SPORTS

After 42 years, USBC Masters returns to Indy

Frank Gogola
IndyStar correspondent
Jason Belmonte and 400 other bowlers tested oil patterns Monday at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. He is three-time defending Masters champion. This photograph was taken during a 2015 competition.

Bryon Smith missed all the bowling pins on his first throw Monday.

The 2003 Masters champion didn’t expect that, but it didn’t bother him. That’s because Monday was practice day for the United States Bowling Congress Masters at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. No one was keeping score.

Smith and the 400-plus bowlers spent their hour of practice attempting to figure out the best approach to attack the lane’s oil pattern. They tried different lanes, different angles on a single lane and bowling balls of different sizes and surface types.

Oil patterns vary from tournament to tournament, from day to day based on the temperature inside and outside the bowling alley, based on the lane’s location within the bowling alley and based on how previously thrown bowling balls move the oil after it’s set. They’re difficult to solve, because the oil is clear and can’t be seen.

“Oil patterns are the be all and end all,” said Jason Belmonte, the three-time defending Masters champion. “The hardest thing a bowler can accomplish is to read an invisible oil pattern. Bowlers have to be able to feel and see something that’s invisible. We can only make an adjustment based on the previous shot. Golfers can feel the wind or see the bunkers. In bowling you can’t really see those dangers until after you’ve thrown the ball.”

The Masters’ oil pattern was created by USBC executives and Kegel, a lane maintenance company that lays down the pattern. It features a distance of 39 feet with a total oil volume of 31.32 milliliters. It has a 2-to-1 ratio, with twice as much oil in the center of the lane compared to the outer portion.

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An oil pattern in normal league play usually is 7- or 8-to-1. It can be 15-to-1 for general, public bowling. The Masters’ 2-to-1 ratio makes the lane very flat, forcing bowlers to be more consistent and giving them less room for error in the hook and hold areas.

“It makes it more challenging because there isn’t a defined area where everybody plays when you have the lanes flat,” Smith said. “So, a lot of it depends on who you’re following and where they played in front of you. That can change how the pattern breaks down. And you have to keep adjusting.”

Smith said based on his hour of practice on the oil pattern, he expects a low- to medium-scoring event. He put that in the range of 208 to 215. And based on the flat lanes there’ll be a premium on picking up spares.

Among those testing the patterns were 53 bowlers from Indiana, including 13 from Indianapolis. One of those was Indianapolis native Jon Meko. Meko, 23, a Roncalli alum, works in high performance motor sports at Earl’s Indy and is an online student at Ashworth College, majoring in accounting.

The USBC Masters is the first major for Meko, who’s classified as an amateur since he’s not a Professional Bowling Association member. He said making the cut of 64 players for match play starting Friday will constitute a successful performance.

“I’m just a local guy chasing the dream of making it big in bowling,” Meko said. “There’ll be tough head-to-head battles, and I’m looking to establish a name for myself.”

The only other time the Masters was in Indianapolis was in 1974 at the Indiana Convention Center. The tournament was first contested in 1951.

The Masters is the second of four majors in the 2016 PBA Tour. Jesper Svensson won the first major of the year — the PBA Firelake Tournament of Champions — on Sunday. Top prize at the Masters is $50,000 with the total prize fund of $295,000 to be split among the top 105 bowlers.

Competitors will bowl 15 games of qualifying over three days. They’ll bowl a five-game block Tuesday, another block Wednesday and a final block Thursday. The 15-game totals will determine qualifiers for match-play. The top 63 players and the defending Masters champion — Belmonte — will compete in a double-elimination match play round Friday and Saturday. The finals are 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.