Gary Haines s First Major 2025 USBC Masters Full Match vs Anthony Simonsen

Well, will that man trophy in the foreground for a record time, fourth time, will it be Gary Haynes taking a national championship, his very first, and it would be a major. Here's Gary seated, Simonson's going to start. These are the two who met a couple of days ago to determine the number one seed. That's his first one. And Haynes won. So he has one game for $100,000. Simonson will have to beat him twice. That looks like a ball change. That is. Phase two. With surface. You know, about 20, 21 years ago, this event was held at Miller Park. The finals. I know where you're going with this. Danny Wiseman won it. It was the first time we were ever in a baseball stadium. I think I was up in the rafters some mile and a half away calling the action. Yeah, it was great. And Danny still wears those shirts today. Gary Haynes, first shot on TV. Chris and I, we watched a lot of that in practice and warm-ups. He's trying to say all the right things. He's trying to be loose. He was just playing at low key during match play. And it's all great. It's just not real. No. I mean, it's different. Even in the match list to make it here, it's just different than when you're standing up here. Now there's 200, 300 people in the building, the lights, the cameras, and nothing is louder than the silence of TV. Here's his arsenal going with troublemaker solid. He's trying to make a little trouble for Simonson early on. Threw the face a little bit from extra work for Gary on a 2-4-7. I think, guys, he started the tournament with 147. Yeah. And now he's here. And he was on the verge of elimination. He had a dramatic last game of qualifying where he had to wait to shoot a 2-4-7-8-10 split. It was a little bit of a mechanical issue. He had to wait. Made it. Then there was another small breakdown. He had to wait again. Eventually, that lane was shut down, and he and the people he was crossing had finished. Oh! All right, Chris. So we got Brooklyn and then back. This is the best possible start for him. As we look at this, dude wipe. Spare. Dude, indeed. Oh, my goodness. That is a late wipe. Clean. Oh, boy. Yeah, I mean, he's basically throwing three shots. He didn't love any of them. He's clean. He's in the match. He only needs to get started. Won't make Simon one of the best in the game. I think he's won, right? He knows what his equipment is off of each other. He makes a blind ball change. He hasn't thrown this ball at all since the practice before the show, and starts off with a double. He's not afraid. Fearless. Never has been. Yeah, I was going to say the exact same thing. Looking for his first win in 2025. Ball speed, same location, different bowling ball. EJ and Valvo might have been the best bowl over the last decade. This is the guy I think is the most talented, though. I've heard that said before, and I'm not going to disagree with you. Biggest toolbox? 100%. Let's see here. He has not lost. Qualified 51st. I think literally he called his own shot here. He just needed to get his feet underneath it. Look at that. What? So he has made this. This was his fourth make cut in this event. In the prior Masters, he made cuts. He was eliminated, boom, boom. 0-2, 0-2, 0-2. That's right into the face. Well, you know, in 2013, he was the Eastern Region Rookie of the Year. He's experienced, but certainly not at this level. And he hasn't even bowled that much this year. He had to go through the PTQ to get into the Delaware tournament in January. Did not make it. He was 34th there. Even in his area in New York, he has a job that keeps him quite busy. And he says there's barely any time to bowl nearly as much as he would like to. This is the first time he has left this in this event. Kudos. I mean, two tough spares. He's got one on the line. He's just got to get it off his hand a little cleaner. Every one he hangs on. And now you're more aggressive, so I would cheat for you. Okay. Just go ahead and move a little bit right. Yeah. Dino Castillo, who certainly knows his way around the bowling center. And Simonson really hasn't varied the game plan, it looks like. No, last one was light shaker there. And that is just he tried to freeze it up on it just a little bit more. If that one holds, Gary's in big trouble. So, Chris, since it's not built in and the pattern hasn't developed to that, he does it with talent. He does it with rotation, speed, speed, rotation, the way he pushes through the front part of the lane. Yeah. Now the question is on that lane, he's got shaker. Now he's got forebend. Do you move left off the softer shot or do you move right off the shaker and try and really be firm in that pattern? I would inch a little towards the end. I'd move a little in. Just a little. I think our move is to move left. I think his actually is to be firmer. Like right as it passed his shoelaces. Wow. 19.4 miles an hour rev over 500. Take a look at their record in this tournament. Strike percentage a little bit in favor of Simonson. Same with strike after strike percentage. Clean fame percentage also favoring the three-time Masters champion. A solid