BRC VIA LINDA

champ Kyle King

Kyle King continued a torrid pace with his 4th title of the season in exciting JBT scratch-only action at BRC Via Linda.

The PBA's shark pattern was laid out to challenge our talented scratch bowlers, resulting in a -4 cut for 5 games (in a format where 150 in matchplay bonus pins were possible), as compared to a +156 cut the last time we used this format on a house pattern, highlighting just how much lane conditions dictate the scoring pace in today's environments.

Veteran Tom Anderson had no problem taming the shark, though, grabbing the lead after game 5.  His enjoyment would be short-lived, though, as #16 Kyle King upset him in round one of eliminations with a two-game sweep.  #2 Greg Geering and #3 Andy Holick (Who led most of qualifying_ also fell victim to lower seeds in round one.

In the round of 8, King snuck by #9 Steven Pizzi in three tough games, as did #7 DJ Sloan, defeating #14 Miguel Lopez.  #15 Mike Ingeman swept #5 Nicholas Lee, and #4 Greg Garbera swept too, but it took a second-game tiebreak to finish the deal over #11 Eric Rubin.

In one game semifinal matches, King beat Garbera 248-207, while Sloan beat Lee 155-150 in a real grind to set up the title match.

That left Sloan, the higher seed, with the unsavory choice of moving to the pair Kyle just shot a huge game on, or staying on a pair he just shot 150 on.  Choosing the latter was sound strategy, but it did no good at slowing down King, whose move in front of the ball return on the right lane keyed a 206-178 win over DJ for the title.  The win was yet another landmark, who becomes the youngest JBT bowler to reach 10 career titles, at only 15 years old!

 Big thanks to Tim Brenden and the whole crew at Via Linda for a great job hosting our Tour for the very first time! Over $1,300 in scholarships was awarded at the event- want in on the fun?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!