As The Tour enters our annual two week Summer Break, there is plenty of to be excited about as we are on record pace for bowler turnout and what's more exciting for us, we've paid out nearly $213,000.00 so far in 2018!  That's WAY ahead of 2017's pace and that's the way we like it!  This week's stop at Daffodil Bowl brought out a lot of bowlers with 168 total entries as folks from all over the Puget Sound (and beyond) were on hand while we also received a super surprise visit from past Champ, Bronson Etse all the way from South Dakota! Yakima was also represented as Chuck & Joshua Gonsalez made the trek... 

When all was said and done we had 34 bowlers who made the Cash List with handicaps ranging from 0 to 66 pins. Ashley Kochel was after her 3rd straight title and although she didn't win, her 19th place was her impressive 5th straight (and 6th out of 7) appearance on the Cash List!  Also, with Reuben Pedro (26th this week) winning last week in doubles with Ashley, this week we had our 5th straight 1st Time Winner! We'll talk more about this week's Champ, Sam Emfurther down in the write-up... 

As we've mentioned, Daffodil is always a hot spot for the Jackpot and this week, we had three bowlers, Skip Shear, Bob Rouse & Huyen Thai each with the front 4 taps, earning $150.00 each.  Late in the day, Earl Kleist nearly hit the 'Middle 7' as he had six in a row but missed on his 7th shot which would've been for $750.00. No word on whether or not Skip, Bob & Huyen said "Thank you" to Earl! 

David Kim & Samson Ibale broke out of their slumps as David took advantage of his 5 bonus pins to finish in 3rd Place after posting 1031, he actually had the lead after the 1st Squad while Samson's 3 bonus pins assisted him to a 4th Place finish as he fired 1022 in the Final Squad. Great shooting!  'Bowler of the Year' standings leader Dan Grass continued his hot hand by finishing 5th withLeon Bemis, Dan Watts & Bob Rouse right on the leaders heels! HUGE shout out to Charles McDonald as he shot a 988 for an impressive 9th Place! 

Kannah Tong led the Tournament after the 3rd Squad after he shot an incredible 1038 and what many of us were not aware of atthe time, his nephew, Sam Em was on a roll as he shot a 1039 to beat Uncle Kannah by ONE pin, 'stealing' away the title literally on his last shot of the day! Kannah was disappointed, but extremely gracious and happy that if he was going to get knocked off the top spot, it was Sam that did it! Kannah took home $850.00 for 2nd Place while Sam's Win was for $1,851.00. Sam said he plans to save his winnings for the 9-Tap Tour's 3-Region Tourney in Las Vegas which is coming up in January.  

As we mentioned earlier, this was Sam's 1st Tour Title after joining us a couple of years ago and he used his Storm 'Pitch Black' and Roto Grip 'Hot Cell' balls and told us that Ron Hoppe & Robert Kelley drilled them up for him. Sam was wearing Dexter 'The 9'shoes and said "I just stayed calm and in the moment as I knew it was very close." Sam had plenty of "Thank You's" to pass on, including his wife; Norma, kids; Ethan & Evan, friends & family; Kannah, Kare Tong, Lekai Tong & Kris Tong along with Cal Fisher, Dan Elliott & Ashley Kochel, adding that going into the last squad he jokingly told Ashley that since he was bowling with her "I must be on the lane of Champions!" He also wanted to thank some of the areas top bowlers who have helped him with his game, including Ron Hoppe, Robert Kelley, Erik Hohlbein & our very own Patrick Dennis. Great work, Sam and Congratulations from all of us!