LYNDORA — The weather was more suitable for golfing, he had a sore wrist and isn't even an official regular bowler in the league this year.

So the chances of Greg Loverick rolling a 300 in the first game of the Armco C League at Sherwood Lanes were next to nil.

He did it anyway.

Filling in for his brother, Phil Loverick Jr., Loverick secured the ninth perfect game of his bowling career — and first in five years — in the opening game of the season Sept. 10.

“I thought I was done with those,” Loverick said of his chances of rolling another 300.

He bowled the other eight from 2001-10, never more than one in a season. Three times, he bowled a 300 in the final game of a season.

Eight of his perfect games have come at Sherwood Lanes, the other at Family Bowlaway.

Greg and Phil Loverick, along with their father, Phil Sr., are teammates with Sizzles Tans Blasters in the Armco league. They've been teammates in different leagues — Beer Distributors, City and Imperial among them — for 28 years.

“We started bowling together in 1987, when I got out of the army,” Greg said.

“We've gone far beyond the brother-father relationships,” Phil Jr. said. “We are each other's best friends.”

Greg averaged 214 last year and has averaged as high as 223 in a league. Phil Jr. carries an average of 205 while their father, now 76, averages between 185 and 190. He is a former 200-average bowler.

“I've pretty much seen all of Greg's 300's,” Phil Sr. said. “He bowled one during a one-game roll-off for the City League title one year.

“I bowled a 279, he bowled a 300 ...and we still lost.”

Phil Jr. has one career 300-game while his father has rolled two. All three of the Loverick men have secured holes-in-one during their golf careers as well. None are particularly thrilled with bowling in September.

“It's brutal. We all hate it,” Phil Jr. said of bowling when the weather is more conducive to golf. We'd love for bowling season to begin Nov. 1.”

His father agreed.

“This is a tough time of year to start bowling,” he said. “But after a while, with that (perfect) game going, Greg was happy he was there.

“I sat back and just rooted for him, that's all. Just keep quiet and let him go about it.”

Greg Loverick isn't in the regular lineup for Sizzles Tans Blasters “because I've got a tendon problem going on in my wrist and I need to give it a chance to heal.

“Then again, I was supposed to be a fill-in last year and wound up bowling 81 games. I imagine I'll get 72 or so in this year.”

The Loverick trio is joined on the team by Butler County Bowling Association Hall of Famers Ron Henry and Ed Kellerman, along with Frank Rice and Bill Fragale.

After bowling his 300 in the first game last week, Greg Loverick followed up with a 194 and 214.

“I thought I threw the ball better in the second game than I did in the first,” Loverick said. “So much of this game is luck. You put the ball in the pocket. Sometimes all of the pins carry, sometimes they don't.”

Loverick said he has eight to 10 11-in-a-row awards for closing out games with strikes after failing to strike in the opening frame.

But every time Loverick has started a game with 11 strikes in a row, he's secured the 12th one to finish it off.

“Nine-for-nine in those situations is pretty remarkable,” his brother Phil said. “I've had two 299 games, a 298, a 297 ... Greg doesn't have any of those. He closes the deal.”

Loverick hopes to reach 12 perfect games — and extend that streak to 12-for-12.

“That would be a cool thing to do,” he said. “But I have a ways to go to make that happen.”