Bowlers Headquarters leads two events at 2024 USBC Open Championships
March 13, 2024
LAS VEGAS – When you look at team success at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to the members of Bowlers Headquarters of Muskego, Wisconsin.
Although the team has featured some different names in the lineup since 2019, the results have stayed the same. The group has placed in the top seven of Team All-Events in each of the last four editions of the USBC Open Championships and is working on three consecutive top-eight finishes in Regular Team competition.
The group put themselves in position to keep their streaks intact and maybe more this week at the South Point Bowling Plaza, taking the lead in Regular Team on Monday with a 3,206 series and cruising to the top of the standings in Team All-Events on Tuesday with a 9,915 total.
John Burkett Team 1 of Fort Worth, Texas, previously led both events with 3,125 and 9,465.
James Tucker III led the team this year in Las Vegas and moved into second place in Regular All-Events with 2,097. William Welch took over fourth place with 2,006, and Chad Kloss followed in fifth with 2,002. Mitch Beasley, the 2019 Regular Singles champion, added 1,908, and Joseph Vrobel posted 1,902.
Welch took over second place in Regular Singles after games of 256, 279 and 214 for 749, and Tucker is third with 730. Welch and Kloss also moved into fourth place in Regular Doubles with 1,345.
Jared Wolf of Springdale, Arkansas, leads Regular All-Events with 2,103, and Steve Rogers of Manteno, Illinois, is at the top of the leaderboard in Regular Singles with 760. Jonathan Heimann of Troy, Illinois, and Tim Heimann of St. Louis lead Regular Doubles with 1,515.
Tucker, Welch, Kloss and Beasley teamed together for the first time at the Open Championships in 2019, which featured a big run in minors as Beasley recorded the win in singles with 812, Welch placed eighth with 778 and the team finished fifth in Team All-Events.
Vrobel joined the mix in 2021, and the team left Las Vegas with the lead in Regular Team and finished as the runner-up for the year to go along with a fourth-place finish in Team All-Events.
The strong finishes continued in 2022 and 2023, and the group’s ability to work together, paired with their talented games, added another strong showing in 2024.
“Teamwork – honestly, that’s the biggest part,” said Tucker, who made his seventh appearance at the Open Championships. “When we come in, we’ll scout the lanes, we’ll talk through what kind of ball surfaces we should utilize and what part of the lane we should start at, and then collaborate and work together as a team. We always try to put ourselves in position to succeed, and without teamwork, that doesn’t happen.
“We went out there and executed our game plan and stayed patient, which opened up a huge opportunity for us – similar to what we did in 2019 when we got the lanes to come alive in singles. We were able to do a little bit of that today.”
Bowlers Headquarters averaged nearly 221 in doubles and more than 226 as a unit in singles Tuesday at the Bowling Plaza.
Welch led the run in singles, just like he did a couple days prior at the Bowlers Journal Championships, which is being held in the 64-lane traditional center at South Point. He posted a 747 series to take over the top spot in Open Singles.
The Bowlers Journal Championships features the same oil pattern being used during doubles and singles competition at the Open Championships.
“The pattern is the same, but both environments are different,” said Welch, making his 12th tournament appearance. “I got off to a pretty slow start in doubles and didn’t give Chad much support the first two games, but then fired 240 the last game and made little moves off that to make up for the differences I saw from the Bowling Plaza to the bowling center.”
The team also relies on a strong support system cheering on every strike and spare during the trip, which adds something extra when they start to put up big numbers.
“This game is as much mental as it is physical, and there’s a lot of momentum,” Welch said. “I felt like we had a little chip on our shoulder, like in 2019 when we had a not-so-great team event but did really well in minors. Our group communicates well, we know our games well and are not scared to give each other feedback. When the momentum is there, the pins are going to fall.
“It’s nice to have family and significant others travel with us to make a trip out of it. We look at it a little bit like work, because this doesn’t come easy by any means, and we put in a lot of time to get ready. It’s really nice have all the support behind us.”
The group now will wait and see once again at the Open Championships. They’ve given everyone numbers to shoot for moving forward and are pleased with another strong performance showcasing their ability as one of the top teams at the tournament.
“It feels good,” Tucker said. “I think with our consistent performances over the last couple years, we’re probably one of those benchmark teams that when we come out here, people are going to try and figure out what we’re going to do. For us to have another consistent performance means our phones will probably be blowing up with people trying to figure out what we did – we’ll just say good luck.”
“I moved to Wisconsin from Florida and learned a lot about team bowling and the significance of the USBC/ABC tournament,” Welch said. “I really have fallen in love with it, and our group wants to win more than anything. For us to be here in the lead in two events and be in the top five for a couple things – it’s a very good thing to go home with. You can’t win unless you leave with the lead, so now it’s a waiting game. Going home will be very nerve-wracking.”
