Left out of luck
Rafiq finishes third at US PBA Tour event in Arkansas
PETALING JAYA: National bowler Rafiq Ismail overcame hunger and thirst in the holy month of Ramadan – and a difficult lane condition to finish a creditable third in the Greater Jonesboro Open in the United States.
The 21-year-old southpaw’s gallant run ended in the stepladder finals of the Professional Bowlers’ Association (PBA) Tour when he lost 175-218 to two-time PBA Tour winner Tom Daugherty at the Hijinx Family Entertainment Centre in Arkansas on Sunday.
Rafiq was left frustrated by one of the left lanes during his one-game battle against Daugherty as he failed to strike even once in all the five frames he bowled.
“I was having a hard time getting back-to-back strikes no thanks to that left lane. On the right, I struck all of them,” lamented Rafiq.
“That lane topography was really a mess. Tom was facing the same problem too but he eventually sorted it out, but not me.
“I’ve struggled with it since the qualifying round. I tried to play with a new ball in the final but my gamble didn’t pay off,” added Rafiq, who earned US$3,500 (RM13,900) for his effort.
Rafiq’s third-place finish was the best-ever result for a Malaysian on the PBA Tour.
Malaysia’s previous best outing was also through Rafiq and Adrian Ang, who made it to the last 16 at the PBA Cheetah Championship and PBA Chameleon Championship respectively last November.
Rafiq was disappointed to let slip a good opportunity to become the first Malaysian PBA Tour winner.
“To be honest, it was the one that got away. I could have won it, probably with little bit of luck,” said Rafiq.
“The Lubbock Open is coming up. I’m going to try again.”
Earlier, Rafiq made the top four stepladder finals cut by finishing second in the 16-man round-robin match play round.
He amassed 4,726 pinfalls over 21 games to claim the second seeding behind Anderson, who came out tops with a 4,748 total. Daugherty (4,666) and Francois Lavoie of Canada (4,656) completed the top four standings.
In the final, Andrew Anderson outclassed Daugherty 264-224 to clinch his second Tour crown of the season following his USBC Masters victory in April.
The national men’s team led by Rafiq are on a two-week competition stint in the US as part of their Jakarta Asian Games preparations.