David Cole II advanced from Saturday’s qualifying at the 2025 GIBA 11thFrame.com Open in 15^th place among the 48 advancers in the 156-player field at 1,386 for six games, 98 pins behind leader Josh Kennedy.

Then Cole came out of the gate 297, 280 and 279 for 856 his first three games of Sunday’s 12 games of Flanagan format semifinals to jump into the lead.

The Flanagan format awards bonus pins each game based on score from highest to lowest. For example, with 48 semifinalists, the highest scorer will get 48 bonus pins, the second-highest scorer 47 pins, so on down to 1 bonus pin for the lowest score each game.

After 18 games — six in qualifying and 12 in the semifinals — the top five advance to the stepladder finals.

Cole followed his hot start with 215, 252, 267, 215, 247 and 245 and held a comfortable lead with three games to go at Cherry Lanes inside the Diamond Jo Casino building in Dubuque, Iowa.

But as has happened over the prior three years when the 37-foot lane pattern was used, the lanes began to transition enough to get tricky, with some leaders struggling. That included PBA Tour champion David Krol, who resorted to lofting a long way down the lane at the end of the round, but only got above 208 twice in his last six games as he fell out of the top five.

And it included Cole, who rolled 180 in Game 10 and 161 in Game 11, earning just seven and two bonus pins, respectively. That dropped him to second behind Brett Lloyd 4,410-4,375.

The incredibly tight standings that set up a wild 12^th game featured Garrett Meadows in third at 4,305, followed by Krol 4,304, Kennedy 4,303, Kai Evans 4,302, Dave Dentlinger 4,271, Bobby Habetler 4,270, Mike Kicmal 4,265, Ryan Powers 4,254, Clay Rees 4,251, and Cameron Foster 4,247.

Lloyd, who qualified 41^st, closed with 194, while Kennedy slammed 268 to jump into a tie for first at 4,616, leading to a roll-off for the top seed that Lloyd won 267-225.

Foster fired 279 to jump into fourth and Rees 268 to soar into fifth at 4,574 and 4,566, respectively.   

Cole’s struggles continued in Game 12 as he had just 104 in the seventh and appeared to be destined to miss the stepladder. But the traditional right-hander with the loose swing and quick release dug deep and struck out for 194 to advance in third at 4,581.

Meadows ended up 18 pins behind Rees and Dentlinger 21 pins behind.

This Google doc has the full Flanagan format results.

With the stepladder on fresh oil, Cole looked like the player who started with 856 as he rolled games of 259, 279 and 258 to win the title.

In this interview that starts at about 1 hour, 50 minutes of the BowlstreamTV archive of the stepladder, Cole quipped that he was ready for the stepladder Games 10 and 11.

Cole, who doesn’t bowl enough to really be called a “weekend warrior” due to work and family commitments, said he lost his feel and got tired at the end of the semifinals, with his thumb swelling up as the lanes got tricky.

“I haven't really had a chance to really throw this many games in a long period of time,” Cole said. “Kudos to the guys that do this for a living, because it really does take a toll on you both physically and mentally. They just fight through it. And I was just happy to be here. I had a little bit of luck yesterday, had a great set with everybody on our pair, and just kind of carried it over to today.”

He said he was humming to himself in Game 12 “just to try to keep a cadence,” just tried to trust himself “and whatever happens, happens.”

Cole, who said he didn’t know he needed the first strike in the 10^th to make the stepladder, also drew on his experience at this year’s USBC Open Championships where he rebounded from a 4-0 frame in a 176 first game to lead his team to an 11^th place finish in team event with 685 as he finished fifth in all-events with 2,142. (The 4-0 was a 3-4-6-7-9-10 split that his spare shot went through the middle on.)

“It's nice to know that that 4-out didn't cost us an eagle,” he said. “Just don't give up and do what you can. Just trust your game.”

The fresh lane pattern played tricky in the first match of the stepladder as Rees edged Foster 191-187.

Rees failed to convert the bucket in the first frame and opened on a 4-7-10 split in the seventh, but doubled in the 10^th to force Foster to mark.

Foster had failed to convert the 6-10 in the second, but rebounded with doubles in the third and fourth and sixth and seventh, and needed just a mark in the 10^th to advance. But he left a 2-10 split he couldn’t convert and Rees won the contest between close friends.

After starting with conversions of the 2-8 and 9-pin, Rees found the range with a 4-bagger, conversions of the 8-pin and 3-pin, then two more strikes before leaving a 3-pin and sparing it for 236.

But that wouldn’t be enough against Cole, who using one of his three Hammer ENVY TOURs followed a 3-6-10 conversion in the first with a 7-bagger in his 259.

Cole then started with another 7-bagger against Kennedy, spared a 3-pin he left when he almost missed the head-pin left, and struck out for 279.

Kennedy was clean with three doubles, but his urethane just didn’t have the reaction to keep up with a 279.

