450 bowlers traveled to the Gold Coast Casino in Las Vegas, NV, to compete in the 2019 USBC Masters tournament, one of the major tournaments in professional bowling. After 15 games of qualifying, the top 64 bowlers advanced to double-elimination match play. Bowlers bowl three games against their opponent, and whoever’s three-game total is higher wins the match. If a bowler loses a three-game match, they get put in the elimination bracket, which means they have to bowl a lot more games and if they lose again, they are eliminated from the tournament.
After the match play five bowlers were left standing for the televised finals on Monday, April 1st. They were, from first to fifth seed, Jakob Butturff, Mykel Holliman, Jake Peters, Mitch Hupé, and Chris Sloan.
In the first match of Sloan versus Hupé, both bowlers were playing about the same line, from the 7.5 board at the arrows to the 5.5 board at the breakpoint. Hupé used a urethane ball whereas Sloan, the two-hander, was using a resin ball. Hupé chopped the 3-pin off of the 6-pin in the second frame, and that would come back to haunt him when all was said and done. Continue reading
12 Strikes Zone 