By BILL SNIER
FAIRLAWN — Tom Hess is one of six players in the PBA50 Tournament of Champions field who had seen AMF Riviera Lanes earlier this season.
Although the PBA TOC event in April also was bowled on the PBA Don Johnson 40-foot old pattern, the similarities end there.
“The rev rates on this tour are no comparison to the other. You probably have the oil pattern for about the first six frames of Game 1 if that before you are making big moves,” the 54-year-old Granger, Iowa, right-hander and new PBA Hall of Famer said. “The moves are not as big on this tour.”
Where it did help, Hess said, was seeing the house tendencies.
“Across the house, you know some pairs are going to be a little different,” said Hess, who has won four times on the PBA50 Tour this season. “When you catch one of those and struggle, you can say, ‘hey, everyone is going to hit this pair.’ And you keep on going.”
Hess didn’t hit many of those pairs Tuesday during the final eight qualifying games of the PBA50 TOC, averaging 230.1 to lead the 32 players who made the cut into Wednesday’s advancers’ round.
Hess shot 183 in Game 12, but averaged 238.75 the rest of the way to lead qualifying with 3,619 total pinfall, 25 pins ahead of 50-year-old Columbia, S.C., right-hander Randy Weiss (3,594). The remainder of the top five include Chris Warren (3,589), who turned in the top eight-game block Tuesday by averaging 240.6; former TOC champion Mika Koivuniemi (3,557); and Tom Adcock (3,499).
“I made some different ball choices today and different lane choices,” said Hess, who stood fourth Monday after averaging 222 over his opening eight games. “I got into the right part of the lane, made some really good shots and got the pins to fall.
“I bowled pretty good (Monday) and had two pretty solid blocks. It’s different every day … each day I went in with a different game plan. You now it’s a hard house going across, and the fact that I have bowled here so many times, you know that.”
Hess started the block with 278 to take the lead after Game 1 Tuesday. After dropping back for the next four games, he jumped back in front for the final two.
“I’ve got a good progression going right now in my mind, and it’s been working so far,” Hess said. “I’m going to come in a try to do that (Wednesday). If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to be quick and decisive in our decisions and make the best passes I can in each frame.”
Weiss and Warren made the biggest jumps from Day 1, with Weiss moving from 12th up to second and Warren, who turned in the high block of 1,925, jumping from 24th to the top three.
“I kept telling everyone (Monday) that the lanes were really good, but I was just not executing well,” said Weiss, a PBA50 Tour rookie who owns 10 regional titles. “My main goal was to execute better today, and it didn’t feel hard at all. Whether I was lucky, matching up right or just seeing the lane right I knew if I threw it better, I would have a better day. And that’s what happened.”
Weiss moved into the lead at one point despite starting with 185 Tuesday. He then averaged 251 over his next five games.
“The fronts hooked a little more today and I had to go left quicker with stuff that was cleaner and faster,” Weiss said. “With two on a lane (Wednesday), it’s gong to change the game plan a little more.”
WARREN’S BIG DAY
Warren, the 60-year-old Plano, Texas, right-hander and 14-time PBA winner, had only one game below 230 Tuesday and added a pair of 279s.
He attributed his performance to crossing with Koivuniemi.
“He just reads the lanes really, really well, and that helped a bunch,” said Warren, who used all new equipment Tuesday after averaging just 208 during the opening round. “I brought in a whole new set just because I tried to play as close as I could to Mika.
“I could see what his ball would do and I would pretty much guess if he threw it good or bad. He said my ball blended the lane out front to back and left to right better than anyone else’s. The rest of the guys were throwing more surface than I was and having adverse reactions.”
With Wednesday’s pairings, Warren and Koivuniemi again will be paired together for the advancers’ round.
“I’ve got no game plan,” Warren said. “We don’t plan ahead. We just evaluate what’s going on at the time. The pace will be quicker with two on a pair and bowling with Mika again, if that happens, really helps.”
Although Hess has four titles, one of those was a non-points event (PBA-PWBA-PBA50 Trio event in Arkansas). John Janawicz, who leads the PBA50 Tour with five titles, did not make the cut at the TOC, finishing 40th.
“The Player of the Year race is over because it’s strictly on points. John beat me in the U.S. Open, which was a 3,000 point swing and one of mine was a non-points event. It is what it is,” Hess said.
“But I would still like to tie him and get to five titles.”
FAMILIAR GROUND
Hess was one of six bowlers who participated in the PBA TOC in April at Riviera, joining first-round leader Mitch Beasley, Chris Barnes, Amleto Monacelli, Brian Himmler and Ryan Shaffer. Beasley, Barnes and Monacelli made the cut to the final 32. No one in that group made the cut in April.
“I think I had about a 10 percent carry rate (Tuesday),” said Beasley, who led the field by averaging 234.25 Monday but averaged just 181.37 Tuesday.
Barnes said the oil pattern was entirely different between the two tours.
“If breaks down completely different and they use different oil. The field is the biggest factor,” Barnes said. “The average rev rate is about 200 higher on the regular tour, and that might be conservative. The pattern changes into something completely different.
“In theory, it’s supposed to be an advantage since I bowled here not so long ago and have taken lots of notes over the years. But this field is so much different. Some of the things that I thought would happen haven’t.”
The PBA Hall of Famer, who currently sits 18th, admits he has a large hill to climb.
“You can’t win it today, but I did a pretty good job of losing it,” Barnes said. “I made the cut, but I’m going to have to bowl pretty well to get to the top 16 now. The show’s way off.”
LEFTY BATTLES
Lewisburg, Pa., left-hander Andrew Neuer, one of only three lefties out of nine in the 65-player field to make the cut (three-time PBA TOC champ Jason Couch and Michael Hartter being the others), turned in one of the most consistent performances. After finishing with 1,748 on Monday, he added 1,739 Tuesday to sit seventh overall.
“I think I started far enough left and I’m slow enough where I can shape the ball earlier while the other guys were just a little firmer,” Neuer said. “For me, the house played the same all the way across except for one pair that had some early friction.
“I just had to use different hand positions, get a little softer with a little heavier roll and just touch it kind of through the fronts, make it shape early and then control how I shaped it.”
NOTEBOOK: The battle for the final cut spots came down to Game 16 overall, with Ricky Schissler, the only full-time two-hander in the field, earning the final spot with 3,264. He finished just 12 pins ahead of super senior John Conroy, who actually led the event after Game 1 and 2 Monday. … Williams, who went to a two-handed delivery late Monday, also adopted that style for a time Tuesday. He is sitting sixth after qualifying (3,496). … Ashtabula’s Dave Johnson fell 17 pins short of the cut with 3,247. Wadsworth’s Dale Csuhta, who battled knee problems throughout the event but was in the cut until the final two games, finished 37th with 3,229. His downfall came in Game 15 overall when he shot 133 with three splits. … The advancers’ round of eight games begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The field then will be cut to the top 16 for match play, slated to begin at 5 p.m. with eight games. Admission for match play is $10. … Following a second match-play round Thursday at noon, the stepladder finals are slated to begin at 6 p.m. All rounds are being aired on bowltv.com … High game of the event was 296 shot during the opening qualifying round by Allan Pomatto, who finished 26th overall.