Pro bowlers to visit Cape next week

Some of the biggest names in bowling will compete at West Park Lanes in Cape Girardeau next week, as the venue hosts The Part-Time Bowlers Tour, presented by the Hammer Open Series.

West Park Lanes co-general manager Darryl James said the event, scheduled for 9 a.m. Sunday, would comprise eight games and �a full field of 96 entries.�

�First place is $2,000,� James said.

According to James, professionals competing include Pete Weber and EJ Tackett.

Larry Huskey, the tournament�s co-director along with Reynold Blondin, said he�s expecting �some incredibly big-name bowlers coming.�

Blondin founded and has been in charge of the Grand Prix tours for 37 years.

�Anybody from the Midwest would certainly say Pete Weber is the greatest of all time,� Huskey said. �So he will be there. We also have EJ Tackett, who is the reigning world series of bowling champion; he�s won nine titles, and two of those are majors, and he�s just a young guy.

Huskey said Tackett � originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana � is also the current money leader in Professional Bowlers Association tours.

�We [will] also have Brandi Branka. She is a PWBA,� Huskey said. �We have several former pros who aren�t touring anymore, current regional pros and we have bowling manufacturers from every make and model bowling ball you can think of. ... We have big name staffers coming from all over the place.�

This is Tackett�s sixth year on tour, and in a phone interview Friday he said plans to compete in the Cape Girardeau event began when his girlfriend asked whether he was going to be in town that weekend, because she lives near Southeast Missouri.

�... I said sure, nothing else going on that weekend. PBA events are first priority, but it's just time for me to spend with [my girlfriend], and go bowl,� Tackett said.

Tackett said it�s �one of those things where you bowl a tournament and you just kind of relax� at the same time.

�It�s not going to be easier [than the PBA] by any means; it�s just a different mindset,� Tackett said.

But according to Tackett, in spite of his success, he hasn�t �accomplished enough.�

�Winning nine times, that�s great, but Walter Ray has 47 wins,� Tackett said. �So, I�ve got a good start in my career, but I�ve got a little way to go. ...�

Professional bowler Jeremy Hunt�also will be competing in the March event. He said he�s from a family of bowlers and has been fairly active in league play since childhood.

�I didn�t start getting real serous about it until I was 11 or 12 years old. That�s when I decided I was a little better than average, and really should try to pursue it a little bit more,� Hunt said. �Then I started competing in tournaments and started bowling more leagues. I�d travel all over the country with my dad and my uncles, so I kind of got the taste of what it was like traveling the country to bowl. That kind of got me fired up to get better and want to do that.�

But this won�t be Hunt�s first visit to Cape Girardeau; he currently lives in Sikeston, Missouri.

�I actually used to work for West Park Lanes a few years ... and I�ve been bowling tournaments and leagues there for several years,� Hunt said.

According to Hunt, �PBA is broken into two different types. There�s the national PBA Tour with guys that are bowling on ESPN on Sunday ... and then there�s a regional program, where it�s kind of like the Minor Leagues.�

�This tournament on March 11 is bringing in some big names ... EJ Tackett, he was voted the No. 1 player in the country in 2016, so he�s the No. 1 ranked player on the professional tour,� Hunt said. �And Pete Weber, who is arguably the greatest ever, he�s going to be there.�

�The prize money is the biggest deal,� Hunt said. �That�s what brings in the guys. The PBA guys use tournaments like this to supplement their income.�

Hunt said Weber was one of his childhood heroes, and he grew up watching him on TV. Weber�s father �helped start professional bowling.�

He�s also become fairly good friends with Weber, �which is kind of a neat deal,� Hunt added.

�I love bowling, and I�d do it if I didn�t make a penny doing it. But I also use this to supplement my income and do it on the weekends,� Hunt said. �I�m not going to get rich, but it also adds up when you can win $500 or $1,000 on a weekend, when you�re doing something you enjoy.�

The Hammer Open Series has 12 stops throughout the year and ends with a championship in December. The tour is sponsored in part by EBI International. The event is also sponsored by Drury Inn, according to Huskey.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

Pertinent address:

354 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.