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Making room in bowling's ABCs for a D Bryon Smith's level of success in the PBA has increased comparative to his skill in bowling all the shots needed on tour By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune Struggling with the ABCs in formative years is not uncommon. But when you're trying to earn your lunch money on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour, it can be a hard lesson. That's what Bryon Smith, who was raised in Sutherlin and lives in Roseburg, discovered when he took a relatively elementary game on tour, only to find he'd need a far more sophisticated version if he was to make the grade. Perseverance now has him enjoying the most success of his eight-year career. "I finally got really good at a lot of games," says Smith, among the professionals competing in the Medford Open at Lava Lanes this week. "I'm pretty solid at any game you need to have: A, B, C or D." Following three days of pro-ams and practice, Smith - the sentimental favorite of many here - and his PBA brethren begin competition today in the hope of grabbing the $40,000 championship prize. Smith has yet to win a tour event, but he recently accomplished his best career finish, placing third in mid-October at the Great Lakes Classic in Grand Rapids, Mich., and his earnings and point totals have risen faster than a teacher's voice in an unruly classroom. "Mentally," says Smith, "I've matured a lot over the past eight years." There are a number of significant factors. His road roommate the last 31/2 years has been Chris Barnes, one of the top players in the world and one with whom he regularly strategizes between squads and during practice. He's enlisted the services of a Eugene sports psychologist. And, most importantly, his determination to make this his life's work has given him the experience and knowledge of equipment and lane conditions necessary to climb the ladder. Following the Earl Anthony Memorial Classic in Seattle last week, where Smith finished 50th and cashed for $1,000, he stands ninth on the PBA points list and 22nd on the earnings list. Smith's improved play has paralleled the increase in purses on tour, and the $47,973 he's made this season is well beyond his previous high of nearly $30,000 in 1997. And there are still nine events left this season. "I've had by far my best year," says Smith. "I've been in contention every week, and there have been only a couple of weeks where I didn't have a chance to make the TV shows." Now he's competing near his stomping grounds - close enough to home that he commuted a couple of days early in the week from Roseburg, where he and his wife, Mariah, treated some of the tour players to a home-cooked meal. He'd like nothing better than for his first tour win to come at Lava Lanes. "If there was a tournament I could choose to win on this year's schedule, this would be it," says Smith, a longtime friend of Lava Lanes owner Ric Donnelly. "Everyone in Southern Oregon has been very supportive of my bowling through the years." In anticipation of the PBA's debut here, Smith has corresponded with Rogue Valley friends through e-mail and instant messaging, advising those bowling in the tournament or in pro-ams to simply have fun. That's what Smith did as a youngster as he took up the game at his parents' Westwood Lanes in Sutherlin and branched out to Indian Lanes and Cedar Bowl in Roseburg. He began competing in Southern Oregon All-Star tournaments well before he was old enough to drive, taking on the region's top adult bowlers at the sprightly age of 14. It was about then he decided this would be his career. At 20, Smith eschewed college and joined the tour full-time. If he didn't like the bowler's life, he reasoned, he could return to school in his early 20s and try something else. It didn't take long for his eyes to open as wide as erasers. "It's a whole different type of bowling," says Smith. "There's a lot to learn out there." From the amateur tournaments in which he had excelled, it was the difference between the playground and a prison yard, or the school play and a Broadway production. Smith bowled in 21 tournaments his first year, cashed in four and made less than $8,000. A year later, it was 19 events, four cashes and just over $5,000. Lunch money was scarce. He considered playing hooky, or worse, dropping out. "When you're struggling and not competing and you're down in the middle and bottom half of the field," says Smith, "there's always times when you think, in the back of your mind, that maybe this isn't what you want to do. "But even though you kind of feel like quitting, bowling gets under your skin and you want to work that much harder to get there. You work twice as hard so you can be successful." He stayed with it, and in the ensuing five years he cashed, on average, nearly 10 times a year and raised his career earnings to almost $125,000 entering this season. When Smith speaks of learning the ABCs - and D - he refers to the variety of shots one must master to compete with the best in the world: A, a solid hooking game; B, a straighter game, where much of the lane is taken out of play; C, a combination of the two; and D, speed control of all of the above disciplines. "I've finally got all of that under control," he says. "The past couple of years I've been able to do it." When he doesn't have it, he's been able to shake it off - forget the bad shot and think about succeeding on the next one. He attributes the improved mind-set to his work with the psychologist. "Probably the most important thing," says Barnes, "is that, when the sky is falling, so to speak, he finds a way to stop it. He not only stops the bleeding, but he recovers and gets positive pins back out of it. And that's really one of the hardest things to do. "Physical talent has never been an issue with Bryon. He has tremendous abilities and he's a great athlete. He's probably one of the most physically fit bowlers on tour." Smith and Barnes, who was rookie of the year in 1998 and is approaching half a million dollars in earnings, hooked up several years ago because they are cut from the same cloth. Each considers fitness a priority, each is willing to spend a lot of time practicing and each credits the other as a reason for his success. They have a unique rapport that allows them to share perspectives during a tournament - one may see something the other doesn't - and get along away from the it. "In a lot of ways," says Barnes, "we're like brothers on tour." So much so that he might be happier to see Smith win a tournament than have himself do so. "It's not often," says Barnes, "that you get to be truly, genuinely happy when something good happens to someone else in an individual sport, where the rewards are based solely on how you do." Smith tries to win and thinks he can capture each and every tournament, yet he isn't obsessed, as he once was, with bagging his first title. He'll take it if and when it comes. "Even though I haven't won, I know that I belong out here," says Smith. "I look at being on tour as a privilege, so I'm going to have fun with it." The school of hard knocks is out. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.