By JILL WINTERS
PBA Communications
WESTLAND, Mich. – Mika Koivuniemi oli tulessa.
Translated from Finnish to English means Mika Koivuniemi was on fire Wednesday during the final round of qualifying at the PBA50 Hamtramck Singles Classic Open.
He started his day with 23 straight strikes shooting 300 and 299. From there he continued his streak of no games under 200 on the way to averaging 254.57. He is +615 holding a nearly 280 pin lead over second place. Jason Couch also started his day with a perfect game, moving from 14th to 2nd.
Koivuniemi decided to play a different part of the lanes than he had on Day 1 and it clearly paid off. He admits he has rolled back-to-back 300 games before but never in a PBA tournament.
“I actually got a little bit nervous on my 24th shot. I didn’t clear my thumb well, so I missed,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I bowled that well.”
He feels his natural ability to loft the ball and his confidence in his equipment were a perfect match on the 39-foot Aulby oil pattern. He relied on the same ball for all seven games, as well as the previous 65 frames during qualifying on Tuesday. Looking ahead to Thursday, all pins will carry over into the Advancers Round.
“If I keep doing what I’ve been doing, I should be OK for getting a bye, but bowling is bowling you never know,” he said, about aiming to secure a top-eight bye. “I need to keep throwing it good and I feel confident.”
After 14 games of qualifying, the top 36 players made the cut to move to the Advancers Round. The final player in is Bill Watson at +28.
Also making the cut were former North Canton resident Tim Elsass, now living in Ellington, Conn., who stands 22nd overall with 2,889, an average of 206.36, and former Canton resident Tony Johnson, now residing in Auburndale, Fla., who is 15th with 2,961, an average of 11.
They will bowl four games Thursday starting at 9 a.m. After those games are complete, the top 24 will advance to bracket match play rounds where all pins are dropped. Those matches are best two-out-of-three games.
The top eight players earn a bye, as qualifiers 9-24 will start bowling at noon. The winners of those matches will face the top eight qualifiers scheduled to start their matches at 2 p.m. followed by the Round of 8 winners at 4 p.m.
Positions one through four will be determined according to their bracket seed number, and the highest seed losing in the Round of 8 will be the No. 5 seed in the stepladder.
The finals are set to begin at 6 p.m., and you can see it all on BowlTV.