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Youthful Martin hopes to cash in at Bell-Wick
Michigan native
in 2nd pro event
HUBBARD
The parade of national PBA Tour notables walking through the crowd at Bell-Wick Bowl prior to Friday afternoon’s high school pro-am drew glances from the parents and spectators present for this weekend’s first scheduled event.
For bowlers such as Ryan Ciminelli, Ryan Shafer and E.J. Tackett, as well as last year’s champion, Kelly Jordon, it was a moment of acknowledgment that success in their sport pays off.
A half-hour earlier, as Brad Martin of Livonia, Mich., sat alone at a table, he talked of his dream for many payoffs he hopes to enjoy, possibly as soon as Sunday afternoon when the sixth PBA Hubbard Open will crown a champion.
“I’m just getting started,” the 22-year-old Martin said, noting that his first appearance at Bell-Wick represents only his second tournament as a pro.
“My first was the Masters in Indianapolis,” Martin said of the extravaganza in February that had a field of 412.
What an indoctrination!
Although Martin didn’t do well, it wasn’t shameful for a guy who bowled two years in high school, one for a community college and a few more in local sweepers before turning pro recently.
Yes, it was a giant leap for Martin, whose outlook for his first Hubbard Open isn’t small peanuts.
“I’m here to redeem myself,” said Martin, noting that cashing this weekend isn’t unrealistic since the recent USBC Masters winner, Anthony Simonsen, was only 19-years old and the first amateur to win [the Masters] since 2002.
“He was the youngest kid to win a PBA major,” said Martin, stressing that age isn’t a liability.
“It shows that you’ve got to be on top of your game for that long weekend,” Martin said of the Masters’ 15-game scores over three days.
Martin, who works for a security company at the 12 Oaks Mall — the biggest mall in Michigan — said that lessons learned from the Masters will make him better.
“It was a fantastic experience that teaches you how to read the lanes and learn your flaws to improve and put yourself in a position to qualify,” Martin said. “When you’re putting up $500, $400 or $200 to enter, you’re kind of blowing a lot of money if you don’t get into those qualifying spots.”
Despite his relatively few competitive bowling years and quick ascent from the amateur ranks to pro, Brad Martin can’t pass himself off as a newcomer.
“My entire family bowled, including my parents who ran a league and put me in a daycare in a room inside the alleys until my mom came to pick me up,” Martin said of his toddler-plus years. But Martin eventually branched out and played football and baseball and wrestled. Brad would have bowled sooner in high school, but his wrestling coach convinced him to stick with the mat sport.
Martin joined his high school bowling team as a junior and finished 30th, individually, in Michigan his senior season. Brad had a 300 game in high school and boasts a high three-game series of 792 in a sport-shot tournament.
Martin explained that Bell-Wick’s Regional Cheetah lane pattern will be different for him.
“The Masters had a longer and flatter pattern than what we’ll experience this weekend. We’ll see a lot of guys playing toward the gutter – pretty much straight up the gutter – with some lower-end equipment.”
What are Martin’s Hubbard Open expectations?
“I’m just looking to make a cashing spot,” he said.