The NDBowling.com Player of the Year Race kicked off this past weekend at The Coors Light Fall Shootout. Strike Zone in Williston welcomed a talented field of bowlers to town all looking to claim a piece of the prize fund that has swelled to over $23,000.
The qualifying rounds on Saturday were held at 9am, 1pm, and 5pm. Each qualifying round was a 6-game block with the winner of each squad receiving a $500 bonus. Re-entries were allowed, so the weekend had the possibility of becoming a marathon event for some players.
The tournament was held on a modified Chichen Itza pattern which proved to be quite a challenge to the talented field. Following the 3 qualifying rounds on Saturday, the cut to the top 23 was 1144. The Fall Shootout also has what is called the “idiot rule”. What is the idiot rule you ask? Well, of all players who enter more than one shift, whoever doesn’t qualify in the top 23 but has the highest 2-shift total (12 games) advances as the 24th qualifier. Advancing as the idiot this season was Daren Seney with a 2256 total.
Qualifying Scores:
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On Sunday the top 23 plus the idiot returned for a 3-game seeding round. Following the 3 games, players would be seeded 1-24 with the top 8 receiving a first round bye. All matches would be a race to 2 wins. If a match was tied 1-1, it would be determined by a 9th and 10th frame roll off.
Two-time defending champion, Dawson Unrath, made the cut and a bounty was put on him by the folks at Strike Zone. Whoever was able to take down Unrath in the bracket would receive a $200 bonus. If Dawson were to win and claim his third consecutive title, the $200 bonus would go to him. The run for Unrath would come to an end in a close match with Matt Smallin that had to be decided by a second 9th and 10th frame roll off.
While there was a lot of impressive bowling happening on Sunday, nobody was better than Josh Link. Link never lost a game going 10-0 in the bracket in matches with Nathan Smith, qualifying leader Damon Winslow, Nick Solar, Austyn Ducharme, and Matt Smallin. Link looked impressive all day long using the Storm Ion Pro, Summit Peak and Roto Grip Attention Star. For his efforts, he took home the $3500 top prize and may or may not have a bounty put on him at next season’s event.
Historically, Link will go down as the winner in what will be marked as the final tournament held on free fall pinsetters at Strike Zone. Over the course of the next month, the 24-lane center will undergo a transformation from free fall pinsetters to new Brunswick Boost ST string pinsetters. This change will help usher in a new era of bowling as string pinsetters build in popularity. These machines are USBC certified and will likely surprise many who bowl on them for the first time.
Big thank you to Brad Peterson, Jese Sickler and the entire crew at Strike Zone for hosting another great event. This tournament reached a record 129 total entries this season and it shows how much the bowlers appreciate the hard work and generous prize fund.
Congratulations to Josh Link, winner of the 2024 Fall Shootout!
Next Event: NDBowlTV Masters | October 26-27 | North Hill Bowl in Minot, ND | POSTER
