History does have a habit of repeating itself.  Every few years a mechanical issue or communication breakdown leads to lane conditions that are vastly different from the Tour's normal conditions.  This week we experienced both issues, when a new type of oil was used for the first time at Paradise, coupled with an incorrect pattern that was programmed into the oil machine.  The result was a ScoreFest that nearly broke a few Tour Records.  The Record for a 'High Scoring' Tournament was set back in 2010, at Skyway Park, when we had 31 bowlers that topped 1000, with FIVE of those over 1100 and 5 of the 1000's didn't even Cash that day (normally we have 3 to 5 1000s in a Tourney).  This week at Paradise, we came close to those marks, with 24 over 1000, including FOUR over 1100 and 2 of those 1000's didn't Cash.  The fun part, was seeing many of the Members on the Cash List smashing their Personal Best (PB) scores along the way.  Top 3 finishers shot their 'PB' series by amazing margins of +88, +153 & +108, with the four huge 1100 scores spread out over 3 different squads.  Pen Liddy (Hagen) got into the act by starting her first game with the Front 5 Taps, then 5 natural strikes, then 2 more Taps for her first Tour 300 game and she was rewarded with $250.00 from the 9-Tap Jackpot, to go along with her 8th Place finish.  To add to uniqueness of the day, we even paid an extra spot on the Cash List thanks to a tie for the last spot.

The bowlers tied for 3rd Place each had SPECTACULAR performances! Samson Ibale shot an awesome 1090 that didn't count, because he also shot an even more amazing 1109 in the 3rd squad.  In addition to his $304.00 for 3rd, Samson had 300 games in each entry, which helped him to earn an extra $171.00 from the Scratch Pot.  His counterpart at 1109 was Kai Pedro, who not only beat his PB by 108 pins, but also turned in the Tour's first **NATURAL 300** game since 2011 (see the video below).  Kai's 300 is the 8th time that feat has been accomplished since 2002 and since the Tour is USBC Certified, those perfecto's have all been sanctioned scores.  The 26 year old actually shot his first 300 game 10 years ago, at age 15.  Kai also picked up some nice extra Scratch Pot cash ($133.00) to go with his $304.00 share of the Prize Money. 

​Kai Pedro throws 'Natural 300' game!  Click here to see his perfect 12th shot. 

Another really GREAT story unfolded for our 2nd Place finisher James Pippen.  With a huge score leading the pack going into the Final squad, James would need to SHATTER his PB to Win it.  He came within a spare (or a just good break) of doing just that, coming up just 10 pins short (1147) of his first Tour Title.  Not only did he shoot his PB by 153 pins, he also topped his previous High-Game TWICE, including his first 9-Tap 300 game.  He had a HUGE smile on his face, long before he collected the$816.00 check for 2nd.

Willie Manning had the BIGGEST smile on his face at the end of the day, but had to really sweat-it-out all afternoon after tossing his FANTASTIC 1157 in the 2:00 squad.  He FINALLY captured that elusive 1st Title, after