By BILL SNIER
COLUMBUS — When Cameron Crowe first was informed of his scores Saturday at HP Lanes, he didn’t know what to say.
“I really didn’t know I was doing THAT well,” said the 23-year-old Orland Park, Ill., two-handed left-hander. “I’m really at a loss for words … I’m still in shock.”
After starting with 217 in Game 1 of Saturday’s first eight-game qualifying block of the MEGA Singles due to a mistake in judgement, the former two-time Team USA member made the proper ball adjustments to roll to the No. 1 spot with 2,068 total pinfall — the lone player to break the 2,000 barrier on the shift.
In Games 2 through 7, Crowe — using the strategy of a different urethane ball on each lane — averaged 266, including shooting 837 in Games 4 through 6 with the day’s lone 300.
What changed after Game 1?
“I had a game plan coming in,” said Crowe, who was making his fourth tournament appearance. “It was the same pattern as last year, but obviously, it was going to play a bit different. So I tried to do what worked for me last year toward the end of the block.”
A year ago, Crowe didn’t make the top 36 to reach the Sunday cashers’ round.
“I started out using the same ball on both lanes. But I ended up throwing two different urethanes (Hammer Black, Hammer Purple) because one lane was significantly different than the other,” Crowe said. “I followed that trend pretty much the rest of the day.
“There were some hiccups along the way, but all day, one lane was significantly tighter than the other. I used that to my advantage.”
Crowe used the Hammer Purple on the left lane and the Black on the right, because the “right lane was hooking more.”
Despite shooting just 195 his final game, Michigan left-hander Justin Knowles sat second after the opening shift with 1,938, followed by Worthington’s Chad Roberts with 1,924. Roberts shot 812 over his final three games to jump from 12th to third.
“The low end here hooks a lot more and earlier and high end is tighter. I started out on the low end,” said Roberts, a 37-year-old right-hander. “For me, the adjustments get a lot easier as I go to the high end and I don’t have as many moves to make.
“As the ball shines up, I can move into the friction more while everyone else goes away from it for one reason or another. It just stays there for me. It was blending out pretty nicely.”
Roberts used a 2022 version of the Storm Pitch Black urethane.
“I knew urethane was going to work. I used it every single game last year (when Roberts finished in a tie for fifth) and it was the same today,” he added.
The second qualifying squad begins at 4 p.m. with eight qualifying games. The two squads will then be combined with the projected top 28 moving on to Sunday’s cashers round of six more games beginning at 10 a.m. After that, the field will be cut to the top eight for a modified stepladder finals.
NOTEBOOK: The opening squad had 66 bowlers, with 33 of them averaging 200 or better. Lanes were re-oiled with the modified MEGA Singles oil pattern for the second shift. … Crowe had the lone 300 while Dave Martyr had 298. … The remainder of the top five on the early shift included Ryan Burton with 1,846 and Kyle Cook with 1,835. … The No. 28 spot on first shift was Nolan White with 1,644. … One player withdrew after Game 5 and another after Game 4.
