By BILL SNIER
COLUMBUS — Simon Mote is a career bowler. It’s what he does.
But the 24-year-old Englewood two-handed left-hander admitted it hadn’t been going well.
“I want to say it was all physical, but it wasn’t,” Mote said. “The last couple of years, I really haven’t been worth anything honestly.”
But a 30-minute session with Eric Burris of Next Gen Bowlers Pro Shop in Grove City has made all the difference.
Mote continued to “ride the wave while it’s here,” Sunday by topping 19-year-old two-handed righty Jacob Willard 519-448 during the finals of the 2026 Ohio Masters at HP Lanes.
It marks the ninth different winner in the event’s history.
Since that moment in time, Mote has claimed a doubles title with Zeke Bayt, gained a singles win in Michigan, claimed his first PBA regional title and has a group of second-place finishes.
What changed?
“We just stripped everything down with the game … back to bare bones basic and worked our way up from there,” said Mote, who won $1,999 for his victory. “We had immediate success. I just haven’t come off that high yet.
“I’m going to enjoy it as long as possible.”
Mote, the No. 6 seed entering Sunday’s match-play rounds, had crossed with qualifying leader and fellow two-handed lefty Ryan Liederbach during Saturday’s eight games.
“If anything, I showed him what not to do,” said Mote, who averaged 229 over eight games including a 160 in Game 4. “I thought I bowled pretty damn well, but he still beat me by over 100 pins.
“It was more not watching what he was doing in order to keep my mental sanity intact because I couldn’t replicate what he was doing.”
Mote admitted his qualifying problems came from trying to incorporate urethane equipment into the equation.
“I made a couple of physical tweaks this week and it was the first time for me throwing a lot of urethane,” said Mote, who used the Hammer Purple and Storm Concept during the event. “I really hadn’t been throwing it well so this was the first big test.
“I would throw three or four good ones and then throw one out the window that had no chance and give away a lot of pins.”
But Sunday was a different story as Mote started strong in his opening match, stopping No. 11 seed Steve Pennington 558-457 — the highest two-game set of the day — with a pair of 279 games.
After that came a tight battle with No. 19 Caelen Guthrie, who failed to convert a spare in the 10th frame of Game 2 of the cumulative two-game match play. It enabled Mote to rally after a 198 in Game 1 to shoot 246 in Game 2 for a 444-432 win.
In the semifinals against 19-year-old two-handed righty Aidan Furukawa, Mote faced a different challenge. The Savannah College of Art and Design junior decided to throw a backup ball against the lefty.
“Aidan was throwing urethanes that didn’t have a lot of flare and I wasn’t in urethane that match. They seemed to carry down a little more,” Mote said. “But neither of us had a good look or were throwing it particularly well that game.
“So instead of winning, it was more survival.”
Which Mote did — scoring a 412-391 win — to reach the finals.
WILLARD’S DAY
Willard, a 20-year-old Tonawanda, N.Y., native who will be a senior at Muskingum University, had to bowl 10 games in order to complete the tournament after not getting a first-round bye by finishing in the top eight during qualifying.
“I was sitting eighth after six games, but then I hit two bad pairs,” said Willard, who shot 178 and 183 his last two games to fall to the No. 21 seed for match play.
“It was a little bit scary, but I got through it. I wasn’t watching the scoreboard, and I’m proud of myself because I do that a lot.”
Willard, who was making his first Ohio Masters appearance, started his day by stopping 2025 runner-up Ian Carpenter (431-351) and barely getting past No. 5 seed Chad Roberts (464-454). before a big Game 2 enabled him to reach the semifinals with a 447-386 win over Massillon right-hander Frank Testa. He outscored Testa 234-175 in Game 2.
He faced No. 8 seed Brady Adler in the semifinals and admittedly made some mistakes.
“That was a pair problem for me. I was just trying to make the best shots I could in the moment,” said Willard, who admittedly stayed very active in the summer months, bowling sweeper events plus practicing while working three days a week in a pro shop.
“I had two lucky Brooklyn strikes, but you have to take them when you get them. I kind of feel bad for the other guy because he wasn’t getting any breaks and I got a couple of lucky ones.
