The 42nd annual Manitoba Open started Friday January 12th at Chateau Lanes in Winnipeg. The usual brutally cold weather accompanied the bowlers to the first NDBowling.com Major of the season.
The tournament was held on the 40 foot Chichen Itza pattern. Although this pattern is considered to be in the “challenge” category, it played much more difficult on the older Chateau Lanes synthetic surface.
Qualifying started on Friday with the first of three qualifying shifts. Defending champion, Austyn Ducharme, got off to a hot start by posting a 1312 block. This total would go on to be the top block out of the three qualifying rounds giving Ducharme the $150 bonus as the top qualifier. In total, the 3 qualifying shifts produced 112 entries (including re-entries) meaning 32 would advance to the Match Play round on Sunday. The cut to the top 32 was Nathan Smith with a 1135 total.
On Sunday, the top 32 bowlers would be split into 4 groups of 8. Each group would bowl round robin matches with the final game being a position round. Following match play, the top 8 bowlers would advance to the finals.
Leading the way on Sunday was Cory Williams. Williams averaged 8 pins better than the field in Match Play. Williams won 6 out of his 8 matches and claimed the top overall seed for the show. Joining Williams in the finals was Earl Sobotkiewicz, Jon Snyder, Tayler Wallstrum, Austyn Ducharme. Anthony Skitt, Israel Potter, and Nathan Smith.
The format of the 8-person stepladder finals was a bit unique. In game one, the 6, 7, & 8 seeds would bowl a game with the high pin total advancing. That winner would join the 4 & 5 seeds for a single game match with the high pin total advancing. The final 4 players would then bowl a traditional stepladder final with head to head matches. The top overall seed must be defeated twice. The finals were produced and streamed by YesOui Productions in association with DigiPix Media.
Nathan Smith won the first 3 for 1 match over Israel Potter and Anthony Skitt. Smith would join Tayler Wallstrum and Austyn Ducharme in the second game. Ducharme won match two setting up a final 4 step ladder that featured a trio of lefties as the top 3 seeds. Ducharme would go on to defeat Jon Snyder and Earl Sobotkiewicz, setting up a championship match with Cory Williams. Ducharme would defeat Williams 225-172 the first match and 256-179 in the second match to successfully defend his Open crown.
The win gives Ducharme back to back Manitoba Open Titles. Ducharme joins Michael Schmidt and Daron Hansen as the only 3 bowlers to defend their Open titles. Ducharme also becomes the 7th bowler to win multiple Manitoba Open titles. Great bowling, Austyn!
We would like to send a big thank you to Melody Savage, the entire staff at Chateau Lanes, and the many volunteers for hosting the event. They raised over $9000 in added prize money resulting in a $3000 top prize and over $20,000 in total prize fund. We appreciate the hospitality and all the hard work that goes into making this tournament what it is.
Tune in next week as we preview the 2024 Morris Anderson Memorial Shootout.