JONESBORO, Ark. – Texas teenager Anthony Simonsen averaged 225 Saturday to lead the qualifying round of the Professional Bowlers Association’s Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open presented by Xtra Frame by 16 pins over .
Simonsen, a 19-year-old two-handed player, rolled games of 237, 182, 243, 276, 200, 172, 219 and 278 to finish the eight-game qualifying round with 1,807 pins. Simonsen won both of his PBA Tour titles earlier in the year, teaming with Connor Pickford of Charlotte, N.C., to win the Mark Roth/Marshal Holman PBA Doubles Championship and later winning the United States Bowling Congress Masters, becoming the youngest bowler in PBA history to win a major championship.
Simonsen and Sweden’s Jesper Svensson are the only two players with two PBA Tour titles during the 2016 season. Svensson isn’t competing in Jonesboro.
In third place among the 34 players still in contention was Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, N.C., followed by Ryan Shafer of Horseheads, N.Y., and Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas.
The top one-third of the field of 103 bowlers advances to Sunday’s five-game cashers round at 8:30 a.m. CDT. Based on 13-game pinfall totals, the top 16 players will advance to a modified round robin match play round at noon, leading to the four-player stepladder finals at 5:45 p.m. First prize is $15,000 plus a PBA Tour title if the winner is a PBA member.
All rounds of the Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open are being video-streamed live on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame. To enroll as an Xtra Frame subscriber, visit pba.com and click on the Xtra Frame logo.
DOWNUMS WASTE SERVICES PBA JONESBORO OPEN
presented by Xtra Frame
Jonesboro Bowling Center, Jonesboro, Ark., Saturday
Qualifying Round (top 50 after 8 games; top 34 advance to cashers round):
1, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 1,807.
2, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,791.
3, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,778.
4, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,774.
5, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,770.
6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,759.
7, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,753.
8, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 1,753.
9, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 1,752.
10, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,732.
11, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 1,731.
12, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 1,720.
13, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,713.
14, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 1,709.
15, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,699.
16, n-Jared Wolf, Lowell, Ark., 1,695.
17, Jason Sterner, Cocoa, Fla., 1,693.
18, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,688.
19, n-Matt Gasn, Laurel, Md., 1,687.
20, n-Grace Hall, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1,681.
21, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,662.
22, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,660.
23, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 1,659.
24, Francois Lavoie, Wichita, Kan., 1,655.
25, Joe Findling, Greenville, Texas, 1,643.
26, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,639.
27, n-Anthony Richmond, Memphis, Tenn., 1,638.
28, Gary Faulkner, Sanford, Fla., 1,635.
29, Curt Dupre, Metairie, La., 1,635.
30, Patrick Allen, Mount Kisco, N.Y., 1,633.
31, n-Justin Williams, Bartlett, Tenn., 1,630.
32, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 1,626.
33, Dino Castillo, Highland Village, Texas, 1,620.
34, Will Hoge, Sand Springs, Okla., 1,618.
Failed to advance:
35 (tie), Shawn Maldonado, Houston, Texas, and Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,616.
37, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,615.
38, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,614.
39, Justin Veitch, St. Petersburg, Fla., 1,609.
40, A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,596.
41, James Cantere, Purcell, Okla., 1,590.
42, Mark Decman, Canada, 1,588.
43 (tie), Beau Peterson, Newton, Kan., and Jeff Atkins, Hot Springs Village, Ark., 1,585.
45, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 1,580.
46, Blake Demore, Springfield, Mo., 1,579.
47, Dave Han, Birmingham, Ala., 1,577.
48, Aaron Ramsden, Pleasant Valley, Mo., 1,576.
49 (tie), Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, and Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,573.
