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O’Grady returns to defend Hubbard Open title
HUBBARD
When Matthew O’Grady returned a phone message about last week, he was in his rental car on the last leg of a trek to Professional Bowlers Association tournaments that — when he finally returned home to Rahway, N.J., the following morning — covered 8,000 miles.
But what were the chances that he was calling while stopped at the Sharon, Pa., exit along I-80 — just a few miles from where he won the Hubbard Open a year ago?
About as unlikely as the perfect game he rolled in the championship match against E.J. Tackett at Bell-Wick Bowl on March 20, 2016.
While sipping coffee to stay awake the remainder of the night, the now-30-year-old O’Grady confirmed he was returning.
“I’d love to defend my title this year,” he said of the seventh Hubbard Open today and Sunday. “That’ll be fantastic.”
In the 2016 championship match, O’Grady beat Tackett, 300-239.
Since then, Tackett had an outstanding season that culminated in him being named 2016 PBA Player of the Year. The carry-over definitely continues as Tackett won the DHC PBA Japan Invitational to start 2017, followed by the 52nd FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions victory in Shawnee, Okla. on Feb. 19.
The TOC was Tackett’s second PBA major title. The 24-year-old bowler from Huntington, Ind. won the 2016 PBA World Championship in December for his first major.
After O’Grady won in Hubbard, which represented his second regional title, he made two PBA telecasts, both World Series of Bowling events and both on ESPN: the Shark Championship in Nevada in December (fourth-place) and the USA vs. World event (five Americans vs. five Internationals) on Jan. 8 in Reno.
Most recently, on March 5, in Lakewood, Colo., O’Grady defeated U.S. Open champion Francois Lavoie of Canada, 279-278, to win the fifth annual PBA Lakewood Southwest Super Regional, sponsored by Denver Broncos’ running back C.J. Anderson and Storm Products.
The win over Lavoie, the reigning PBA Rookie of the Year, was O’Grady’s third in regional competition and his first in the PBA Southwest Region.
“It was an exciting title match,” O’Grady said. “My heart was pumping.”
He averaged 256.89 for 18 games en route to claiming the $5,000 first-place check.
O’Grady said that Anderson is an avid bowler.
“He’s a PBA member and Storm bowling ball staffer. He’s passionate about promoting the sport.”
The Hubbard Open was the first of 12 tournaments that helped O’Grady attain 2016 PBA East Region Player of the Year honors.
After Hubbard, O’Grady had two third-place finishes and only missed the finals twice.
“I made all but two matchplays and led by 30,000 points,” O’Grady said. “I had a good margin.”
Hubbard Open co-host Jim Bryant said that several of the national tour bowlers who would normally spend the third weekend of March at Bell-Wick will most likely skip Hubbard to enter the PBA Xtra Frame Reality Check Classic in Tamarac, Fla., this weekend.
Other bowlers, like O’Grady, won’t be among them.
“I was considering competing in all the Xtra Frame events, but being champ of the Hubbard Open and having relationships with the good people of Hubbard, I wanted to be there to show my support, even if it’s a pay cut,” he said of the $10,000 first-place prize in Tamarac, the first of eight XF Storm Cup Series events that award points with a $20,000 first prize at the conclusion of the 2017 series.
By contrast, O’Grady won $2,700 for last year’s win at Bell-Wick.
“I enjoy the place,” he said. “It meant a lot to me. Bowling 300 in the finals was special — a unique experience I’ll never forget.”
While on the road, O’Grady also bowled in three majors, including the TOC in Shawnee, the Masters in Las Vegas and the Players Championship in Columbus.
In fact, his trip that started in New Jersey continued to Grand Rapids, Mich., then Columbus, Shawnee, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver before returning home.
“I’ve been on the road since Feb. 2 in rental cars, hotels and friends’ houses and I did a lot of bowling over the last month,” he said
In SLC, O’Grady visited his sponsor, Storm Products, Inc., at its ball-manufacturing plant.
O’Grady began his trip with 25 bowling balls in the rental car, but carried 49 when the trip ended.
“I picked up some in Las Vegas and had more drilled at the Storm plant, so I nearly doubled the number over 8,000 miles,” he said.