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Scores will be low at doctored Lava Lanes By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune When is home-field advantage not an advantage at all? When the Professional Bowlers Association makes a tour stop at your house. That's what a handful of top local bowlers are likely to find out this week when they compete in the Medford Open. The tournament is at Lava Lanes, where the likes of Jason McCleary, Steve Mead and Allan Reyes regularly bowl. But the lanes will hardly be recognizable. Others familiar on the local scene who will compete are Ed Lee, Kevin Croucher, Jason Taylor and Blaise Bedolla, a Sutherlin product who is going out on tour full time with the start of play this month. The PBA will put down its own pattern with its own oil, and the scores will reflect the difficulty. Bowlers who routinely average in the 220s in league play will find such a score to be a pipe dream in the tournament. "They are really demanding conditions," says Mead, who has bowled in a number of PBA events over the years, including two national tour events in Las Vegas. "You have to think about every shot, you have to put it right where you want it, and every mistake is pretty much amplified." Nick Hoagland, assistant director of the PBA Tour, is considered the lane-condition guru for the organization. The difference in the oil used on tour versus what is used for league is not as important, he says, as the way it's applied. Tour oil is a high-viscosity substance that is extremely durable. It is slightly slicker than the conventional house oil and is easily cleaned up. For a regular house shot, says Hoagland, a lot of oil is applied to the middle of the lane and much less to toward the gutter. Typically, the ratio is 8 to 10 units of oil applied in the middle to each one unit on the outside, creating a funnel effect. For the amateur, a shot that is pulled into the middle of the lane will hydroplane on the heavy oil and still has a chance to hit the pocket. A shot that misses far outside, where there's little oil, will grab and turn into the pocket. "Both ways," says Hoagland, "you're rewarding a bad shot with a strike." Not so on the tour. The PBA oil is applied on a 2-to-1 ratio, meaning it's virtually flat from gutter to gutter. A study was done over nine PBA events last fall that shows the difference between pros and top players at local houses who enter the tournament. The pros averaged 35 pins more per game, says Hoagland, than the average nonmember. "It's real eye-opening for these guys," says Hoagland of the locals. "They appreciate the difficulty. "The problem is educating the guy who turns on his TV and sees a pro bowling a 175 and saying, 'They're not that good.'" In pro golf, he says, you can seen the rough that makes the game challenging, and in baseball, you can see the fences at 430 feet. "Here, you can't see the oil," says Hoagland. The PBA will use a pattern suited to Lava's lanes, which are the newest synthetic lane put out by Brunswick, says Hoagland. Called Pro Anvilane, the surface is the same as that at Spectrum Lanes in Grand Rapids, Mich., and the same pattern that was used there for the Great Lakes Classic in October will be put down here. Pete Weber defeated Parker Bohn III for the title in Grand Rapids. Mead, a 47-year-old from Ashland, admits he doesn't have great expectations. "To be honest," he says, "it would be a dream to make it to match play. The thing is, the guys coming into town are such remarkable bowlers, it's not reasonable to expect anything beyond that. "The guys who are making a living at it are considerably better at it than I am." Lava Lanes owner Ric Donnelly has been putting down the PBA shot with house oil on Fridays and welcoming local players who will compete to practice on it. Scores over 200 haven't been common. McCleary, 30, of Central Point, will bowl his first national tour event. He's bowled the High Rollers in Las Vegas, a big amateur tournament, and has twice made top 32 in fields of about 1,500. His goals are similar to Mead's: make the first cut, get in the money, then take it one game at a time. In addition to the Medford tournament, he'll bowl the following week at the tour's next stop, Reno, Nev., in the ABC Masters. McCleary is ready for the challenge. "People who aren't used to seeing it will be baffled by scores in the 190s and 200s from people who average 220 and 230 in league," he says. "It's definitely a different game." Croucher, who owns Caveman Bowl in Grants Pass, competed with Bedolla - whom Croucher sponsors - in the Earl Anthony Memorial Classic in Seattle last week. Croucher just missed the first cut to 64, finishing 70th, and was one of several regional players who fared well there. The players who figure to do the best, he says, be they locals or regular tour players, are those who can pick up spares and those who can regulate the speed of their ball and repeat the delivery. "Guys here have never seen these conditions before," said Croucher. "They'll try to get the ball to the pocket, and after a while, they'll try to fit it into the pocket. It's a mind-boggling situation for the average player, and the touring player is used to it every day of his life." Much of that life is spent on the road, where they feel right at home. 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.