performance obviously for Gary Haynes to step into this arena undefeated. I would say a lot of that was gained through qualifying where Simonson qualified quite a bit higher. Wow. He's still in this match and the nerves are obviously pouring out at this point. There's no way around it. You can try and pretend to be calm. He's running just flying. Gets fast from the top, pulls it. Left shoulder goes forward, ball goes right. Is that the first sign that somebody is affected by nerves as they go too fast? Yeah, when timing gets off and misses become big. I mean that's unusually big for a player of Gary's caliber for sure. The good news is he's still around and he has a chance to settle in. Thought he might mix that up a little bit. You got a game to get your legs under you. Let's go, pal. No problem. That was a much better tempo. Not a few shots, a game. Much better tempo. That's what he just said. Yeah, and he's right because just to remind everybody that he can lose this game, you take a look at his wife and his father and wife Lauren and dad Joe. They look nervous too. Well, it's just not the same thing you've seen all the way through all the match by match. Made guys show up, finished matches to win. He's done everything he's been asked to do and played at a super high level. It kind of looks like he's gotten to the point now where he's just kind of mad. And that might actually help him. That should chase away some anxieties. Guys like Pete Weber and Tommy Jones have done that for years. Oh, boy. Got a break. Believe it or not. So it looks like he went with the move you were talking about, a little left, a little slower. And then pulled it. Yeah, he was left and left. Instead of a one and one or one and zero, that was a one and two. The thing you can't do is give this guy any hope. Precisely. Now, if you go back to his matches, he had so many matches that were 10-point matches. And that's what I think sets him apart in this generation. He's the best action guy. He's the best closer of this group of really top tier players. He doesn't mind being in that moment. Seems to welcome it. And that's been going on since he was a teenager. If you go back to when he won this tournament at 19, he never shied from the spotlight. It's as pure as pure can be. We have a full weekend of football. And it all starts with Fox UFL Friday as the Birmingham Stallions take on the Michigan Panthers at 8 Eastern. Then next Saturday at 6.30, the San Antonio Brahmins take on the St. Louis Battlehawks, the United Football League, next weekend on Fox and FS1. Looking forward to watching a little of that. A big Frozen Four coming to St. Louis in a couple of weeks. That's a big deal for college hockey fans. We've seen the best shot of the match. And he's still within 19. You know, hard to believe he did get a couple of breaks early. Good tempo. But this lane here coming up has been his trouble lane, guys. He has yet to strike and this will be the lane he finishes on. The left. Just get comfortable. I mean, if you're listening to the words he's saying, he's already passed out. This first game's just a, hey, I know I'm going to be nervous on TV. I'm just going to get dialed in and I'm going to win the second game. But this game's not over. It's not? He's had a few misses on seven pins. Not this one. You think it's a psychological trip to try and take down the intensity and the adrenaline and all the pressure? Yeah, I think he's trying to talk himself into it. Oh, 100%. And again, all he has to do is look in front of him to see why this is going to be so difficult. He didn't draw an average opponent. He didn't draw some guy looking for his first or second title. You know, he drew as hard a draw as you can get. And Simonson clearly didn't like the shot. He didn't have a reason to. And Simonson's going to finish on that lane. Gary's going to get a chance to step up in the 10th. And put a lot of pressure on Simonson. Talked about it throughout the telecast. It's going to come down to execution. You have to make the shot. See it coming? You can see his body language. The ball got just past the arrows. And Simon, yep. Thank you, Randy. Simonson still has the edge with a max. And now he has a high light on that right lane that he's got to finish on. You might wonder why his spare ball looks so dull. Because it slips off when it's got all that polish on it. So he doesn't like having it super shiny. Yes, that's perfection from Anthony Simonson. Can he do it a few more times in the 10th? Yeah, that wasn't good footing. I'm almost tempted to throw the other ball on this lane. Of course he would, because it's the 10th frame. Not afraid. Let's see what kind of pressure Haynes can put on Simonson. This could be a $50,000 9th and 10th frame. You can see the lines up there. It got outside of target. I thought it was actually OK. But it did not pick up at all. And that's what you saw Justin have on that lane earlier. No, not close. That whole game. That was until that frame. Count there is a big deal, too. Simon doesn't have it completely dialed in on this right lane. And on the strike, even with the triple in the 10th, Simon's