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The Round Robin format in Spartanburg proved to be a lefty showdown. There was the occasional challenge from a right hander but it was pretty obvious that the best look across the house was on the left side of the lane. For a right hander to get to the show he was going to need to catch the right guys on the right pairs. As a right hander it took more frames to figure out the pair to pair and lane to lane differences across the house. The first half of every game is the reason the left dominated this week. If a right hander could stay clean while trying to figure out the difference they usually needed to make up 20 pins of count in the back half of the game to maintain the scoring pace on the left side of the lane.

The averages tell the story. There were 7 left handers in the top 16. Four of the seven averaged over 233 a full 5 pins a game higher than the highest right hander. One of the ways to make up the average difference in this format is to win matches. The new Round Robin doesn't have every bowler bowling every other bowler. If that is the case the luck of the draw certainly comes into play. Lets see if there is a pattern there. Tommy Jones had the best record at 13-5. In the morning Tommy Jones went 9-0, did not bowl a single left hander and only 2 bowlers who would advance to the round of 16. In the evening Tommy wasn't so lucky. Going into the position round Tommy bowled 4 left handers and 4 rt. handed opponents who averaged 246.75.

The Round Robin format has always had the element of opponents average. 30 pins a game is a lot of pins and for many years I have recognized the value of catching your opponents at the right time. The PBA score sheets that the players carry with them from pair to pair to record the results of their matches has a column indicating their opponents average. There is no doubt that element of the Round Robin format still exists and now that they do not bowl each and every bowler the luck of the draw element has increased.