An 18-year-old local bowler is outshining professionals in the USA, shattering 44-year-old records with three near-perfect scores.
Slacks Creek’s Jackson Buckingham scored 867 across three games in a recent competition – just 33 points shy of the highest possible score.
Mr Buckingham bowled 289, 278 and 300 across the three games – the best score that can be achieved in a game is 300.
That means that out of 30 total frames, or rounds to knock down all ten pins, Mr Buckingham bowled 28 strikes.
It’s a score even a seasoned professional would be proud of, and one that has broken a 44-year-old record at Logan City Tenpin.
“It’s not something you see very often,” Mr Buckingham said.
“I feel pretty good, considering I scored a 300.
“But I don’t really care about the 300 – it’s more the 800 I’m worried about.”
Previously, Mr Buckingham’s personal best score across three games was 807.
“I beat it by 60,” he said.
“Those numbers are high, so it is a pretty big jump.
“I find it hard to get three big games in a row.”
His score shocked everyone at the Logan Central centre, especially his coach.
“860 is something you would see over in America by a pro,” Mr Buckingham said.
“I have mates that are in college in America and I smashed their personal best by 30.
“And I beat my coach by one, so he wasn’t happy about that – but he wasn’t.”
Since he was 10-years-old, Mr Buckingham has dedicated much of his life to the sport.
“I bowl five or six times a week,” he said.
“I bowl league Monday, Wednesday, Friday and I train Tuesday and Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings, and there is usually a competition on the weekend – throughout the whole year.”
While he prefers playing individually, Mr Buckingham has also proved himself a tremendous team player.
In July, he represented Australia in the World Youth Championships in South Korea.
“I personally bowled well – averaged 232 or something over the whole week,” he said.
“I did as much as I could as a team player.”
While the Australian team started out strong by qualifying first, they struggled in the last two games of the second day and placed fourth.
“There’s always next time,” Mr Buckingham said.
“Hopefully I make the world’s team again for next year.”
Near-perfect scores like his 867 won’t be the last, Mr Buckingham claims.
He predicts it will be “a little while” before he tops the new PB, but said he was “just warming up”.
