Did Parker Bohn III underachieve in the majors? | PBA Bowling Rewind
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- čas přidán 9. 02. 2024
- There’s no doubt that Parker Bohn III is one of the greatest PBA bowlers of all time. He’s achieved so much in his career, almost too much to list. He currently ranks fifth on the all-time titles list with 35 PBA Tour titles.
However there’s just one small question mark over Bohn’s career and that is his record in major tournaments. He’s won 3 PBA major titles during his career, but for a player of his calibre, this seems a little on the low side. This poses the question, should Parker have won more majors?
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Only pro I’ve ever had the honor of meeting in person, one of the most genuine and kind people you’ll ever know. There is an argument that he underachieved in majors, but winning two majors at 49 and 51 is incredible.
One of the best ambassadors the sport has ever seen.
I ran into Parker at my local center about 25 years ago. I was a little awestruck. Lol. He was very nice nice. Great guy.
Every sports has eras that get in the way of players winning more. Parker got stuck in the era of WRWjr and PDW. Now we are in the Belmo era slowly moving into Tackett or Simonsen.
He just happened to bowl at a time where there were great lefties to split titles with on favorable conditions. Aulby, Couch. Cook, Allen, Horan, Mazza, Gant, Scroggins, Forkel & Stayrook to name a few. He wasn't always clutch either. The fact that he has so many titles is more due to him having an extended career and that he started winning right off the bat. Many good players had learning curves and took more time to adjust to tour conditions. And his smooth form was easy on the body compared to a lot of power players.
Bowling is about putting yourself in the best position to win. Winning a one game roll off (which is typically what finals are when you are the #1 seed) can go any direction. I think since he put himself in the position to win so many and just came out on the wrong side more often, I wouldn't say he underachieved by any means. That's just bowling.
My theory is that PB III just ran into guys on the majors that were able to turn up their games.
As far as underachievers on the PBA tour goes; what about a video on Ryan Shafer. Talented guy who's been grinding it out on the PBA circuit since 1986; Rookie of the Year in 1987, 56 TV appearances but only 5 wins (and it took him until 2000 to win his first event). But he's won 35 PBA regional titles (34 PBA and one PBA50 regional). So what went wrong with him?
He also made a ton of major tv finals.
@@RyanLandreneau True that, 16 times he's made TV for a major; 5 of those being a runner up ('00 and '02 Tournament of Champions, '08 and '11 PBA World Championship and'06 US Open)
It's crazy to think out of all of those appearances, he only won those five titles. I swear the guy could've had thirty titles or maybe even more with that consistency. Man what could've been. Alot of those matches were very close too. Still impressive regardless.
Love Parker, bcuz of him i started bowling. However, something i wonder is, in an small interview, he said the tournament he looks after to win was the TOC, when the majority of bowlers said the US OPEN
He bowled in an era where the then "Firestone" Tournament of Champions was considered the pinnacle of PBA success. TOC back then was seen like Golf's Masters is. Invite only, always bowled at Riviera Lanes. Once Firestone was no longer involved, the tournament lost its luster. You could argue that Firestone leaving as sponsor in 1993 was a bit of canary in a coal mine for the PBA itself.
Wow Parker Bohn III He's A Great Bowler In PBA Bowling History.
It’s extremely tough, even for a great bowler. One bad game and it’s over.
Reaching the finals in Majors is no easy task. May not have won them, but he was there in them. 😊
You can also argue that Walter Ray should have even more wins. I think he's only 50% in winning title matches and STILL has all those wins.
One event that wasn’t a major but used to be considered more coveted than a standard title was the Japan Cup, partially because only the top 16 players even got to to. Parker won that event 4 times including a 3-peat.
Parker is my favorite 80's/90's pro to watch. So smooth. The time period he was at his prime he also had WRW, PDW, Duke, and Mike Alby always in that same contention. Those 4 won so many majors in that span and with only 3/4 majors a year not a lot to go around.
Honestly pb3 is a fantastic guy in person and an amazing bowler but I look at him like Drew brees. Drew brees is a QB who had all of the stats one could imagine, and historically one of the best QBs to play the game, but no one looks at him as such because he only had 1 superbowl.
Parker continues to be one of my favorite bowlers to watch. It is incredibly difficult to win a PBA tour title. While it seems like Parker’s 3 majors is lame compared to Smallwood having 2 majors with fewer total wins and fewer tournaments entered, if you consider the stepladder format and the role that luck can play in this game it isn’t underperforming in my book.
Much like Golf and Tennis, majors in Bowling gets way more focus today than it got in Bohn's prime era (late 80s and 90s). In my view, there was a lot less separation on the value of a tour title vis a vis a major than as today. Bohn may have won only 3 majors, but he also won several big important tour titles, like the showboat and World Open which were considered prestigious events on tour with big fields and big prize funds. Bohn was/is a legit all timer, and you could make an argument he is the 2nd best lefty ever (not saying he is, but you could make that argument). He was good with urethane and resin, and also could play every part of the lane (he was really good playing inside).
