Team USA's Butturff, Troup among top four in doubles at 2018 World Men's Championships
November 27, 2018
HONG KONG - Team USA's Jakob Butturff and Kyle Troup may have left the South China Athletic Association Bowling Centre as the leaders after their doubles squad Tuesday at the 2018 World Bowling Men's Championships, but that doesn't mean they're not going to analyze their performance and try to learn from their mistakes.
As other teams do the same and look for more effective ways to attack the event's 38-foot World Bowling Los Angeles oil pattern, each block during the 11 days of competition likely will be a little bit different and present new challenges.
Troup and Butturff ended Tuesday's six-game block with their lowest game of the day, a 362 effort, and they'll now have to wait to see if their 2,549 total, a 212.42 average, is enough to claim one of the four spots in the doubles semifinals.
Troup led the way Tuesday a 1,346 total, just shy of the 1,368 performance that earned him the No. 2 seed for the singles semifinals. Butturff added a 1,203.
They were able to hold onto second place in the standings after the day's second squad, but there's still two more squads of the world's best looking to knock them out of the top four. Competition will resume Wednesday at 9 a.m. (Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern).
Malaysia's Adrian Ang (1,345) and Tun Hakim (1,251) top the standings with 2,596, Colombia's Santiago Mejia (1,265) and Jaime Gonzalez (1,247) are third with 2,512 and Germany's Fabian Kloos (1,313) and Timo Schroder (1,191) are fourth with 2,504.
Kloos rolled the second perfect game of the week in his third game Tuesday.
"I matched up well Games 2-5, and Jakob struggled a little with carry, but he grinded along, and that's the nature of doubles," Troup said. "If one guy is striking and the other grinds, it doesn't matter how we get there, as long as we do. The last game, I think I threw the wrong ball, didn't make the best shots and pressed a little bit trying to shoot a big number. Luckily, we were able to leave in the lead, and that means four teams still would have to get around us."
Among the challengers yet to bowl doubles at the 2018 World Men's Championships are defending champions Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones of the United States. They'll put their title on the line Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time, after their teammates, EJ Tackett and singles top seed Andrew Anderson, bowl their six games earlier in the day.
Team USA head coach Rod Ross, assistant coach Mark Baker and their talented roster of players have watched countless balls roll down the lanes at the SCAA Bowling Centre this week as they try to figure out the tendencies of the center and what the ideal equipment choices and surfaces might be.
They saw top-notch singles performances from Anderson and Troup, but as well as they bowled, they were not completely without the transition and carry challenges that plagued the rest of the group.
"We've learned from watching the scoring pace that you don't necessarily need those big scores, you just have to avoid the holes," Ross said. "We made better adjustments today, and we have to continue to be aware of how the center plays pair to pair. If we can make the adjustments earlier, I think we can salvage the lower games, and that will help us overall."
For Troup, a World Championships first-timer who is averaging more than 226 through 12 games this week, continued success means staying focused on the things he has been doing well and trying to clean up a few small things he has noticed through two events.
"We had a lot of confidence coming into today after a great singles block, and the lanes seemed to play pretty similar," Troup said. "The fresh today was a little tricky for me, but the game plan was to try to shoot 200 or better the first game, and we were able to do that. Personally, I feel like I'm making the right equipment choices and getting some breaks, even when I don't make perfect shots. I think controlling my hand better late in the block will be key. I need to stay up the back of it and control the pocket a little better to avoid what happened today."
All 265 competitors at the 2018 World Men's Championships will bowl 24 games this week (six games in singles, doubles, trios, team), and medals also will be awarded for all-events and Masters match play.
The medal round for singles is Dec. 1, doubles is scheduled for Dec. 2, the trios medal round will be Dec. 3, the team event will conclude Dec. 4 and the Masters final will take place on the event's final day, Dec. 5.
