11452 $400
Also cashing were:
17th Pete Weber & Eddie Byrd $320
18th Cody Clayton & Danny Spink $300
Honor Scores:
300 Games - Tom Adcock, Shea Bittenbender, Tristin Choat X 2, Robert Hammond, Tom Hess, Jeremy Hunt,
Kevin Purkey, Jason Queen, Sean Swanson, Joe Vrobel, & Sean Wilson
299 Games - John Brown, Kerry Davis, Robert Forester, Garry Helferstay X 2, & Mike Lay
298 Games - EJ Raymond & Brian Valenta
297 Game - Jeff Carter
800 Series - Kevin Purkey 836, Jeremy Hunt 832, Garry Helferstay 814, Larry Stepp 811,
Shea Bittenbender 804 & 805 Sean Swanson 804, & Jeremy Hunt 801
I heard positive feedback all weekend from bowlers and spectators about this event. Despite the incredibly high scoring pace, overall this tournament was the best I have yet to be a part of. Anderson and I have already had discussions about how to accomodate more teams next year. Save the date now as this tournament will be held December 29th & 30th, 2012.
For more information and results, join the discussion.
