Interesting week

It's never over
Easter Sunday had some pretty exciting television. I'm sure once you were finished with your family activities, you must have watched the PBA Women's Series Championship as well as the Masters. Using the simplified scoring system which counted number of balls thrown to clear the deck, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard was nearly eliminated in the first round with a 17. That averages to 3 strikes and 7 spares. In a regular scored game, that is anywhere from a high 180 to nearly 220 game if the 3 strikes are all together. To barely surviving the first round on the Cheetah pattern, she set the PBA television record for 20 consecutive strikes. She needed every one of them to advance and win the tournament.

Angel Cabrera, in the last pairing at the Masters, was fading while superstars Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were surging up the leaderboard. Cabrera birdied 3 of the last 6 holes to get into the playoff. He survives errant tee shot in the first playoff hole to win the Masters on the second playoff hole.

Obviously, the lesson is that it is never over. I have had a miraculous set to qualify or put myself back into contention. I have also been knocked out contention when a miracle 300 was bowled by another entrant to place me below the cut line. Exhilarating or painful, but powerful emotions were evoked.

Keeping an exemption
Georgia's Jason Sterner was just below the cut line at the conclusion of the US Open. Jason earned his exemption as the Southern Region's Point Leader in 2007-08. However, the PBA granted his petition for an exemption due to the unusual events at the US Open that caused him to fall below the cut line. As it seems, Mike Edwards was allowed to replace Pete Weber, who had to withdraw during the tournament. This situation gave Mike Edwards the extra points he needed to qualify for his exemption for the next season.

Lesson here is to know the rules if you are going to write a petition, whether a tournament or league. For the match play leagues, how many are following Rule 100k, paragraph 4? If each team has an absentee bowler, they must be lined up against each other. The rule states how you determine which absentee bowler wins.