Williams on Pole

Each early squad has produced a great score and that tradition was maintained Friday when a packed opening squad saw some great scoring, especially from England's Stuart Williams, a PBA titlist, who put together an impressive 1492, just missing out on

posting a 1500 by eight pins.

"The lanes were certainly a lot better this morning for me than they were last night," he commmented in the post-squad interview. "I was using a 16-pound bowling ball and when that hit the pocket the were no single pins left standing, although I did have a 279.
"I really like playing here at the Red & Black bowling center as tournament host Riccardo Piunti really looks after everyone and it is such a pleasure to be in such a friendly atmosphere."

Williams came to Asti after his third successive win of the Cockatoos Paphos Open in Cyprus last week. "Coming here after a title win certainly boosted my confidence," he added.

This afternoon's squad produced three scores for the 1400-club, as well as Williams' 1492, Martin Larsen of Sweden hit 1427 and PBA pro Brian Valenta, who has the unique two-handed delivery, coming through with 1423.

So Williams has demoted previous leader to second place and with the other two 1400s coming into the top ten there is quite a shuffle in the top standings.

Two more squads take to the Red & Black lanes today and three more tomorrow beofre the final cut for Sunday's final rounds. Let's hope that the high standard of the opening squads maintains its standard through the day.

Top 10 Standings