North Dakota’s greatest bowling tradition enters its 35th year this weekend at Midway Lanes in Mandan, ND. The 2021 KFYR TV Bowling Classic will once again feature a sold out field of 120 bowlers, all vying for a spot on the live TV show finals and a shot at the $2000 top prize. Here are some of the storylines going into the seasons 2nd Major.
Shift Work
The 35th annual KFYR TV Bowling Classic will feature a split shift qualifying round due to the ongoing pandemic. 60 bowlers will bowl at 10 am and the remaining 60 bowlers will bowl at 3 pm. With fewer players breaking down the lanes during each qualifying shift, will we see a different mix of bowlers on Sunday? Will more players advance from the morning shift or the afternoon shift? The top 5 from each shift are guaranteed to advance to Sunday. The remaining 20 players will be determined by combining the scores from both shifts.
Notable Absence
7 of the last 8 KFYR TV Bowling Classic finals have featured either Matt Smallin or Eric Parvey. As of now, both players are absent from the roster this weekend. Safe to say the finals of the 2021 KFYR TV Bowling Classic will look a little bit different. Will someone take home their first NDBowling.com Major Title? Last season, Blake Wallstrum took home the KFYR TV Bowling Classic for his first NDBowling.com Major title in a victory over Eric Parvey. Wallstrum will be in attendance this weekend looking to become the first back to back winner since John Juba won 3 in a row from 1988-1990.
Hungry Like the Wolf
Since 2012, no player has made more NDBowling.com Major finals without a win than Thomas Wolf. Wolf has appeared in 7 championship rounds across all 4 Majors with 4 of those appearances happening in the last 3 years. Wolf’s best finish in a Major is a runner-up finish to Michael Schmidt at the 2014 NDBowling.com Classic and a runner-up finish to Matt Smallin at the 2019 KFYR TV Bowling Classic. Wolf will enter this weekend with a little home center advantage looking for that elusive first Major title.
NDBowling.com Player of the Year Race
The 2020-2021 NDBowling.com Player of the Year Race enters a critical turning point this weekend at the KFYR. The last 5 NDBowling.com Player of the Year winners made the finals of the KFYR TV Bowling Classic the year they won Player of the Year. Thomas Wolf (2016), Eric Parvey (2017), Jeremiah Smith (2018), Mike Larson (2019), and Eric Parvey (2020).
Current Season Top 10:
1 – Thomas Wolf 75.10
2 – Jeremiah Smith 57.35
3 – Wade Scott 46.00
4 – Jon Breckel 44.55
5 – Mike Larson 42.30
6 – Mike Green 41.65
7 – Tayler Wallstrum 40.70
8 – Blake Wallstrum 39.60
9 – Ryan Selk 36.95
10 – Eric Kempel 36.00
Bold Predictions
Without knowing the lane pattern, here are my bold predictions for the 35th annual KFYR TV Bowling Classic.
– Justin Schiffler
– Thomas Wolf
– Clayton Mohr
– Mike Larson
– Adam Peters
The finals will be broadcast live on Western North Dakota NBC stations starting at 11:30 am on Sunday February 7th.