just going to need nine on two shots. Yeah, so count. Kind of a big deal right there. Ball change. Stealth mode. And not a very good result. Not a bad idea, though, right? To try something a little bit different. Yeah. Love the idea right until it leaves a split. Now you get thrown back with another question mark instead of an answer. Well, if I'm him, I'm going to tear my Achilles getting over to Dino Castillo to talk to him about what do I got to do here? What's your advice, pal? Because you've won some tournaments. Slow hooked it. That was basically another lineup shot. Yeah. So we will have another game between these two, and that will be it to decide the USBC Masters. What about the outer limits? You don't feel confident with the outer limits? No, I didn't throw in the symmetrical stuff the whole time. That's fine. I think we can freshen up the outer limits. Anthony. Boy, he's not making shots on that right lane, is he, guys? Go get it. He's asked for one of his ball rips to go get him something else. It's something my Hall of Fame wife has said many times. When you're throwing shots like this, it's your body telling you you're not comfortable. You're just not throwing the right thing. So you've got to get out of it. You've got to get to something different. Really needed to make that, though, so he got a free shot. I thought he was going to do it on the first one. There we go. We're going to go to a level. All right. You're a Danish. He's going to try and keep it right in front of him. This should be two or three right, probably. It's got a lot of surface on it, but I think this will keep it closer to the headband. He's just going to try to jam it. What do you think about that, Mr. Barnes? I think there's only a few guys that are not afraid to do that. For all the money. One game left for the USBC Masters Championship. Once again, like this last game, we will present it to you commercial free. Anthony Simonson looking for number four Masters titles. Gary Haynes looking for his first title. We are down to one game. We had 390 start the USBC Masters here in Allen Park, Michigan. And now it's down to Gary Haynes. Anthony Simonson, Uno Mas, one more time for the championship. And just a couple of moments ago, we caught this conversation. I got more comfortable. Let's just have some fun. Not a lot. That's Mike Martell, who was the runner up in this event to Anthony Simonson in 2023. A lot different looking Mike Martell. He has lost a lot of weight, is in great shape now and bowling pretty well. So advice for his good friend and his roommate, Gary Haynes. Let's go down to the floor and talk to Dino Castillo. Dino, real quick, what do you make of that mindset heading into this last game? I just think the problem is what's going on with him is he's nervous. He's got to get the nerves out. Just try and play it out like he's out in league. Try and play it out like he's bowling a tournament. He's bowling the crowd. He's not bowling the tournament. He's not bowling the tournament itself. He's worried about the whole atmosphere. Well, a Masters title and $50,000 might say different, guys. $50,000 is the runner up money. $100,000 for the winner. I'm sorry, Gabe. Go ahead and finish your thought. No, that was it. $100,000 for the winner. Mentally never got into the right place. He's trying to talk himself off the edge, but it's $50,000. It's a major. It is important. Go ahead and own how important it is. Sniper. Gently tumbling. It looked like it got hit by a taser. So the ball changes to a stealth mode, and this is a move towards the inside part of the lane, creating more angle. With that, his ball speed gets a little bit softer. Looks like the aura formed the 10-10 more than Sniper did. Just passed out. That path to the pocket for Simonson on the right, and that ball has to lay there. It has to lay there. And I think probably he's bumping a little bit. I think this whole choice is based off scoring base and what he anticipates Gary bowling. I don't think Gary's going to shoot 170 again, but I don't think Gary has reaction to shoot 220 or 30. So if he can control the pocket on the right lane, he's got all strikes on the left lane. Damon, can we get them to stop cutting it in between graphs because it's reflected on the lane every time they change it up there. Can we get them to stop cutting shots like that every time the Fox logo comes up? It's blasted on the middle of the lane in my approach. One of the many things you deal with on TV that you don't think about, but as you stand in there, the big bright, the bright red Fox logo does reflect off where apparently he's targeting. Take a look. There's the big picture of it, and you see if you look closely at the lanes out, it doesn't reflect different signing signages, I should say. And it got to him. He never missed. He hasn't missed on this left lane. And that's the lane he will be finishing on. Got interesting choice to let Simon finish on that lane, but it's purely an offensive move. He has not changed it. It's right in the middle of our approach. Yeah, I didn't want to interrupt, but Gary's only hit the pocket on the right lane. I