Smith Makes for a Striking Presence

If the Professional Bowlers Assn. is looking for star power, it need look no farther than Robert Smith, its defending U.S. Open champion from Simi Valley.

Smith, 26, has the same cult following in bowling as John Daly does in golf. Both are built around one thing--power.

When the 6-foot, 220-pound Smith joined the PBA circuit in 1998, he rolled his 16-pound bowling ball down the lanes at an eye-popping 34 mph. The average professional rolls about 24 mph, tops.

“I had to scale back a little on my speed to get better control of my hook,” said Smith, who has a distinct style. He approaches the 60-foot lane from the far left side, almost left of the lane, and hurls his ball across the hardwood, seemingly toward the gutter. At about the 45-foot mark, when it is just short of dropping over the edge, the ball breaks sharply to the left and into the heart of the pocket. Usually for another strike.

Smith was born in Simi Valley, played basketball at Royal High there, and still lives there--when he is not touring the country with bowling’s nomads. He started bowling with his parents when he was 6, began taking it seriously when he was 13 or 14, and was winning local junior tournaments when he was 16 and 17.

He burst onto the national scene when he was 19 and won the National Amateur championship. That earned him a spot in the first event of the 1994 PBA season at Cal Bowl in Lakewood.

“I had just turned 20 [Jan. 16] and the event was televised and I was low qualifier,” he recalled. “That was overwhelming to me. I had never had an experience like that before. I ended up losing to Norm Duke in the final, but I was the first amateur to lead a professional tournament.”

Smith evened the score with Duke at last year’s U.S. Open in Phoenix when his 202-201 victory in the final round prevented the Clermont (Fla.) veteran from becoming the fourth player to score a bowling Triple Crown. Duke had won the season’s first two majors.

“It turned out to be payback time, but at the time I never thought about it,” Smith said. “It was an absolute nail biter. I was never so nervous when I finished and he was last up. If he rolled a strike, it was all over, he was the winner.”

Duke left the eight-pin wobbling, but it remained upright and Smith had won his first professional tournament.

“Like Tiger Woods says, even when you’re playing good, you need a few breaks to win,” Smith said. “Norm’s ball was a little light and it shouldn’t have been a strike, but it came close. But I threw some good shots in the 10th [frame] and made him need a strike to win.

“That win got me over the hump and proved to me and a lot of other people that I belong out here on the tour.”

In October, he won the Flagship Open in Erie, Pa., and finished second to Patrick Allen in the PBA Greater Detroit Open to finish seventh in last season’s money winnings with $74,180. Duke led with $136,900.

“The money’s a whole lot more this [season], thanks to our new administration, and we seem to be generating more interest in the media and with commercials,” Smith said.

If Smith’s following at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, where the U.S. Open will conclude Sunday, is any indication, he and the sport are on an upswing. It was easy to find him during the week’s qualifying.

The biggest crowd was usually gathered behind his lane and most were cheering loudly for their young favorite.

After six rounds, Smith is in 25th place

“I like it when fans make a lot of noise,” he said. “For years, it was more like golf or tennis and everybody was quiet. I think fans should be boisterous, like baseball fans. Maybe without the booing, though.”

When Smith shows up for a tournament, he has 16 balls to choose from, and he takes seven to the lanes for every match.

‘Each of the balls is a little different, a different core, a different material on the outside. If you don’t know what the lane’s doing, drying up, getting slick or developing slow spots, you’ll never win on tour.

“I even have one ball I use mostly to pick up spares.

“The lanes tell me what to do. Then I have to perform.”