Another Sue Braud BR Singles tournament has come and gone at All-Star Lanes and a very strong performance earned Corey Umbrello of Slidell the first prize of $1,830.50 from a total prize fund of just under $12,000.
Umbrello, who averaged 245 for the tournament, defeated Daniel Burzynski, 508-470, in the two-game final match after the field was set to the final 32 players for the bracket style finals.
Burzynski, won $915 for second place, averaging 231 for his 16 tournament games.
Umbrello beat Josh Phillips, 447-419, and Burzynski defeated Roderick Lathers, 488-374. The two Baton Rouge bowlers earned $384.41 for making the semifinals.
Two Baton Rouge bowlers — Juan Coston, Jr. and Chandler Delaune; and two Lafayette bowlers — Chandler Delaune and Hayden Lessard — advanced to the quarterfinal rounds for $256.27. Paul Brown, Ryan Dutsch, Gregory Snee and Brian Yoches from Baton Rouge finished in the final 16 for $146.44.
A total of 281 entries for this long-standing event that is close to 50 years old.
In the four events at All-Star Lanes, the entries have been 268, 290, 279, 281. Now that is down on average from events in the last non-pandemic years before Circle Bowl, but it is hard to put a finger on what is the difference that has kept this tournament from cracking the 300-entry mark in its four times at All-Star.
One thing that we were able to obtain is that 44 bowlers bowled in the event for the first time in August and besides Louisiana, bowlers from Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas took part. So that’s a good sign. People are still coming to the tournament from outside Louisiana. Now the total money may not be as big but a five-figure payout tournament in this day and age is nothing to sneeze at.
It’s tough for me to speak on what’s wrong, if anything, with this event these days because it’s not something I have bowled in lately because my schedule just doesn’t allow a full weekend if I would get lucky. Also, there are so many tournaments these days that one can bowl for a four-figure first-prize in a lot of places and not everyone is going to bowl as much as they used too.
Frankly, life is pretty busy for everyone these days, including people like Jeff and Donna Hall, who have been the servants of this tournament for so long, especially after the passing of longtime bowling figure and tournament namesake Sue Braud.
The next Sue Braud BR singles is set for December.