Teenage bowler accomplishes near impossible feat on TV

There’s a new Big Lebowski of bowling after an 18-year-old pro named Anthony Neuer accomplished something that had last been done 30 years ago — pick up the notorious 7-10 split on TV.

It happened Sunday during the U.S. Open semifinals at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno on FS1. During the seventh frame of his match against Jakob Butturf, the left-handed Neuer, whose nickname is the Ginger Assassin, picked up the almost impossible spare.

It was only the fourth time it had been done on TV and the first since Jess Stayrook at the 1991 Tucson Open.

“He did it! He did it!” shouted FS1 broadcaster Rob Stone. “He got the 7–10, he did it! My goodness, the Ginger Assassin just dropped a 7–10. You bet, kid. You bet.”

Neuer, the son of Andy Neuer, a former winner on the Pro Bowlers Association Tour, wound up losing the match — not that anybody who saw him pick up the 7-10 probably will remember it.

In the understatement of the year so far, Neuer said he didn’t expect to convert the spare. “It was pretty cool, honestly,” he said during the United States Bowling Congress postgame show. “I wasn’t expecting it. I mean, I was walking away and I looked back and I seen it (the 10 pin) come across and I was just shocked.”

Picking up the 7-10 on TV is more rare than rolling a televised perfect game. While there have been 32 perfect games recorded on TV, the 7-10 has been converted only four times. Besides Neuer and Stayrook, the only other bowlers to do it were Mark Roth in the 1980 Alameda Open and John Mazza at the 1990 Bud Light Classic.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.