Doesn’t get any better

I walked through bowling heaven this afternoon, and it’s only about 2 miles from my office at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The best bowlers in the world were practicing Monday for the U.S. Bowling Congress Masters on 60 lanes set up in Cashman Center off Las Vegas Boulevard just north of downtown.

The Masters features about 600 of the country’s best bowlers with a 190 average or better — amateurs and pros. It begins Tuesday and runs through Friday with Sunday’s televised finals the only day when an admission is charged. Then it’s only $10. Parking each day costs $3.

I stopped at Cashman on Monday to view part of the USBC photo archives to find a photo for a major project on the USBC Open Championships and Southern Nevada bowling that will be published in this Sunday’s Review-Journal. (It also will be available Sunday at lvrj.com.)

Not even 20 strides into the world’s most modern and spectacular bowling center and I was walking behind Pete Weber. About five minutes later I ran into Norm Duke, who won the PBA Tour’s Dick Weber Open on Sunday in Southern California.

Henderson’s Wendy MacPherson walked by while I was standing behind the high-end pair watching two-hander Jason Belmonte of Australia practice. (More on Belmonte later.)

Wendy will begin bowling today in the Masters. She took a few weeks off after winning her first title on the PBA Women’s Series. She led the Earl Anthony Medford Classic and won it on Jan. 18.

That goes along with 20 titles in the defunct Professional Women's Bowling Association.

About 10 days before winning her first PBA title, she was voted into the USBC Hall of Fame. Nice month.

The four-time Woman Bowler of the Year also became the only woman to win the USBC Open Championships regular singles title in 2006 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

You’ll really get to know Wendy if you keep checking back with “The Pin Head.”