Louisiana bowler connects for 300 game at 2017 USBC Open Championships
June 28, 2017
LAS VEGAS - The city of Las Vegas has hosted some of best highlights of Butch Cormier's 27-year United States Bowling Congress Open Championships career, and the Lafayette, Louisiana, resident now can add a perfect game to that collection.
The 46-year-old right-hander finished his singles set at the South Point Bowling Plaza with 12 consecutive strikes for the ninth 300 of this year's event and moved into fifth place in Regular Singles with a 778 series.
Cormier began singles Tuesday with games of 210 and 268 to work his way into the top five. Ron Jacobson of Jupiter, Florida, leads Regular Singles with 804.
The last time the USBC Open Championships visited Las Vegas (2009), it was held at the nearby Cashman Center, where Cormier made his first run at perfection on the championship lanes. He started his final game of doubles with 10 consecutive strikes, before leaving a 4 pin and finishing with 289.
While Cormier was striking in doubles that year, so were his teammates, Brenda and Stephen Padilla of Mansfield, Texas. The Padillas went on to post a record doubles total (1,566) that day at Cashman Center, and it ended up being enough to claim the 2009 Regular Doubles title.
Brenda Padilla's success continued in singles, where she rolled her own perfect game and capped off the highest all-events total by a woman at the Open Championships, a 2,132 effort.
The communication and teamwork that went into that performance hasn't changed for the group since then, and it was a key component in Cormier's success Tuesday at the Bowling Plaza.
"It was a great team effort," Cormier said. "We broke them down the right way and stayed together as a team. If they changed, we made the moves together and really communicated well. I was the lucky one to match up the final few games, but it could have happened to any of us."
Cormier appreciates the history of the world's largest participatory sporting event, and he holds an admiration for those who have found success on the championship lanes.
After delivering a final flush strike to secure his place in the record books, he now looks forward to being part of that legacy alongside his teammates.
"It's a lot of emotion," Cormier said. "To have the opportunity to bowl with the great people that I do is special to me, and to be able to share the accomplishment with them means a lot. And, after 27 years, I finally will get my name announced, and that'll be a great moment."
Two former members of Cormier's group, Todd Minotti of Oviedo, Florida, and Stephen Sutphin of Howey in the Hills, Florida, also made headlines at the Open Championships.
Minotti is one of 29 bowlers in tournament history with multiple 300 games on the tournament lanes (1997 and 1999), while Sutphin rolled the first 800 series of the 2011 event at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada (827).
Cormier started his 2017 campaign with sets of 585 in doubles and 538 in team for a 1,901 all-events total.
Regular Singles features bowlers with entering averages of 210 and above.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships Facebook page.
The 46-year-old right-hander finished his singles set at the South Point Bowling Plaza with 12 consecutive strikes for the ninth 300 of this year's event and moved into fifth place in Regular Singles with a 778 series.
Cormier began singles Tuesday with games of 210 and 268 to work his way into the top five. Ron Jacobson of Jupiter, Florida, leads Regular Singles with 804.
The last time the USBC Open Championships visited Las Vegas (2009), it was held at the nearby Cashman Center, where Cormier made his first run at perfection on the championship lanes. He started his final game of doubles with 10 consecutive strikes, before leaving a 4 pin and finishing with 289.
While Cormier was striking in doubles that year, so were his teammates, Brenda and Stephen Padilla of Mansfield, Texas. The Padillas went on to post a record doubles total (1,566) that day at Cashman Center, and it ended up being enough to claim the 2009 Regular Doubles title.
Brenda Padilla's success continued in singles, where she rolled her own perfect game and capped off the highest all-events total by a woman at the Open Championships, a 2,132 effort.
The communication and teamwork that went into that performance hasn't changed for the group since then, and it was a key component in Cormier's success Tuesday at the Bowling Plaza.
"It was a great team effort," Cormier said. "We broke them down the right way and stayed together as a team. If they changed, we made the moves together and really communicated well. I was the lucky one to match up the final few games, but it could have happened to any of us."
Cormier appreciates the history of the world's largest participatory sporting event, and he holds an admiration for those who have found success on the championship lanes.
After delivering a final flush strike to secure his place in the record books, he now looks forward to being part of that legacy alongside his teammates.
"It's a lot of emotion," Cormier said. "To have the opportunity to bowl with the great people that I do is special to me, and to be able to share the accomplishment with them means a lot. And, after 27 years, I finally will get my name announced, and that'll be a great moment."
Two former members of Cormier's group, Todd Minotti of Oviedo, Florida, and Stephen Sutphin of Howey in the Hills, Florida, also made headlines at the Open Championships.
Minotti is one of 29 bowlers in tournament history with multiple 300 games on the tournament lanes (1997 and 1999), while Sutphin rolled the first 800 series of the 2011 event at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada (827).
Cormier started his 2017 campaign with sets of 585 in doubles and 538 in team for a 1,901 all-events total.
Regular Singles features bowlers with entering averages of 210 and above.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships Facebook page.