“At the end of the first game, things got kind of wonky. But I made a good ball change on the fill shot and it worked out in the end. I threw the best shots that I could.”
Willard advanced with a 432-350 win despite shooting just 188 in Game 1 with a split in the 10th frame. But Adler missed three straight spares in that game while Willard rallied to throw the last six strikes in Game 2.
TITLE MATCH
It was Willard who had the hot hand early in the two-game title match on fresh oil against Mote, starting with seven straight strikes before leaving a pair of one-pin spares.
“I kind of played them similar to my first pair of the day (also on fresh) when I threw a sanded Black Hammer 78 up the gutter to break them down,” said Willard, who only got two shots on each lane of the title pair in warmups. “I was trying to get them to as much like that first pair as possible and then try to make similar shots after that.”
Mote started the title match with a 6-7-9 split.
“I might have gassed it a little bit off off of practice. I wasn’t necessarily surprised that it didn’t strike,” Mote said. “Just surprised that it split because I didn’t think it was that bad.
“But it’s match play. It’s about how quickly you can rebound off those kinds of shots because they are going to happen.”
Mote did rebound, rolling the next 10 strikes in a row to take Game 1 276-245 after Willard failed to convert a 3-6 spare in the 10th frame.
But while Mote started Game 2 with four strikes and seven of the front eight overall, Willard left three straight one-pin spares in the fourth through sixth.
“I made a little adjustment to the left and it was unfortunately the wrong move at that moment in time,” said Willard, a sports administration major who won $1,400 for his second-place finish. “I ended up moving back right and that’s when I had the double.
“The lanes definitely played different. They extended longer before it actually broke down at the mid parts of the lane.”
There were some shots — that resulted in strikes — that had Mote talking out loud to himself after the release.
“Most of them weren’t that bad, but when I’m bowling matches, I like to get a little animated … put on a little show,” Mote said. “Some of it is exaggerated for sure, but it’s just me trying to get the energy out in my case.
“Then, it’s just move on to the next shot.”
Or the next event. Still riding the wave.
For Mote, it’s on to the Akron Open next weekend at Station 300 in Akron, where he reached the stepladder finals in 2024.
2026 OHIO MASTERS
(Sunday, at HP Lanes, Columbus)
ROUND OF 24
(Two-game cumulative match play, losers each receive $250, with seeds; top eight receive first-round byes)
16 Matt Zitnik d. 17 Matthew Richards 436-332; 24 Charles Easton d. 9 Ric McCormick 489-403; 13 Frank Testa d. 20 Zach Grove 380-355; 21 Jacob Willard d. 12 Ian Carpenter 431-351; 18 D.J. Assaff d. 15 Bryan Brandt 399-325; 10 Aidan Furukawa d. 23 Jeremy Saccone 56-473; 19 Caelen Guthrie d. 14 Ty McKinney 390-321; 11 Steve Pennington d. 22 Nick Arvin 415-356.
ROUND OF 16
(Two-game cumulative match play, with seeds; losers each receive $400)
Zitnik d. 1 Ryan Liederbach 461-374; 8 Brady Adler d. Easton 425-397; Testa d. 4 Graham Fach 495-463; Willard d. 5 Chad Roberts 464-454; 2 Michael Tang d. Assaff 511-471; Furukawa d. 7 Jeff Fehr 404-370; Guthrie d. 3 Michael Mossbarger 431-422; 6 Simon Mote d. Pennington 558-457.
ROUND OF EIGHT
(Two-game cumulative match play; losers each receive $500)
Adler d. Zitnik 480-443; Willard d. Testa 447-386; Furukawa d. Tang 398-369; Mote d. Guthrie 444-432.
SEMIFINALS
(Two-game cumulative match play; losers each receive $825)
Willard (188-247) d. Adler (179-185) 432-350
Mote (214-198) d. Furukawa (199-192) 412-391
CHAMPIONSHIP
(Two-game cumulative match play; winner receives $1,999, loser receives $1,400)
Mote (276-243) d. Willard (245-203) 519-448