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
Although the team has featured some different names in the lineup since 2019, the results have stayed the same. The group has placed in the top seven of Team All-Events in each of the last four editions of the USBC Open Championships and is working on three consecutive top-eight finishes in Regular Team competition.
The group put themselves in position to keep their streaks intact and maybe more this week at the South Point Bowling Plaza, taking the lead in Regular Team on Monday with a 3,206 series and cruising to the top of the standings in Team All-Events on Tuesday with a 9,915 total.
John Burkett Team 1 of Fort Worth, Texas, previously led both events with 3,125 and 9,465.
James Tucker III led the team this year in Las Vegas and moved into second place in Regular All-Events with 2,097. William Welch took over fourth place with 2,006, and Chad Kloss followed in fifth with 2,002. Mitch Beasley, the 2019 Regular Singles champion, added 1,908, and Joseph Vrobel posted 1,902.
Welch took over second place in Regular Singles after games of 256, 279 and 214 for 749, and Tucker is third with 730. Welch and Kloss also moved into fourth place in Regular Doubles with 1,345.
Jared Wolf of Springdale, Arkansas, leads Regular All-Events with 2,103, and Steve Rogers of Manteno, Illinois, is at the top of the leaderboard in Regular Singles with 760. Jonathan Heimann of Troy, Illinois, and Tim Heimann of St. Louis lead Regular Doubles with 1,515.
Tucker, Welch, Kloss and Beasley teamed together for the first time at the Open Championships in 2019, which featured a big run in minors as Beasley recorded the win in singles with 812, Welch placed eighth with 778 and the team finished fifth in Team All-Events.
Vrobel joined the mix in 2021, and the team left Las Vegas with the lead in Regular Team and finished as the runner-up for the year to go along with a fourth-place finish in Team All-Events.
The strong finishes continued in 2022 and 2023, and the group’s ability to work together, paired with their talented games, added another strong showing in 2024.
“Teamwork – honestly, that’s the biggest part,” said Tucker, who made his seventh appearance at the Open Championships. “When we come in, we’ll scout the lanes, we’ll talk through what kind of ball surfaces we should utilize and what part of the lane we should start at, and then collaborate and work together as a team. We always try to put ourselves in position to succeed, and without teamwork, that doesn’t happen.
“We went out there and executed our game plan and stayed patient, which opened up a huge opportunity for us – similar to what we did in 2019 when we got the lanes to come alive in singles. We were able to do a little bit of that today.”
Bowlers Headquarters averaged nearly 221 in doubles and more than 226 as a unit in singles Tuesday at the Bowling Plaza.
Welch led the run in singles, just like he did a couple days prior at the Bowlers Journal Championships, which is being held in the 64-lane traditional center at South Point. He posted a 747 series to take over the top spot in Open Singles.
The Bowlers Journal Championships features the same oil pattern being used during doubles and singles competition at the Open Championships.
“The pattern is the same, but both environments are different,” said Welch, making his 12th tournament appearance. “I got off to a pretty slow start in doubles and didn’t give Chad much support the first two games, but then fired 240 the last game and made little moves off that to make up for the differences I saw from the Bowling Plaza to the bowling center.”
The team also relies on a strong support system cheering on every strike and spare during the trip, which adds something extra when they start to put up big numbers.
“This game is as much mental as it is physical, and there’s a lot of momentum,” Welch said. “I felt like we had a little chip on our shoulder, like in 2019 when we had a not-so-great team event but did really well in minors. Our group communicates well, we know our games well and are not scared to give each other feedback. When the momentum is there, the pins are going to fall.
“It’s nice to have family and significant others travel with us to make a trip out of it. We look at it a little bit like work, because this doesn’t come easy by any means, and we put in a lot of time to get ready. It’s really nice have all the support behind us.”
The group now will wait and see once again at the Open Championships. They’ve given everyone numbers to shoot for moving forward and are pleased with another strong performance showcasing their ability as one of the top teams at the tournament.
“It feels good,” Tucker said. “I think with our consistent performances over the last couple years, we’re probably one of those benchmark teams that when we come out here, people are going to try and figure out what we’re going to do. For us to have another consistent performance means our phones will probably be blowing up with people trying to figure out what we did – we’ll just say good luck.”
“I moved to Wisconsin from Florida and learned a lot about team bowling and the significance of the USBC/ABC tournament,” Welch said. “I really have fallen in love with it, and our group wants to win more than anything. For us to be here in the lead in two events and be in the top five for a couple things – it’s a very good thing to go home with. You can’t win unless you leave with the lead, so now it’s a waiting game. Going home will be very nerve-wracking.”
The 2024 Open Championships got underway Feb. 23 and will run through July 29 at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The tournament is scheduled to feature more than 11,000 teams and 55,000 bowlers making their way to compete in Las Vegas.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.