No one gave him a chance. Almost everyone thought it was easy money. In the end, it was anything but.
Last night at Triad Lanes in Greensboro, NC, Douglas Herron ran his well known Dougieeevision Action Bowling. This wasn't the first time Herron was in that region and it wasn't the first time that #1 PBA bowler in the world Kyle Troup had presented an open challenge. Troup, who won his first national PBA Tour title at the 2015 PBA Wolf Open and has eight PBA Tour titles to date, including one major championship, put out an open request, Best of 5 for $500 versus basically anyone willing to thrown down against him. And when New Jersey native Alex Vargas accepted the challenge, many people figured he was just donating his money to Troup.
Vargas represents a huge majority of the bowling world. He is a competitive league bowler, a solid 230 average that competes in local leagues and tournaments in and around his hometown. Vargas, however, has never competed on the PBA level and so it was basically billed as a David vs. Goliath matchup from the outset.
What no one realized, however, was that this match was much more about the talent level of competitive league bowlers and that it's really not that far off from professional-level bowlers. Let's face it, if a recreational park basketball player went up against LeBron James, it would be a slaughter. If a stickball player went up against major league pitchers, he'd probably struggle to hit .100. This is not the case in bowling. In bowling, a strong league bowler not only can compete with the top bowlers in the world, he may actually beat the best bowlers in the world. It can be argued that the talent level of the professionals vs. competitive league bowlers is the closest of basically any other sport.
And such was the case last night, as Vargas beat Troup in convincing fashion with a 3 - 0 sweep. In the first game, Troup rolled a 225 and Vargas actually needed a mark and count in the tenth to win the game. Vargas' first shot in the tenth came up very high and could've been a split, but fortunately he tripped out a few pins en route to the 239 game and a 1-0 lead. Troup struggled in the second game and only had a 74 in the fifth while Vargas continued striking, building a 53 pin lead midway through the game. Troup tried to fight back, but Vargas kept applying the pressure, throwing a late 4-bagger to take a 2-0 lead. And the third game was more of the same, with Troup bowling a 211, allowing Vargas to close out the match in the 9th frame with yet another timely 4-bagger.
Yes, it was only $500. Yes, it was only one match. But it was a match in which people doubted Vargas from the beginning. It was a match in which people questioned Vargas for taking. It was a match that almost no one gave Vargas a chance. And not only did Vargas win, but he won convincingly, allowing him to quiet down all the naysayers. For not only did Vargas win in a sweep, but he won at a house in which Troup is almost definitely more comfortable bowling in. Troup hales from Taylorsville, NC, which is only about an hour and a half away from Triad. All the odds were against Vargas. But he showed why you should never doubt competitive league bowlers. Of course the professionals will win on most days. But not on this day. And not at this house. And not if Alex Vargas has anything to say about it.
You can watch footage of the match below:
