Feature
to bend it when I got home,” Malott remembers. “I didn’t want to continue to compete and hurt it even more.” The first doctor Malott saw recom-
mended a cortisone shot and a seat on the next flight out to the Japan Cup. But cortisone sounded a lot more like a Band-Aid than an answer. “In my profession, I don’t want to just
give it a cortisone shot and cover it up and take the risk of hurting it even more,” Malott explains. “I went and got a second opinion, and I wanted to get an MRI on it, just to make sure it was only a meniscus.” Malott did make his way out to the
Japan Cup and, virtually on one knee, averaged 230 for the event to finish sixth and pocket nearly 10 grand. After bowl- ing through the pain again at the Masters two months later, he had had enough. “I would have had the surgery much
earlier if I didn’t think I could compete and if I had enough time between tour- naments to be able to get it done,” says Malott. “April was the first chance I had. I thought I’d be ready for the summer swing we had last year, but it just wasn’t ready. I just didn’t think it was a smart decision to try and jump into something and take that risk.” The 2013 U.S. Open last July was Ma-
lott’s first national tournament since knee surgery, and he picked up right where he left off before his body side- lined him — another major, another title match against Jason Belmonte. This time, a 245 would have been enough to win by nearly 100 pins.
WES MALOTT
The bigger they are... At 6-foot-5, Malott (here dwarfing former National Football League receiver Hines Ward at a Chris Paul Invita- tional event) puts a lot of strain on his slide knee. Malott rebounded from surgery to claim his first U.S. Open title.
Malott blasted Belmonte, 214-156,
to claim the major he had chased since he was a no-name kid from Dallas who found his way onto that World Cham- pionship show 10 years earlier. Malott faced Belmonte in the title match of a major yet again months later at the 2014 Tournament of Champions, battling Belmo down to the final ball. Needing a
strike and six pins in the 10th to win, Ma- lott turned up with a nine count on his first ball to lose by a stick, 219-218. Much has been made of the Sean
Rash/Jason Belmonte storyline, but it is Malott, not Rash, with whom Belmonte has shaken hands to open the title match at majors lately. Malott has bowled every major telecast in the past
year except the World Championship. Even then, he missed that show by just two spots, finishing seventh. “Now I’m actually able to get into
that first practice shot full-blast if I really want to, and I don’t feel any pain. And that’s just a huge relief. I can take a deep breath and relax and say ‘Wow, this is how it’s supposed to be.’”
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