An UNBELIEVABLE RECORD 241 Entries from all over the Western US & Hawaii, produced a record smashing $23,507.00 paid-out.  An amazing 49 Members qualified for the Sunday Finals, earning the largest payouts EVER!!  The competition was incredible, one of the tightest battles in the first round of Head-to-Head Matches, the #1 seed had to face the #16 seed, which just happened to be mother & son, Christina Miller & Justin Miller.  It was a tough match. but mom prevailed, 239 to 226 sending Justin to the showers.  The Finals also saw a large number of BIG Scores... Andy Snow 285, Norris Montague 284, Jacqueline Mintz 270, Pam Sims 267.  When we got to the Elite 8, there were 4 bowlers from Las Vegas & 4 from Puget Sound still standing.  We also tried a new idea to help avoid burning out the lanes in the 3rd squad, by doing a "Refresh".  Instead of a full re-oil, the Refresh takes 1/2 the time (or less) and only re-oils the first 15 to 20 feet.  It didn't seem to impact the scoring up or down, but it sure made the shot more similar from the beginning of the day to the end.  Ladies had a field day at the Gold Coast, not only were there 10 women who qualified for the Finals... they also blazed through the matches, leaving the Champion & 2 of the 4 Semi Finalists representing the Ladies.  We also had ladies take the Jackpot Consolation with Keiko Johnson-Pero & Tena Dunn tied with 4-Taps, earning $100.00 each.  STORM Balls were awarded to the Friday, Saturday & Sunday High Scores, rewarding Bruce Smith, Jason Trevino & Justin Miller for having the Top Scores of the day.  BIG THANKS to STORM & Blair Blumenscheid, for the Live Stream of the Final Matches.  I haven't heard the numbers of those who watched the Broadcast, but watching her monitor, we were getting plenty of feedback from far & wide!!

ELITE 8: (back) T. Thai, N. Montague, C. Miller, J. Mintz, E. Hambrick.  (front) A. Snow, P. Sims, K. Nurmi

Our Champion earned her 1st Tour Title with some BIG games along the way.  Jacqueline Mintz who recently relocated from New York to Las Vegas, said that she loves bowling in Tournaments.  With only 2 pins of handicap, you can tell that she's an excellent bowler and her Tournament experience certainly helped her along the way.  Her 946 qualifying score on Saturday was in the 'middle-of-the-pack', but on Sunday she was definitely on top of her game.  Jacqueline's check was also a Multi-Region Tourney record at a whopping $3,972.00, that she plans on using to pay moving costs.   A Venom Shock was her weapon of choice, drilled at JBs Bowling Supply in Las Vegas.  Her son was enthusiastically cheering her on throughout her matches, telling us to refer to himself as her "Amazingly handsome son".  The retiree also enjoys playing pickleball in her spare time.  CONGRATS JACKIE on Win #1.

In 2nd Place, Norris Montague one of the original Las Vegas bowlers from 2015, was shooting for his FOURTH Tour Win.  Norris had a nice run going through his matches, but really ran out of gas in the end.  Norris may have fallen just short of his FIFTH Title, but his Winnings hopefully soothed that wound, since it nearly reached $2,000.00, with an enormous $1,986.00 2nd Place check.

Our two 3rd Place finishers, Pam Sims & Erek Hambrick each had great runs to make the Semi-Finals and each ran into 'Hot Bowlers' in that match.  Pam earned an impressive 3rd Place check for $610.00, while Erek had only $10 in the Winner's Pot, so his check was a bit smaller at $495,00.  The $115.00 that Erek didn't receive, was passed down to the four 5th Place finishers, who each got an extra $29.00.  Pam was close to catching her 4th Career Title, while Erek was going for his 2nd Win.