Jack Jurek Wins 2024 Super Senior Classic
Las Vegas, Nevada – Walking into Sam’s Town Bowling Center during Wednesday’s practice round at the 2024 Super Senior Classic, Jack Jurek was confident and as soon as that session ended, his confidence was even higher. He felt he was throwing the ball better than he had in a long time, and he came in switching to a four-step approach that was allowing him to be more consistent which improved his ball roll resulting in a perfect match-up on the lanes. He knew he had miss room left and right freeing up his swing even more as he was throwing it even better.
He earned the No. 1 seed in the stepladder finals but during his championship match practice, he felt his ball wasn’t seeing the lanes well. Right away, he thought to himself this was déjà vu to last year’s title match on the same pair of lanes when he finished in second place. What turned things around this time was a valuable suggestion from Storm Products PBA Tour Manager Jim Callahan.
In the semifinal match, Chris Warren started out with a shinier ball against No. 2 seed Skip Pavone that wasn’t reading the lane well. Part way through the match, Warren was down by 35-pins. He switched to a stronger ball to open up the lanes, which allowed him to close out the match with a 221-215 victory. Callahan suggested Jurek try a stronger ball in his final two practice shots.
“Sure enough, I did that, and it saw the lane pretty good. That helped to ease my mind that at least I had a ball reaction again," Jurek said. "From there, normally my body gets a little anxious, but for whatever reason for seven or eight frames, I managed to stay relatively calm for a change.”
Warren started the match with a double followed by an open frame while Jurek posted nothing but strikes. When Warren didn’t strike in the ninth frame, Jurek realized he had won his first PBA title since 2015.
“The emotions started. The shots were pretty good and 300 would have been a bonus, but it was all pretty irrelevant at that point for me,” Jurek said of his 299 game. “For me personally, it just gives me hope again in myself. I was starting to question whether my game was going to be good enough anymore. I think these last few weeks have given me hope that I can still do some things before I am done.”
Jurek admits his body has held up pretty good over the years but after enduring such a long stretch of not winning, he wondered if he would win again. Earning the $8,000 first-place check and the title “feels pretty amazing.”
He was able to ride his positive bowling wave last year into the USBC Senior Masters and he hopes to do it again this year.
“I think if nothing else it should be even easier because I am throwing it better than last year,” he said.
Next up for the PBA50 Tour is the 2024 USBC Senior Masters, which begins at Sam’s Town Bowling Center on Tuesday.
As for the opening match in the Super Senior Classic stepladder finals on Sunday, Warren defeated USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Lennie Boresch Jr. 214-213. Boresch Jr. struck on his first shot in the 10th frame then left the 7-10 split. Warren converted a single-pin spare and knocked down the 9 pins he needed for the win.
Championship Round Scores
Match 1: Warren def. Boresch Jr. 214-213
Match 2: Warren def. Pavone 221-215
Championship match: Jurek def. Warren 299-220
Final Standings
- Jack Jurek, $8,000
- Chris Warren, $6,550
- Skip Pavone, $5,250
- Lennie Boresch Jr., $4,000
- Michael Snow/Pete McCordic, $3,000