I bowled the Geico Classic last week as my very first PBA tournament.  I bowled this tournament as a non member.  Here is a brief summary of my experience:

TQR: Luckily, I had some guys that I knew near me. To the right of me was Brian Zeisig and Tim Regan. To the pair to the left of me was James Wallace and two pairs to the left of me was Ray Edwards. When they saw that I was starting to string them together, they were quietly cheering me on. Buzz Goodman was following me towards the end of the day and giving me updates where the next non member was. I didn't really want to know that since I really wanted to be on top of the leaderboard.  I finished as the top non member and 13th overall to get me into the Round of 64.

Round of 64, Block 1: I weighed in my bowling equipment successfully. Then I see that I am paired up with Barnes (2nd in pts), Mika (4th in pts), and Steve Harman (29th in pts). I was like, "c'mon I know you want to throw me in the water but why in the very deep end of the pool."  Either way, I started off good and then every slight mistake I make, it cost me dearly. I left a lot of splits in the morning. A few missed spares like the 2-4-5 and a 10 pin. Needless to say, I finished the block -27(61st). Mika finished +4(59th), Harman finished +156(22nd) and Barnes was +287(4th). I found that I was trying to play a shot that was there but was in jail if I missed ever so slightly. The difference between the TQR and the Round of 64 is that all 64 bowlers in the field are playing the lanes correctly and making the right moves which was a new experience since in the TQR, I didn't really have to make any adjustments.  After the block, I got some pointers from Wallace. 

Round of 64, Block 2: I started practicing with equipment in the practice session for what I might have to use later in the round. To start the round off, I went back to what I started off initially in Block 1 and got myself back to even. I found that the shot remained for me the entire block.  Mika shot 300 in game 2. Anyway, things really started to click in for me in game 3 and I was going to continue what I was doing until I lost the shot. Luckily, I never did. Pretty soon, I found myself creeping up in the standings. I shot 269 in game 5 and was at +166 after that game and people were starting to notice. I had my first open of the block in the middle of game 6 when the ball fell off my hand when going after a 3 pin. Ooops. Still shot 235 and got myself above the plus 200 mark. Now ppl were noticing and rooting for me in the last game. I ended up not having enough the last game and shot a 235 and was short by 37 pins to make the Round of 32.  I finished in 40th place at plus 236.

After the block: Barnes and I had to sign each other's score sheet for verification of the scores. He said to me "Very nice block". Mika came up to me and shook my hand and said good bowling. A senior PBA guy from Ohio, John Oakes came up to me and said that he noticed that I moved up the standing very nicely and said very good bowling.  All of this meant a lot for me as I am a non member bowling in a tournament with the best in the world. 

All in all, this was a very exciting experience for me.

I just joined the site last night and decided that I should post something.  Since this is my first post, don't expect too much. 

My b-day was last week and now am feeling like an old man.  My teammates decided to take me out after league to help me feel young again.  It worked.  What did I bowl again.

Just bought a new Complete NV to get me ready for the LI Masters.  Good thing I got the new ball.  I used it in the tournament and was able to make the cut for the finals this upcoming weekend.  +124 for 6 games.

League notes:  My Tuesday league in Smithtown, I didn't bowl to well but my team carried me.  The team is in 2nd place (26 teams) with 3 weeks left in the third.  My Wednesday league in Coram, we had a good night as we took 19 out of 25 points.  6th place (23 teams) with 1 week left in the third.