Finalists for Sunday’s televised finals (1 p.m., The CW) of the Surfside PBA New York Classic at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester are, from left, Austin Grammar, Patrick Dombrowski, Riley Woodard, Kris Prather and Chris Via. Photos by Mike Pettinella/For Video News Service.
By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
Riley Woodard of Orem, Utah, says that reaching the televised finals of a Professional Bowlers Tour event for the first time is a dream come true.
However, except for a last-minute change of plans, he wouldn’t have found his way to Rochester earlier this week to compete in the Surfside PBA New York Classic.
On Friday night before a packed house at ABC Gates Bowl, Woodard, fellow PBA rookie Austin Grammar and veterans Patrick Dombrowski, Kris Prather and Chris Via advanced to Sunday’s TV show (1 p.m., The CW) with victories in the best-of-seven Round of 8.
Grammar earned the No. 1 seed for the finals and will need to win one game for the $30,000 top prize. Dombrowski is No. 2, followed by Woodard, Prather and Via.
Via earned the No. 5 seed despite losing his match to Woodard, four games to one, because he was the highest seeded player (based on his 16-game qualifying round total) that lost in the Round of 8.
Woodard, speaking to Video News Service after rolling games of 257, 236, 230 and 257 against Via, said he was on his way to bowl in a tournament in Boise, Idaho, last weekend when he found out he could compete in Rochester.
“This is my first year out here and I’ve been bowling all the PTQs (Pre-Tournament Qualifiers),” the 21-year-old right-hander said. “And I wasn’t aware that this event and the last one were open fields. There were no PTQs.
“So, I found out in Missouri, I believe, from somebody else that they were getting on the wait (waiting list). So I got on the wait for the last stop and this one. And I didn’t make it into the last event and I got an email Friday night at like 8:30 saying I made it off the wait list for this event.”
With that news, he said he booked a 7 a.m. flight out of Salt Lake City on Monday and arrived in Rochester too late to miss the scheduled practice session for the 132 entrants.
“Yeah, I flew in with six balls,” he said. “But the (Storm) reps have been more than helpful. I’ve been able to drill a couple balls. It’s all worked out so far.”
Woodard said he was “all but raised in a bowling center.”
“It’s been part of my whole life,” he said. “My parents, Ryan and Aneda, and my grandpa, Rick, owned the bowling center where I’m from back in Utah.”
Asked how he will handle bowling on national TV for the first time, he said he will “try to take it step by step.” He added that his parents will be flying in for the show on Sunday.
A self-described “bowling nerd,” Woodard, the 2024 PBA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year, said he grew up watching bowling on TV and still subscribes to the Brad & Kyle YouTube videos.
“This is just awesome,” he said. “Little me would be geeking out right now, for sure.”
GRAMMAR DELIVERS IN GAME SEVEN
Grammar, a 23-year-old righty two-hander, saved his best game for last – rolling the front nine strikes in a 274 effort – to defeat Japan’s Shota Kawazoe, four games to three. He earned the No. 1 seed as the highest qualifier to win all matches in the elimination match play bracket.
Unlike Woodard, he has experience bowling on television, having competed in the Junior Gold Championships, Intercollegiate Singles Championships and Intercollegiate Team Championships.
A victory on Sunday by either Grammar or Woodard would be the third by a PBA rookie this season. Brandon Bonta won the PBA Players Championship title, shooting 300 in the championship match, and Spencer Robarge captured last week’s Pilgrim’s PBA Ohio Classic title.
Japan’s Shota Kawazoe talks to Tom Hess of the PBA video crew after recording a 300 game during Friday afternoon’s Round of 16 matches.
DOMBROWSKI OKAY WITH ‘NUMBER TWO’
Dombrowski, a 47-year-old righty from Parma, Ohio, swept Darren Tang of Las Vegas, Nev.. 4-0, with games of 245, 229, 235 and 222 on the 38-foot Bear “sport” oil pattern.
The No. 2 seed could be an omen of good things to come for Patrick Dombrowski, who earned his first PBA title as the second-seeded finalist at the U.S. Open earlier this season.
Always thinking ahead, Dombrowski said he’ll be watching the first two matches on the TV pair (lanes 39-40) closely.
“It depends how they break them down (the lanes’ oil pattern) and we’ll just go from there,” he said. “Pay attention the first two matches, see how the gutter plays and adjust from there.”
He said he’s delivering the ball better than ever.
“Storm (bowling company) has helped me a lot,” said Dombrowski, who keeps a detailed record on a spreadsheet of every game he bowls. “I just feel like I’m throwing the ball like I’m in my thirties.”
Via, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, will take on Prather of Plainfield, Ill., a six-time PBA champion, in the first match on Sunday. Prather advanced by topping left-hander Matt Sanders of Evansville, Ind., four games to one.
Rochester area fans supported the tournament all week as this photo from Friday night attests.
TROUP ‘DEVASTATED’ AFTER LOSS TO PRATHER
Kyle Troup, the tournament’s high qualifier and fan favorite, fought back the tears as he expressed his disappointment with losing his Round of 16 match to Kris Prather on Friday afternoon.
After averaging 238 over 16 qualifying games, Troup needed to win one best-of-seven match to reach Sunday’s televised finals. It wasn’t in the cards, however, as Prather jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-2 victory.
Prather won 221-196, 200-166, 245-153, before Troup rallied to win 232-225 and 214-200. Prather sealed the win, 228-179, in game six.
“I feel pretty devastated, honestly,” he replied when asked what went wrong. “I had some rough communication (regarding strategy) at the beginning and panic set in like it normally does in these bracket matches over the last couple of years. And then, I finally got comfortable and won a couple games, but at the end of the day I pissed this opportunity away.”
Troup, noting that he hasn’t made it onto TV in two years, said he thought he “had it figured out this week, but s— went south and so did I.”
He acknowledged that bowling has been “overwhelming for quite some time now.”
“It just sucks that I didn’t give it all I had. I just to win one match. I had full belief the whole week that I was going to do it. Another setback.”
Troup is a 12-time PBA tournament champion with two major titles, but coming into the Rochester event he had earned only $14,000 with a 16th place finish at the PBA Indiana Classic as his best performance.
He said he’s been trying to stay positive from week to week, but admitted, “It’s probably going to take me some time to find some positives from this week because I can’t find one from today so and that’s the devastating part.”
Still, he will have a check to cash and he said he’s looking forward to bowling with Sweden’s Jesper Svensson in next week’s Owen’s Craft Mixers PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship in Portland, Me.
“We lean on each other and (I lean on) my wife,” he said. “Jesper’s girlfriend will be coming over from Sweden to be with us. It will be a good week together for sure.”
Top picture looks more like an ugly shirt contest.