don't mind that strategy. I don't want to let Simon have a double in the 10th. And folks, I'll let you know a little secret that Chris told Dave and I during the commercial break when Simonson made that ball change on the right lane. Chris said if Simonson strikes twice with that ball change on the right lane, he wins. I agree. Well, he didn't strike in the first frame, so he'll be up on that right lane next. He's so good in the left lane that every strike on the right lane is a three bagger. So even with an open, you're looking at 220. I think 220 right now is going to be very hard for Gary to get to. He hasn't thrown enough really good ones yet to know what his ball is going to do on both lanes yet. But as we've seen in the other matches, it can turn in a real hurry. They'll look like he's dead. Then he was through. And then he looked like he was fine. Can he get his feet underneath him and get a little bit comfortable? So is this guy's kind of the reverse of what we saw with Bill O'Neill earlier? Bill was afraid to go too far right. And we saw what happened when he did this. Almost looks like the same thing. Only the left handed version. I think there's some elements of that. I do as well. Yeah, I think he's really uncomfortable. That shoulder goes forward. It starts off somewhat on line, but it's coming from a different angle. Nope. Messenger checks up. I don't think it's going to make it. That was the one right there. See, the thing about Simonson and what he's doing on the right lane is he knows exactly what that ball is going to do on the right lane. He knows that if he keeps it in front of him, he can jam it to the one three, whether or not it strikes or not. But he knows what it's going to do. It's 100 percent predictable. Twenty feet to go. He knows it's hit in the pocket or not hit in the pocket. Jason Belmonte. Will he have company in a few more frames? Or will Anthony be hanging with Mike Albee, which, by the way, is a great thing to do? Yeah. But Belmonte sits atop at four. USBC Masters. Explosive. Simonson on that left hand lane. It's starting to hook just a little bit earlier. He's starting to creep up. Yes. That was awfully close to going high. Just a little small adjustment. A little half, maybe. A lot of shots over the same board over the last last game and a half. As a missed on that left through the middle. And he'll have a 247. You thought it looked better. I thought it looked better. And it goes through the face for 247. I did, too. Hand cleaner was the first thing. He's got to get that part. He's spinning. The whole thing's going fast, and you need it to slow down. And you have a shot clock up there telling you you've got to go. Uh oh. Oh, wow. You know, he had been a very good spare shooter today. And that's a major error in the fourth frame. There's still time for him. That is a big miss, guys. Yeah, between count and the miss. And psychologically, that's a very unusual thing for for a player of Gary's caliber to do at any point. He's focusing on his physical game. I would imagine right now trying to get that dialed in. And now it's carried over to a spare ball and caused another error. Now, this is not going to look easy. Professionals usually do a very good job with this type of shot. But left and left when he got it all the way to five, I thought I thought it might actually make it off of it. But he obviously feels like the middle lane is a little flat. He's got to get back out to the zone where Justin was at earlier. Five for five this week. Six for six. Thank you. It won't let you lie to yourself or anyone else. I got to go back left. It's just taking this. You can't go back left. I got to go back. No, I want you to go left. You try to shape it right. It's not going to work. I didn't do that all week. Now I'm trying to roll it. I'm just moving left. That's it. It sounds like they want him to move back to the left and increase his ball speed more like what he's done the entire week. Simonson's got some work to do. That's the right lane again. Now, you guys have harped on his game plan about, as you said, both of you about jamming it in. Is it time to try something different? No. OK, why not? He doesn't need to. He doesn't have to throw five in a row, four in a row. That's just a bad break. It wasn't his best shot. He's not being pushed yet. I don't see a need for him to change anything. Obviously, the left lane, we can pretty much bet our houses that this is going to be a strike. That's where he finishes. Chris, do you think he needs a change? At this point, I think you're probably committed to it. Yeah, I think you're probably committed. Still think two strikes is enough. I just don't think he wanted it to be the last two on that lane. Because we all knew it was going to strike. Perfect on the left lane. It does seem like it's creeping higher and higher, but a little small move there, I think. Yeah, maybe a half. And that's enough. Might be the shot of the match here. Well, he moved back to the left and tried to fire it. Left shoulder shuts down. Ball goes dead right. What a huge break. It's a strike on Brookman. He's only trailing by four, if you