The 5 Pin Dictates…Pla-Mor Takes A Bite Out Of Bowlerstore.com Scores, Urbana’s Fach Sparkles

Pla-Mor Lanes proved to be its characteristic pugnacious self on qualifying Saturday in the 18th Annual Bowlerstore.com PBA Classic.  Few feast while majority of the field suffers scoring famine.

Coldwater, OH – To give you an idea of how tough Pla-Mor Lanes played on qualifying day of the 18th Annual Bowlerstore.com PBA tournament Saturday, through two rounds of qualifying only 18 of the world’s top 96 players had managed to average 200 for their eight games bowled.

And, there were some obscure names, as well, to go along with Urbana’s Graham Fach (225) and Michigan veteran Tom Smallwood (233).  Trae Henrichsmeyer averaged 225, and Tampa, Florida’s Ethan Fiore, a rising star, averaged 225, including a 300 game.

But beyond those lofty scores, the rest or the field dropped like a rock as bowlers struggled to find the combination of angle, speed, and bowling ball to crack the Pla-Mor code.

Pocket hits, left-hand and right-hand, left nasty splits and solid 7 and 10 pins galore.

Spares even proved to be risky as bowlers’ frustrations over not being rewarded for solid strike shots went unrewarded.

And one thing that became obvious early into the 10 am ‘A’ flight Saturday…ball angle and what you do with the 5 pin on your strike shot was key.  The 5 pin seemed to dictate the efficacy of impact from that 15-pound bowling ball, because even if you hit the pocket, if you hit it light or at the improper angle – if you failed to drive the 5 pin in the right direction – you were subject to solid 7 and 10 pin leaves and splits.  Whether anyone watching noticed, the 5 pin was instrumental in success and failure.

Interestingly, old pros like Smallwood and Graham Fach began making early adjustments.

“After about four shots,” said Fach, recognized as one of the PBA’s most efficient and consistent shot makers, despite just one PBA Major title (PBA Players Championship) and three national titles, overall (Delaware Classic and Pete Weber Classic).  “The angle that the ball hits the 1-2 pocket, for me (he’s lefthanded), is critical.  So while I marked in those early frames I began adjusting the angle to get better penetration on the 5 pin.  The 5 pin is very important.”

Why is it, the pin that sits directly in the middle of the rack…so important?

“You want the 5 pin to do damage to the rest of the rack on your strike shot,”  says Pla-Mor proprietor and ultra-successful Coldwater High School coach Rick Hartings.  “It should kick out the 7 pin or the 10 pin, and the ball should continue to do damage as it picks its way through the rack.  Ideally, the ball should split the 8 and 9 pins in the back row.  That’s the perfect strike.  And that’s how you get those exploding strike shots like you see EJ Tackett and other high-rev shot makers get.”

But if the ball deflects, or doesn’t get penetration on its initial impact with the rack, bad things happen in bowling.

“For me, as a lefthander, I want to make sure the strike ball hits the 5 pin, and then have the 5 pin hit the 9 or the 10,”  says Fach.  “And if you hit the pocket light, as a lefthander you hope that the head pin hits the 3 pin and that pin hits the wall and takes out the 10.  And then you want it to go back left and clean up whatever mess is left.

“So angle of entry is very important with the strike shot in bowling.  This place (Pla-Mor) is very hard so whatever you can do to give yourself a chance to strike…and those two hits are the most common…there’s not a lot of other hits that this place gives you.”

And even seasoned pros like Fach, EJ Tackett, Tom Smallwood, AJ Johnson, and Kyle Troup – past winners at Coldwater – still struggle with the humbling conditions at Pla-Mor, while knowing what to expect coming in.

“Even if you bowl a lot of tournaments back home, someplace, and you have success and win,”  smiles Fach.  “But when you get to Pla-Mor Lanes everything changes.

“The pins here don’t fall easy.  It’s not forgiving environment in terms of ball reaction, so your mistake area is extremely small.  And on top of that you’re bowling against the best bowlers in the world.  So if you want to truly measure how good a bowler you are…you come to Pla-Mor and bowl.”

A native Canadian, Graham Fach came to Urbana to bowl at Urbana University and became a national name in the collegiate ranks.  Joining the PBA Tour in 2016, in addition to his three national titles he’s won 17 PBA Regional Titles, including the Bowlerstore.com Coldwater Classic in 2022, defeating Australia’s Sam Cooley 224-219 for the title.  His fellow pros speak of his consistency, his competitiveness, and his ability to make the corrections necessary in a place like Pla-Mor Lanes to stay in the hunt.

“I’m just always trying to improve,”  Fach says of his ten-year record on tour, and his best year ever in 2025 when he cashed checks for nearly $150,000 in purses.  “Because, when you think you’re good enough here you end up taking a step back.  So I always believe there’s a better version of myself and I do what I can do to find it.”

And speaking of consistency, in seven of his eight qualifying games Saturday he carded scores of 200 or more, his high games being a 268 and 278.  His lone sub-200 was 191.  And how tough was that to accomplish?

Having mentioned Ethan Fiore’s 300 game in his sixth game on Saturday, immediately thereafter he bowled a 162 in the seventh.  Pla-Mor doesn’t give in easily, but neither does Fiore.  By qualifying’s end Saturday, he ranked in the top five of the advancing round on Sunday.

And it sets up an most interesting game of adjustment in Sunday’s championship rounds and stepladder final four, as Smallwood, Fiore, former champions AJ Johnson and Fach, and collegiates like Hayden Hale and defending champ Brett Lloyd seeks to defend his title.

And just as interesting, the remainder of the field trying to crack that top 32 list for Sunday, including world #1 EJ Tackett.

That’s not likely to happen as Tackett was well beneath the cut line late in qualifying.

Sunday Notes:  

The advancers round of 32 begins at 11 am on Sunday…followed by the round of 16 at 1:30 pm.  The final 8 round begins at 3:00 pm, followed by the stepladder round of 4 at 5:00 pm.  

Admission is free.