The title match against Lloyd was tight until it turned when Lloyd missed a 10-pin in the ninth. The powerful 2-hander is an impressive young player who went to Webber International and now is a graduate assistant at Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Cole started with spares of a 10-pin and a solid 9-pin, then doubled, left a blower 7 for a spare, and struck out for his 258.

Lloyd started with a solid 9 for a spare, tripped the 4-9 for a strike, left a 2-4-5 for a spare, then rolled four flush strikes. He left a ring 10 in the eighth for a spare, then left the 10 he failed to convert when a messenger went in front of it. He doubled in the 10^th and added a 2-8 for 225.

That forced Cole to get 9-0 to tie, or any mark to win, and he dug out the 10 for the win.

Cole said the stepladder with fresh oil “was like starting over. All you get is 10 frames — make them the best that you can. I trusted my look in the beginning of the day. I trusted my feel. ... stuck with my routine this morning, and it helps when you go pretty big out of the gate.”

Despite shooting 796 for his three stepladder games and trailing only for a few frames in the title match, Cole said he never felt like the tournament was his “because you never want to discredit your opponent. And I had three terrific opponents. They're all phenomenal. They do this well more often than I do.

“So again I tried to just stick with it, one shot at a time, one breath at a time, and got a little fortunate on a couple of them. But overall I trusted myself and I was really fortunate for that.”

The win is the biggest of his career, Cole said.

“I haven't had a chance recently to actually compete very often,” he said. “It's nice to get one under the belt, especially this one. This is a phenomenal event.”

He said his next goal is “to not stink at Team USA Trials” in January.

“I definitely will try to get a couple more things in beforehand, but I gotta remember what's first, which is work,” Cole said.

The top five prizes were $2,800, $2,300, $1,800, $1,400, and $1,100. Cole also won the Bet You Win pot.

GIBA administrator Joe Engelkes reported that the tournament took in $24,800 in entry fees and paid out $29,700 in prize money thanks to sponsors. The entry fees are for just 155 entries as Engelkes refunded Brandon Mooney’s entry fee after he was forced to withdraw after just one frame due to an injury to the quad muscle of his sliding leg.

Three lefties made the cut and they finished 13^th (Brandon Kreye), 17^th (Cam Crowe), and 47^th (Trenton Holz).

Two women made the cut and they finished 39^th (Brittany Smith), and 41^st (Jenna Williams).

Scores were posted here, and Emil Williams’ BowlsteamTV com webcasted the tournament here.

Here is the archive of the semifinals. And here is the archive of the stepladder finals.

Here is the archive of A squad qualifying on Saturday. Here is the archive of B squad on Saturday. And here is the archive of C squad on Saturday.

The tournament used the same lane pattern for the fourth straight year. It is 37 feet with 24.63 mL of oil and pattern ratios by volume of 1.11-1 on the left and 1.66-1 on the right

The only difference is that Cherry Lanes manager Bob Hochrein said the center has switched from the Brunswick Connect 2 oil it used last year to Brunswick Control 2.

With a cut score of 1,297 and a last cash score of 1,287, the scoring pace in qualifying was almost identical to 2024, when the cut was 1,292 and last cash was 1,284.

In 2023, the cut was 1,229 and the cash 1,215.

In 2022, the cut was 1,252 and the cash 1,242.

One pair’s game on Sunday led to a lot of commentary about how soft the lanes were, when the overall numbers didn’t show that.

In Game 4, Cameron Foster, Luke Switalski, and Garrett Meadows fired perfect games, and Dentlinger rolled a 277 with a 3-6-10 conversion in the third frame, giving the pair 47 strikes in 48 shots.

But the leading score in 2025 was 4,741 and fifth was 4,540, while this year it was 4,616 and 4,566.

That being said, Cherry Lanes manager Bob Hochrein plans to test some alterations to the pattern that could include a little added distance and oil volume. Using the same pattern four years in a row has allowed people to know what to do from the start, which has contributed to the higher scores the last two years.

Nick Hoagland, who designs the patterns for USBC, offered Hochrein his expertise in crafting a shorter pattern than the pattern we used for several years prior to 2022 that was a modification of the 2015 U.S. Open pattern designed by Hoagland for USBC.

I earned Hoagland’s services for crafting the current pattern by making a donation to the Make-A-Wish charity tied to the huge Hoosier Classic college tourney H2M Management runs in Indianapolis. (That was an offer he made to anyone.)

Here is what Hoagland said about the pattern before last year's tournament: "I was glad to help the tournament out as Jeff was kind enough to make a donation to Make-A-Wish to help the Columbia 300 Hoosier Classic Bowling Tournament to grant wishes! Jeff, Bob and Joe wanted something different, and shorter, and it is a challenge! The pattern should play out for everyone and I do expect urethane to be in play. I think that the pattern will hold up for 12 games due to the fact that everyone’s ball will be outside of the first arrow at the breakpoint; thus saving the track and middle parts of the lane for later in the block.”

GIBA administrator Joe Engelkes said there was more than $4,000 in added money from GIBA sponsor Ebonite and returning tournament sponsors the Dubuque Regional Sports Commission, Diamond Jo Casino, Cherry Lanes, Brandon Steen/The Steen Team, IAMBowling, Kwik Star/Kwik Trip, and 11thFrame.com. 

Here is Engelkes' report on the tournament:
"Congrats go out to David Cole on winning the 11thFrame.com Open held at Cherry Lanes.  Cole put on a striking clinic Sunday morning, then had to dig deep to earn a spot in the stepladder finals.  After re-dressing the lanes for the finals Cole ran them over again to take home the title.  It was a weekend that featured higher scores than anticipated considering we used the same 1.66:1 pattern that had been used the past 3 years.  Bowlers came in with better game plans and the scoring pace increased a bit from past years.  It took an average of 216 to make the top 48 bowler cut for the second round and a 214 average for the last cash spot.  The second round Sunday was a testament to a couple things.  First, it was apparent early on that the 48 bowlers who made the cut were going to blow open the pattern early on which would lead to a very high scoring pace.  Second, the Flanagan format we use for the finals was going to provide the typical swings in the standings we have come to expect.  Cole made the jump from 15th place to 1st in just two games with his 297-280 start, then added 279 in game three for an 856 series.  Andru Blaney was not far behind with his 233-300-290 for 823 start.  The 4th game provided some fireworks we have never witnessed before.  The pairing on lanes 21&22 featured Garrett Meadows, Luke Switalski, Cameron Foster, and Dave Dentlinger.  That group of bowlers shot an unbelievable score of 1177 with 47 out of a possible 48 strikes being thrown.  Meadows, Switalski, and Foster all rolled 300 games and Dentlinger 277 with his 3-6-10 leave in the 3rd frame the only non-strike rolled on the pair.  Amazing accomplishment on a sport compliant pattern!!  The final couple of games in the 12 game block brought some major movement as the scores in the top twelve places had become very close.  Three bowlers made major moves the final game, Josh Kennedy with a 268 game jumped to a tie for the top spot, Foster rolled the high game of 279 to move up to 4th, and Clay Rees shot 269 to move up 7 spots to make the stepladder in 5th.  Amazing that after 18 games including 12 games of the Flanagan format we would end up with a tie at the top with Kennedy who began the day as the leader being joined at the top by Brett Lloyd who made an amazing run from 41st place to the top in the 2nd round.  Lloyd won the one game rolloff 267-225 to earn the number on seed for the stepladder with Kennedy being the two seed.
The stepladder finals had plenty of drama starting with the first match between good friends, Foster and Rees.  Foster seemed to be in control throughout the match, but Rees stepped up in the 10th frame with a clutch double that forced Foster to get a mark for the win.  Foster's shot in the 10th came in light and left a 2-10 split which he failed to convert, allowing Rees to win 191-187.  Rees then faced Cole and the freshly dressed pair of lanes provided Cole with a look similar to what he had to start the morning where he had blasted the huge numbers early on.  The match was tight, but Cole struck just a bit more to pull out a 259-236 win.  Cole matched up against Kennedy in the semi-final match and his look with the trusty Envy Tour was amazing and he rode that look to a 279-227 win.  The final match between Cole and LLoyd was tight all the way to the 9th frame where Lloyd left a 10 pin which he failed to conbert and that allowed Cole to take home the title 258-225.
There is so much I could write about the weekend.  It was an amazing event thanks in large part to all of our amazing sponsors, Ebonite, Diamond Jo Casino, IAM Bowling, Brandon Steen, Kwik Star/Kwik Trip, Dubuque Sports Commission, Jeff Richgels's 11thFrame.com, along with Cherry Lanes donating the lineage for the tournament.  Thanks go out to Emil Williams Jr. for his great work providing the livestream.  Those who want to watch can view the archived coverage on the BowlStreamTV YouTube site.  Thanks also to my wife Rosie and daughter Jennifer for helping insure the tournament ran as smoothly as possible.  Also, Bob Hochrein and his staff at Cherry Lanes for their efforts and support including handling one breakdown as quickly as possible in order for us to stay close to schedule.  The support of all the bowlers is something I will never take for granted, so thanks a bunch to everyone who came to bowl this event.
Our next tournament will be the Ebonite Fall Classic at Maple Lanes in Waterloo, Iowa the weekend of September 12-14.  The tournament is currently full and I do have a waiting list.  If you would like to sign up for the waiting list, please let me know.
Thanks again for your continued support of the GIBA!!"

Darin Bloomquist won Friday’s sweeper.

My preview of the weekend is here.

Look for the 2026 11thFrame.com Open to be on the same weekend, which is Aug. 14-16.

Matt McNiel won in 2012, Matt Gasn in 2014, McNiel again in 2015, Jay Watts in 2016, Adam Morse in 2017, Andy Mills in 2018, Nate Stubler in 2019, Jerry Marrs in 2020, Stubler again in 2021, Nick Pate in 2022, Dakota Solonka in 2023, and Crowe in 2024. (No tournament was held in 2013.)