COLUMBUS — Taking care of his 10-month-old daughter, Memphis, Tenn., left-hander Mykel Holliman has put his Professional Bowlers Association Tour career on hold.
“I really haven’t been able to bowl much this season with the new baby, and the traveling is just so far,” said the 2019 PBA Rookie of the Year, who also has another daughter. “The closest I got was Michigan, and that was six hours away. I just bowled two stops and finished seventh and 33rd.”
The 25-year-old, who lost to Jakob Butturff in the 2019 USBC Masters final for his top career check from the No. 5 seed spot, had to bowl one match for $12,000 as the top seed for the Nance Construction-HP Lanes MEGA Singles event on Sunday.
“It’s really not easier with one game, but it makes it nice if you are leading the day. You can’t finish 10th,” Holliman said. “It was nice sitting around, even though the (thumb) swelling didnlt help.
“But I was able to watch how the lanes were played. They were tighter for me so I hit the ball with more surface before practice.”
The wait paid off as the top-seeded Holliman stopped the five-match run of Delaware left-hander Jeffery Scott 278-215 to claim the title in the third annual event at HP Lanes.
To do it, Holliman used a Purple Hammer urethane — a ball he didn’t use at all during Saturday’s eight-game qualifying round when he finished fifth overall after bowling the opening squad.
“I used the (Brunswick) Black and Blue Knockout yesterday. I threw it a little bit this morning, but I didn’t like the way it was rolling,” Holliman said. “I tried a couple of other reactive, but I saw they were moving a lot with all the lefties, so I decided to go for it. I threw the Purple and never looked back.”
Holliman finished with 1,491 during the six-game cashers’ round to earn the top seed by 42 pins over Northfield’s Ryan Liederbach despite a 188 during his final game.
SCOTT ON A ROLL
But while Holliman watched, Scott had to go through five more one-game matches to reach the final after finishing with 1,464 during the morning session.
“I’m just exhausted right now. Mentally, it was just a grind,” said Scott, a 25-year-old who also works at HP Lanes. “I started off strong and just got locked in. While the other lefties had an OK look, I had a great look.”
Scott entered the day in 21st overall after the eight-game Saturday qualifier, but jumped to eighth after 1,464 during the cashers’ round, starting with 268 and 269.
With all 10 of the seeded players for the modified stepladder finals being left-handers, the two-handed Scott and Scotty Kramer III advanced from the opening match by rolling 226 and 208 respectively, with the match involving seeds seven through 10.
It was in Match No. 2 where Scott caught fire. He rolled 280, leaving only a 7-pin in the second frame, to join four-time PBA Tour champion Graham Fach (257) in moving on.
Then, in Match 3, involving Scott, sixth-seeded Fach and No. 3 seed George Gohagan III, the former ran off eight straight strikes to start and finished with 288, edging Gohagan (266) and Fach (228). Gohagan’s only non-strike was a 4-10 split in the third frame while Scott left a 2-pin in the ninth.
In the quarterfinal match, Scott again started quickly with his Root Grip Rubicon UC3 — his ball of choice all weekend — and had six straight strikes against No. 3 seed and Saturday’s qualifying leader Brandon Kennard en route to a 253-237 win. Kennard missed a 6-pin spare in the seventh frame.
But in the semifinals, Scott went up against Liederbach, who struck on eight of his first nine shots, leaving only a 2-4 spare in the fourth frame. But after 9-counts in the second through fourth frames, including missing a 7-pin spare in the third, Scott struck the rest of the way out.
Liederbach, with a chance to win it in the 10th frame, left a 4-6 split on his opening shot en route to a 248-242 loss.
“I just pulled it,” Liederbach, a 25-year-old two-hander, said. “All day I just sort of watched how everyone else’s ball reaction was and tried to follow it. There were lefties to my right and to my left so it was just a matter of seeing what their balls were doing.”
Scott was surprised he still had a chance in the 10th frame.
“Absolutely. He had a great look, but it’s never over until it’s over,” Scott said.
Scott started slowly in the title match, leaving a 2-4-7 on his opening shot and then missing the spare. He then struck on five of his next six shots before leaving a 10-pin in the ninth frame. But he missed the spare.
