NORTH CANTON — Eddie Graham and Jeff Zaffino were hanging around the top three in the standings for the first three games of the PBA50-PBA60 Doubles Central Open on Saturday.
But then, as Graham put it, “the newer Jeff Zaffino came in to play that we all remember from years past on this pattern.”
Bowling on a “shorter” oil pattern — the PBA Ballard 36 — Zaffino had 805 over games three through six as he teamed with Graham to finish with 3,786 total pinfall and take a 57-pin lead heading into Sunday’s match-play round at Park Centre Lanes.
Zaffino, after shooting 650 for his first three games, finished with 1,897 to place second individually in the field. Graham caught fire late, shooting 757 over his final three games, to place fourth with 1,889.
“This pattern is in my wheelhouse because I have no rev rate and I can get it through the fronts where no one else can,” said Zaffino, a 63-year-old Warren, Pa., right-hander, who won this title three years ago with Sam Ventura, also on a shorter oil pattern.
“It had been a while since I bowled on anything short. So for the first three games I had to get my shoulder lined up right and figure out how my hand came off it. I had to watch the ball scoot where I usually did before and watch it react on the back. I just told myself, ‘I know how to do this.’ ”
The tandem of Parker Bohn III and Sam Maccarone stand second with 3,729, followed by defending champion Brad Angelo and new partner Tom Adcock with 3,660. PBA50 Strike Zone champion Troy Lint and Darryl Bower are fourth with 3,571.
The cut to the top eight for match play in the 23-team field came at 3,465, with Michael Tryniski and Michael Haggitt gaining the final spot.
Bohn, the 59-year-old PBA Hall of Fame left-hander from Jackson, N.J., topped the field individually with 1,926 despite shooting just 206 in Game 8.
Angelo, who won this title a year ago with Bo Goergen and finished second the year before with the same partner, was forced to switch this season due to Goergen’s injury concerns. He was third individually with 1,890.
Graham admittedly had been struggling recently, except for a third-place finish in a doubles event with PBA Hall of Famer Tom Baker.
“I drilled up four balls after that, two urethanes, which I despise and still didn’t throw, and weaker reactive,” said Graham, a 56-year-old Kettering right-hander who finished 16th in this event a year ago with Zaffino after a pair of top-five finishes here with Bill Peters.
“This is the first time I got to throw it. I threw the second ball that I threw down in Tennessee first and it was too much. This is the only ball I threw all day. It was just close enough where I wasn’t going to go away from it.
“After you’ve bowled bad enough times and you have some success, you’re going to stick with it. I would typically not throw it, but it worked fine today.”
Graham used the Storm Tropical Surge while Zaffino used a combination of the 900 Global Honey Badger Claw — “it was an older ball I had shined up and went a lot straighter and kept me away from too much over-under,” he added — and the 900 Global Altered Reality.
“Once the backends went away with all the urethane, I went to it to get more push to the front and more backend,” Zaffino said. “I had to have my hand right at the front, let it go and watch it scoot through, and let the core of the ball take it when it hit the dry.”
Both Zaffino and Graham have bowled with different partners in this event over its six-year stretch. But age (Ventura is over 60) and injuries (Peters) brought them together.
“We used to sit around with Dave D”Entremont and talk at regionals. When (Zaffino) turned 60, he had to find a partner,” Graham said (Zaffino bowled two years with Ron Profitt). “And then Bill had knee problems and stopped bowling, so I asked him and was shocked he said yes.”
But Sunday is a new day with match play looming. Each team will bowl each other once followed by a position round for the eight remaining teams.
“We’re just going to try to do the same thing. There won’t be as much play on the lanes, but who knows about the urethane going down lane,” said Zaffino, adding there are four left-handers — Bohn, Haggitt, Lint and Tim Regan— left in the field of 16 total bowlers.
“As much urethane that was going down the lane, I think we did well. Better than most,” Graham said. “Urethane will manipulate us a little bit. It depends on the transitions.”
Admission is free for Sunday’s match-play finals, which begin at 9 a.m.
See complete results here: