Big Finish Helps Florida Team Into Lead at 2021 USBC Open Championships Bowling Tournament

By Matt Cannizzaro and Hope Parsons
USBC Communications

LAS VEGAS – Bowlers in the Standard Division at the 2021 United States Bowling Congress Open Championships continue to raise the bar with unprecedented scores, and the team event got a new leader Wednesday with another record performance.

Steve Calyore Team 2 of Naples, Florida, posted the highest game in the division this year to cap a record 2,994 team effort, the highest total since the introduction of the Standard Division in 2017.

The new leaders put themselves in position to make a run a the top spot, opening with games of 947 and 976, and then things really fell into place with a 1,071 final game. It was the third-highest game in the division’s short history and was more than enough to get past Tug N Tap 2 of Lorain, Ohio, which took the lead on May 6 with 2,957.

The experienced Steve Calyore Team 2 was led by anchor Doug Clark, who bowled games of 204, 256 and 223 for a 683 total. He was joined by Jeff Novak (649), David Wainscott (577), Scott Pickard (563) and Robert Eddy (522).

The group has bowled together in league at their local center, Beacon Bowl, so there’s an established level of comfort together, and each member is familiar with the environment at the USBC Open Championships.

Pickard is the veteran of the group with 22 tournament appearances, followed by Wainscott (20), Clark (10), Eddy (nine) and Novak (six).

Clark, however, had been on a long break from bowling and only had bowled two league games prior to making the trip to Las Vegas and the South Point Bowling Plaza.

“I think I might go back into retirement after this,” Clark said. “This is an incredible victory.”

With so many years of experience on the biggest stage in bowling, the magnitude of their success is not lost on Pickard, and each member of the group is excited about the possibility of being declared champions when the 2021 Open Championships concludes July 18.

“Never did we think we were going to be leading nationals,” Pickard said. “I am now happy to go home and tell people I was leading nationals. I will gladly hang my shoes up and retire if we stay in the lead, since I don’t think I could ever top this.”

Enjoying their eventful trip, each member now is bowling with his head held a little bit higher. They’ll all be on the lanes at the South Point Bowling Center on Thursday morning looking for similar success in doubles and singles.

The 79-day run of the 2021 Open Championships began May 1. More than 7,700 teams across three average-based divisions are scheduled to compete.

Teams in the Standard Division have combined entering averages of 776-875.

In three years of competition in the Standard Division, the highest team game is 1,081, rolled in 2019, also at the South Point Bowling Plaza. The highest team total entering the 2021 event was 2,922, rolled by Minnesota Select Sires of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, on the way to the title in 2017.

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