David Altmann is living proof.

The Warrnambool ten pin bowler received news his mother had passed away midway through his Australian Open tilt in Frankston on Monday. But he soldiered through, determined to make her proud. Altmann stayed focused to produce a third-place finish at prestigious event behind professional Sam Cooley and winner Adam Hayes.

"It was a big achievement as I obviously had that as bad news," he told The Standard.

"I had heaps of support around me, some really good friends, and my sister just said 'we'll sort everything out when you get home'.

"I had some really nice comments from people, some saying it was one of the best performances they'd seen from someone going through what I'd been going through."

Altmann bowled 16 games to qualify, finishing 14^th overall. The top-24 bowlers advance to the finals on Sunday.

He then bowled six further games - after which it cuts to the top-12 - finishing seventh to make the match-play finals.

There were then 11 games of match-play.

"I started a bit scratchy the first game, but then I found something after that," he said.

"I was then pretty consistent for the rest of the day. I wasn't really checking the results, where I was, I just kept bowling against the poeple I had to play against and stayed pretty focused on the job at hand.

"After the last game, I found out I finished third. I was pretty stoked with that. The guy who finished second, he's a PBA professional and bowls in America so I was pretty happy to finish just behind him."

Altmann said he was eyeing several events in the next few months and was keen to keep up his good form.

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