“On the first shot, I just kept telling myself to get it left, but I got it right,” said Scott, who earned his best bowling paycheck ever of $7,000 for second. “On the spare, it was just a mental mistake.
“I wasn’t even going to bowl this. Jody (Boyd) messaged me about 40 times and I really didn’t decide to do it until about two weeks ago. I went minus in the tournament last year, so I’m just ecstatic with the weekend.”
Holliman’s only misses in the title match came with a 6-pin in the third frame and on his final ball in the 10th.
“I just didn’t get the ball to where I wanted. I didn’t get around it. But I knew I also got away with one in the sixth frame when I yelled out,” Holliman said. “It got away from me, but I was happy the way it turned out.”
Holliman also was happy with bowling on fresh pairs for every match, especially with moving toward the middle of the center for the title battle after matches began on lanes 3 and 4.
“The further right you got, the tighter it was getting, which worked for me,” Holliman said. “There was a little pressure at the start, but after the first frame, it eliminated it.”
A lot of things worked for Holliman, who dedicates his bowling to the memory of his late father, Steve, who died in 2017. He wears a tribute to his father on the back of his bowling shirt.
“He bowled his whole life and that’s how I got into it,” Holliman added. “What I accomplish is a tribute to him.”
NANCE CONSTRUCTION/HP LANES SINGLES EVENT
(Sunday at HP Lanes, Columbus)
Match 1: Jeffery Scott 226, Scotty Kramer III 208, Killian Kirkpatrick 184, Cam Crowe 180. Scott and Kramer advance; Kirkpatrick earns $1,400, Crowe earns $1,200.
Match 2: Scott 280, Graham Fach 257, Michael Martell 249, Kramer 224. Scott and Kramer advance; Martell earns $2,000, Kramer earns $1,600.
Match 3: Scott 278, George Gohagan III 266, Fach 228. Scott advances; Gohagan earns $3,000, Fach earns $2,500.
Match 4: Scott d. Michael Martell 253-237. Martell earns $4,000.
Match 5: Scott d. Ryan Liederbach 248-242. Liederbach earns $5,000.
Championship: Mykel Holliman d. Scott 268-215. Holliman earns $12,000; Scott earns $7,000.
OTHER CASHERS
(Based on 14-game pinfalls)
11, Jean Perez 3,268 total pinfall, $1,000 earnings; 12, Mike Jachinski 3,253, $1,000; 13, Kyle Cook 3,247, $900; 14, Simon Mote 3,240, $900; 15, Matt Sanders 3,239, $900; 16, Chris Via 3,230, $900; 17, AJ Rice 3,227, $900; 18, Corey Umbrello 3,223, $900; 19, Mikey Tang 3,218, $900; 20, Andre Gonzales 3,216, $900; 21, Keven Williams 3,197, $900; 22, Drake Bazzy 3,197, $900
23, Andrew Anderson 3,183, $800; 24, Joe Bailey 3,179, $800; 25, David Krol 3,155, $800; 26, Derrick Norman 3,154, $800; 27, Bailey Mavrick 3,136, $800; 28, Zac Tackett 3,129, $800; 29, Bryce Oliver 3,118, $800; 30, James Greg 3,109, $800; 31, Nate Stubler 3,107, $800; 32, Zach Wilkins 3,105, $800; 33, Joe Grondin 3,105, $800; 34, Dell. Ray Jr. 3,096, $800
35, Casey Cohagan 3,094, $700; 36, Branden McVicker 3,044, $700; 37, Devon Gunderson 3,040,, $700; 38, Tim Pfeifer 3,021, $700; 39, Nolan White 3,019, $700; 40, Jack Ness 3,015, $700; 41, Zach Weidman 3,004, $700; 42, Mike Kicmal 2,998, $700
43, Trevor Roberts 2,989, $599; 44, Brady Adler 2,973, $599; 45, David Northouse 2,946, $599; 46, Ryan Lakota 2,938, $599; 47, Quentin Collins 2,922, $599; 48, Tiler Levesque 2,909, $599; 49, Ari Wilson 2,899, $599