Cook & Skurzynski Capture 2015 Christmas Tournament Titles

The PJBT conducted its 2015 Christmas Tournament again this year at Haja Rose Bowl in Allentown, PA.  This event, which is always the day after Christmas, was held on Saturday, December 26.  This event is one of our biggest events of the year, being that the college students are in town and many former PJBT bowlers return to competition.

This year’s event saw 123 bowlers take on the 2013 NCAA Women’s Championships Pattern.  The event started with the Handicap Division bowling at 10am by themselves first.  Their event was conducted and then the Scratch Division started at approximately 2:30pm.  The Handicap had 42 bowlers on this day while Scratch saw 81 bowlers compete.

Format for the major event was 6 games qualifying, top 40% advance to 3 games of match play – at completion of 9 games, top 4 advanced to single elimination bracket final.  Payouts were based on entries.  We paid out the top 8 in Handicap and 13 in Scratch.

In the Handicap Tourn, Emily Skurzynski became the first Handicap Bowler to win multiple titles on the year.  Emily captured her 2nd title of the year.  After 6 games of qualifying, Skurzynski shot 1250 or +50 and was seeded 4th entering match play.  The top 16 advanced to match play with cut being -88.  In Match Play, Emily won 2 of 3 matches and maintained her position as the 4th seed of 4 entering the finals.  She only trailed tournament leader Walter Tomlin, 2nd seed bowler Isaac Carpenter, and 3rd seed finalist Erin McGinley.  In Round 1 of the finals it was Tomlin vs Skurzynski and Carpenter vs McGinley.  Tomlin, who was bowling both events on this day….led for most of the day entering the match with Skurzynski.  Skurzynski, however, outlasted Tomlin in their one games match 177-169 to advance to the final.  The other semi-final saw Isaac Carpenter defeated Erin McGinley 149-132.  In the title match, Skurzynski took on Isaac Carpenter.  Emily got off to a fast start and never looked back!  She shot 216 and won the match 216-164.  Skurzynski captured the Major Title and Top Prize of $300 scholarship.

In the Scratch Tourn, Jack Cook captured his 1st PJBT title of this season.  Cook outlasted the large 81 bowler field on this day.  Cook shot 1291 for 6 games and was seeded 3rd after qualifying.  The top 32 bowlers advanced to match play with cut being -76.  In match play, Cook struggled slightly but was able to maintain the 4th place seed entering the final.  The ironic thing about the day was both of our #4 seed bowlers in Scratch and Handicap got the title.  Jack Cook trailed tournament leader Michael Martell, #2 seed Walter Tomlin, and #3 seed Dylan Zimmerman.  In the semi-final matches, Martell took on Cook while Tomlin and Zimmerman faced off.  Cook and Martell had a classic match that came down to the last frame.  In the end, Cook defeated Martell 221-212 to advance.  In the other match, Zimmerman defeated Tomlin 226-183.  This set up the EPIC final match between Cook and Zimmerman.  Both bowlers started the final match with “x’s”.  Zimmerman was on 280 pace while Cook was on 290 pace.  Around the 7th frame, both spared/struck/spared and was only 10 pins apart entering the 10th frame.  Cook knew he needed to strike out to shut out Zimmerman.  He did not.  He struck and spared for 236.  Zimmerman knew to capture the title he only needed a mark in the 10th frame to win.  He threw his 1st first shot wide and left the 1-2 spare combination.  He went straight at the spare and CHOPPED THE 1 PIN OFF THE 2 PIN!!  The open frame handed Cook the title sitting on the bench.  Cook defeated Zimmerman 236-227.  Cook captured the Major Title and the $300 Top Scholarship Prize.

Thanks to Rotogrip for donating a CASE (4) of bowling balls for the event and Our Family’s Pro Shop for their continued support of PJBT events at Haja Rose Bowl.