July 27, 2013
Vanderbilt’s assistant bowling coach, Josie Earnest, is one of the leading professional bowlers in the United States. She is competing in the U.S. Open in Ohio this week and sends this report.
What. A. Week. Days 4 and 5 of the U.S. Open were BRUTAL. On Thursday there was a six game cashers’ round and then the field was cut to the top 24 players who would take part in 24 games of round robin match play until the TV show was decided.
I didn’t bowl exceptional, but I bowled well enough to make it to the round robin. We bowled our first eight games of match play Thursday night and then came back for 16 games of match play Friday. That’s 30 games plus practice all in two days.
Match play is so important in regards to final standings because each match is worth an additional 30 bonus pins. This means that if you win every match you receive an additional 720 pins. If you have a stellar match play record there is a very high chance that you will make the finals.
This was not the case for me. I had several matches that could be won or lost on one of my shots, or my competitor catching a timely break, and unfortunately most of those didn’t fall in my favor. The great thing about the U.S. Open is it teaches you exactly what your weaknesses are so you can go back and be even better prepared for the next tournament. It became very obvious to me what I needed to work on in order to be even more successful at the next U.S. Open.
I ended up finishing 11th, which was my highest finish at this tournament in my three years of competing. While I’m disappointed with the way a few of the cards fell, I’m proud of the result and the progress I’ve made. There are always things to learn and improve on and I plan to take the next bit of time developing my game further.
Now it’s on to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. where I will be representing the United States in the Tournament of the Americas. I will be competing with fellow former Commodore Brittni Hamilton, along with Steve Smith and Eddie VanDaniker. Britt and I are going to do our best to make our country and Commodore Nation proud.
Go `Dores!
Josie