This is a great answer which I totally agree with. I remember in the 90s they didn’t even televise the US Open some years.
I never knew this stat about Parker Bohn III, I remember seeing him in the finals in a bunch of the espn classic majors but yeah not getting the title. Regardless great bowler
I've always liked this guy. I was always hoping he would make TV stepladders.
This needed more context. For instance, did he get beat by people bowling 250+ a number of times, was he losing because of one bad shot, or was he losing 170-220
Parker just had some bad luck. I remember watching him on telecasts and he'd shoot 240 on TV and lose more than his share of matches. Always a classy guy. His kids seem to follow in his footsteps. Although, those lumber liquidator commercials are a bit cringe. Parker!! Lol
Are you planning on weighing in on Brandon Novak?
He should have won exactly as many as he did, because that’s exactly what he earned. It’s an absurd question. Anyone who understands the game of bowling knows this.
I think we'd all be proud to have Parkers record. He's kind of underrated, actually. Ryan Schaefer is the most underachieving bowler that I know of. I don't compare real bowlers to two handers with their little trickypoo that they figured out. There are too many absolutely lucky strikes from them. Earl Anthony was the most boring champion. Watch his right hand just lay there the whole time.
You must be fun at parties.
Bowling balls started with a middle finger hole and thumb. How dare that cheater that put an extra finger hole in the ball to score better. The game evolves get over it.
Cue the butthurt 2 handlers. But but but…
But…yes Ryan Shafer should have 20 titles and a few majors instead of just 5 standards and 0 majors with 16 top 5 finishes. Now Chris Barnes as great as he is, could still be considered the most underachieving. He should easily have 30 or more titles with 6+ majors rather than his 19 and 3.
Quit whining about 2 handers and get better buddy
Majors or not, I would hardly call winning 35 titles and being in the all-time top 5 an "underachievement".
Parker knows who I am... I grew up on the Junior Bowlers tour and roomed with him on the PBA tour... When i say this, people will laugh.. I say "Let me oil the lanes, Parker would have won 15 Majors.. Wink wink....
OHHH yea... "Butch" i believe, when he bowls heads up wants to rip your head off... fig. speaking... He looks calm... there is a VOLCANO going off inside...SHAKE it UP
Parker’s prime overlapped with 3 of the other 5 guys
Really to beat up on Parker Bohn III... this is kind of a low blow. Consider the fact that he beats the great Mark Roth in titles. Now I have to put that in the proper context: Mark Roth bowled with shity equipment, and basically made up the difference with his hand and accuracy. Once you get past someone like Roth and Earl Anthony that bowled with crap bowling balls, you have to preface later bowler's careers with having access to superior bowling balls. Even so, the fact that Parker Bohn won meant he was going to make it and did make it into the PBA Hall of fame. Are we really going to nitpick how many majors he won? I mean I could see trying to examine some small-time bowler that ground it out on the tour for years, had the talent, but never really went anywhere...... I mean take Chris Warren for example: on the PBA tour he won very little, but then he won all these Regional titles. Now there's a guy I can think of that relative to Bohn, was a serial underachiever.... but it just really means that there's always someone better in bowling that you face, and Parker always had people bowl tremendously high averages against him. I think even as one little highlights, Wes Malott averaged something like 271 against Bohn. So I really think this kind of video is just really unfair..... because he's in the PBA Hall of fame, and that's something that a lot of people aspire to do. That will never be taken away from him, and aside from Anthony, you have to say that he was one of the absolute best lefties of all time.
It's not intended to be a criticism of Parker at all. One of my viewers posed the question so I tried to look at both sides and then discuss. I just thought it was interesting as to why he hadn't won more majors. It's a compliment in a way because you would think he would have won 6+ majors given the fact he's one of the all time greats. Also the fact that he won 2 out of the 3 majors so late in his career was interesting. Like I said, it's not a criticism. It's more of an observation and a comparison to similar players on his level, many of whom he competed against for years.
@@therightlanebowling then I would have approached that part as saying look how hard it is to win a major against all the other Talent he was trying to compete against. We just had the recent us open, where for example Belmonte seeded second, but he ended up finishing third, bowling on 157. The oddest thing was that this week at the Illinois classic, there was not a single two-hander in the finals. What can someone perhaps attribute that to? It may be the very fact that the US Open - - because of the super hard oil patterns - - just took a huge mental toll even on one of the mentally toughest guys on tour, and that is Jason Belmonte. Is that a knock against his mental toughness? Not at all.
WOOPITY do! Major schmajor! He won 35. What makes a major more special? Some guy sitting at a desk? They’re all big events!! Who gives a shit? Bohn is a legend in bowling
Nope he won what he won.
Parker should have won about 59 majors.