can believe it. He can take the lead right here. He can find a way to just settle it in. Can really flip the pressure back on Simonton on a lane he struggled on. It's a little late. He's got a single pin to shoot at. Looked bad out of his hands. Direction was good. And majors do some funny things to people, don't they? Majors, television, titles, money. Whatever drives you. But the real problem is just not getting off his hand as clean as earlier. The ones that get off a little bit flatter are fine. The ones that get up and let tend to go to the right might actually get on the line, but still up in the air and just didn't roll off the mid-lane spot, which he was so good at during match break. All right. The battle continues. Anthony Simonton versus the right lane. That's spot on, Dave. Oh, my. And has yet to land a solid punch against that lane. It's not making the shots. And now you're in a tough spot on that lane because if you want to make a change, it's blind. Yeah, but we would all agree that he's done that a few hundred times before made a blind change, even late in an important match. It's not out of the realm of possibility. You've been saying it. This left lane looks like it keeps trying to go. You got to pinch another half in my book. I think you have to pinch another half there. I'm not comfortable with where I'm blank. That's it. What do you think will make you feel comfortable? Great question. I want you to do me a favor. Before you go throw that shot, you go to your wife. Not a bad idea. All right, Simonton, left lane. Oh, he did get high. That was a miss in, though. Oh, this thing is FFO. You get what I mean? Far from over. Get it out of your head. Go to your wife. You've got to change something in your head because you're panicking. You feel like you're in quicksand. I know. So breathe. I mean, this is where you kind of like cinch up your belt, roll up your sleeves and go, you know what? I'm not going down without a fight. This is Rocky and Apollo Creed, but nobody right here. Get ready to call timeout. All right. Got it? There is a lot going on in that head. Well, he didn't give his wife a kiss. He can strike out and win this thing. Goodness, not too many times do you get a messenger on a five pin. In the ninth frame of a major championship, you got one. Runaway Brooklyn, caves of five. Yep. Make that the eighth frame. Here comes the ninth frame. There you go. All right. We got away with a bunch of bad ones. Now just throw one good one. He's saying all the right things. Finally, there you go. Come on, Gary. Well, let's see. One of the best of your life right here. Well, the kiss from Lauren make the difference. Wow. I've seen a lot in my 25 years in the booth. Take all the breaks. All of it. Simonson's got a strike here, guys. He's got to throw a double to put some heat back on him. It's hard. It's hard to say. I mean, even one up right there. Wow. And either way, no matter what he does, Gary has ball in hand. Yeah, that was that was huge. But he needs to to strike out the 10th frame and put all the pressure back on Gary Haynes. For starters. Count is so important now. Have a re-rack, please. It's going to take a little bit to bowl his 10th frame now, I have a feeling. I like the idea of a re-rack. It's going to slow him down a touch and an extra few seconds for Gary Haynes to think. Yeah, let me give you some more time to think about it. Take a shot of the tournament for Simonson right here. There's a deadwood in the left gutter. Simonson is struck on this lane in this game every time but once. In the field of play. And I think all the time favors Anthony Simonson here given his experience. But he still is at least 7,000 times today. He's got to execute an unbelievable shot through the nose. So we want to just. Unbelievable. Four through the middle. Got it up the lane again. And this time he pays for it. Well, we sounded the warning call. He's going to have to go through this. And that one shot. Holy smokes. Gary Haynes needs a mark. He's going to take a re-rack. That's a very savvy move right there for a television rookie to take the re-rack and settle his nerves down because his heart rate at this moment. So many bad ones. Just one good one. Gave it to you. One good shot. Wow. He must mark. Any mark. One good shot. One good one. So good. Such a good shot. By far his best shot of the game on that right lane. Can he make a 10 pin? It's incredible. It's a lot like the O'Neal one. And O'Neal shot 100 of them on TV. Gary has never shot one and for $100,000. It is a long, long way away right now. At 60 feet just became 120. Looks good. Can he get four? Brought to you by Pilgrims. Chicken can be boring, but Pilgrims is turning chicken nuggets upside down. I love it. You love it. Put it in a nugget. His dad and his wife. It's a kiss, guys. Grab the trophy, Gary. Do you know about the oaking in psychology practice? I don't know of any other reps in the time that I've been doing this that have suggested, why don't you go kiss your wife and it'll help you out because it did. Instead of throwing it straight and hard, he curves it at the 10 pin to win the 2025 Masters.