All qualifying rounds at the 2018 World Men's Championships are being livestreamed by World Bowling, and all medal rounds will be broadcast to the United States and Canada by FloBowling. A FloBowling subscription will be required to watch the medal rounds.
For more information on the 2018 World Men's Championships, visit 2018wmc.worldbowling.org.
As other teams do the same and look for more effective ways to attack the event's 38-foot World Bowling Los Angeles oil pattern, each block during the 11 days of competition likely will be a little bit different and present new challenges.
Troup and Butturff ended Tuesday's six-game block with their lowest game of the day, a 362 effort, and they'll now have to wait to see if their 2,549 total, a 212.42 average, is enough to claim one of the four spots in the doubles semifinals.
Troup led the way Tuesday a 1,346 total, just shy of the 1,368 performance that earned him the No. 2 seed for the singles semifinals. Butturff added a 1,203.
They were able to hold onto second place in the standings after the day's second squad, but there's still two more squads of the world's best looking to knock them out of the top four. Competition will resume Wednesday at 9 a.m. (Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern).
Malaysia's Adrian Ang (1,345) and Tun Hakim (1,251) top the standings with 2,596, Colombia's Santiago Mejia (1,265) and Jaime Gonzalez (1,247) are third with 2,512 and Germany's Fabian Kloos (1,313) and Timo Schroder (1,191) are fourth with 2,504.
Kloos rolled the second perfect game of the week in his third game Tuesday.
"I matched up well Games 2-5, and Jakob struggled a little with carry, but he grinded along, and that's the nature of doubles," Troup said. "If one guy is striking and the other grinds, it doesn't matter how we get there, as long as we do. The last game, I think I threw the wrong ball, didn't make the best shots and pressed a little bit trying to shoot a big number. Luckily, we were able to leave in the lead, and that means four teams still would have to get around us."
Among the challengers yet to bowl doubles at the 2018 World Men's Championships are defending champions Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones of the United States. They'll put their title on the line Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time, after their teammates, EJ Tackett and singles top seed Andrew Anderson, bowl their six games earlier in the day.
Team USA head coach Rod Ross, assistant coach Mark Baker and their talented roster of players have watched countless balls roll down the lanes at the SCAA Bowling Centre this week as they try to figure out the tendencies of the center and what the ideal equipment choices and surfaces might be.
They saw top-notch singles performances from Anderson and Troup, but as well as they bowled, they were not completely without the transition and carry challenges that plagued the rest of the group.
"We've learned from watching the scoring pace that you don't necessarily need those big scores, you just have to avoid the holes," Ross said. "We made better adjustments today, and we have to continue to be aware of how the center plays pair to pair. If we can make the adjustments earlier, I think we can salvage the lower games, and that will help us overall."
For Troup, a World Championships first-timer who is averaging more than 226 through 12 games this week, continued success means staying focused on the things he has been doing well and trying to clean up a few small things he has noticed through two events.
"We had a lot of confidence coming into today after a great singles block, and the lanes seemed to play pretty similar," Troup said. "The fresh today was a little tricky for me, but the game plan was to try to shoot 200 or better the first game, and we were able to do that. Personally, I feel like I'm making the right equipment choices and getting some breaks, even when I don't make perfect shots. I think controlling my hand better late in the block will be key. I need to stay up the back of it and control the pocket a little better to avoid what happened today."
All 265 competitors at the 2018 World Men's Championships will bowl 24 games this week (six games in singles, doubles, trios, team), and medals also will be awarded for all-events and Masters match play.
The medal round for singles is Dec. 1, doubles is scheduled for Dec. 2, the trios medal round will be Dec. 3, the team event will conclude Dec. 4 and the Masters final will take place on the event's final day, Dec. 5.
All qualifying rounds at the 2018 World Men's Championships are being livestreamed by World Bowling, and all medal rounds will be broadcast to the United States and Canada by FloBowling. A FloBowling subscription will be required to watch the medal rounds.
For more information on the 2018 World Men's Championships, visit 2018wmc.worldbowling.org.