COLUMBUS — Day 1 of the Nance Construction/HP Lanes MEGA Singles event did not start well for Brandon Kennard
Kennard, making his first appearance during the third annual event Saturday at HP Lanes, opened with a 157 during the eight-game qualifier.
“After the first game, I switched balls and went to a different part of the lane,” the 23-year-old Wapakoneta left-hander said. “I saw a lot better ball motion.”
But after the poor start, Kennard averaged 269.3 over the final seven games to take the A squad lead over 123 competitors. The second shift of 125 bowlers began competing at 4 p.m.
The top 49 bowlers between the two shifts will advance to today’s 10 a.m. six-game casher’s round with pins carrying over. The final 10 following 14 games will advance to the modified stepladder finals in the race for the $12,000 top prize.
Kennard finished with 2,042 total pinfall, including 845 over his final three games, to hold a 65-pin lead over Kyle Cook, the lone right-hander among the top seven players during the shift.
“I moved probably 10 boards left with my feet and my eyes pretty close to the same,” said Kennard, who used a Purple Hammer for his final seven games. “Other than that, I stayed in the same part of the lane for the most part, moving a couple here and there as needed.”
Cook stood second with 1,977, followed by lefties Mykel Holliman (1,946), Andre Gonzalez (1,934), Cam Crowe (1,932) and Ryan Liederbach (1,930).
Holliman, a 29-year-old from Memphis. Tenn., led the field for three games before rolling a pair of 216s during his final two games.
“I caught two bad pairs on carry. It just kind of depended on what pair I hit and what lefty I followed,” said Kennard, who used a Brunswick Black Blue Knockout. “I made it known I was not going to throw the purple (Hammer) ball. If the lefties were throwing urethane, it was an indication to me to throw it slower.
“I think I had six 10-pins the last two games. I should have changed balls sooner, but I didn’t.”
Liederbach, a 25-year-old Northfield two-hander, said it wasn’t a case of the lanes hooking more.
“The backends were tighter and seemed to be going longer depending on the side of the house you were on,” said Liederbach, who was 37th after Game 4 before making his move. “My first two shots my first two games were pocket 7-10s (splits).
“It took a few ball changes after Game 3 and realizing that everyone was throwing urethane and pushing the oil down and making it tighter. So I went to reactive (Ebonite Envision) and went 819 the last three.”
For Cook, a 27-year-old Dayton pro with two career PBA regional titles, it came down to the shape of his shots. The next best right-hander behind Cook was fellow pro Chris Via, who was eighth after the opening shift with 1,900.
“I was just able to move in and found more shape than everyone else seemed to have,” Cook said. “They were tight for a while, bit I was able to slow curve, slow curve and slow cure. I started at the low end, but every time we moved to a pair it had more shape. I really didn’t have to do anything crazy.”
How much of a shape? Cook was sliding around the 30th board and going out to about 12 to six while standing in front of the ball return on the right lanes.
“As you went right, they would go a little farther and shape a little more down the lane,” Cook added.
As another shift of lefties and righties were about to discover on fresh oil in the afternoon and early evening.
NOTEBOOK: The 43-foot oil pattern was a collaboration between tourney promoter Jody Boyd and Jeff Circle, who designs patterns for various tourneys in Indiana. “We tested it quite a bit, but you can’t really stop the lefties or two-handers from what they are doing,” Boyd said. … There were two 300 games thrown during the opening shift by Jeremy Milito and Eli Cox, with Kennard adding a 298. Ric McCormick also had 290 in the opening game of the day.