Belmonte leads high-scoring qualifying
While defending champion Jason Belmonte took the top perch and stayed there, the bowlers under him were quite fluid as the first 10 games of qualifying for the PBA Barbasol Players Championship were rolled Tuesday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
Take Marshall Kent, for example. After the initial five-game opening block, he was sitting eighth. When the pins stopped falling Tuesday night, he was fifth. He’s riding the momentum from his runner-up finish in the Go Bowling! 60th Anniversary Classic on Sunday in Indianapolis, where he fell to Jakob Butturff in the finals.
“I’m really not all that upset about second last week,” Kent said. “It was Jakob’s week. He dominated all week, and honestly, we got to the title match and I don’t think I could have put up 240, even if I wasn’t lost.
“So I’m taking the positives out of that week, I feel very confident going into this week, and I feel like it’s showing so far.”
But Kent was the first to mention that twothirds of the qualifying is still to come for the Players, one of five majors on the PBA Tour, starting with five games beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Belmonte's lead is hardly safe. Even though his total pinfall Tuesday of 2,494 over 10 games was 97 more than that of second-place Norm Duke (2,397), there were 43 bowlers who averaged a torrid 220 or higher.
“The scoring pace is really high, so with a 210 or 220 game you can potentially lose 50 to 60 pins (in one game) if the guys behind you bowl really well,” said Belmonte, 34, who threw one of the five 300 games on Tuesday as he took early aim at a recordtying 10th major championship. “My goal isn’t really trying to lead now. I just want to get as many pins as I can and take advantage of pairs (of lanes as the bowlers migrate across the 48) that are good for me.”
Regardless, he still established himself as the rabbit in the race. In a change in format from the previous Players tournaments here, the final cut on Thursday night for the top five who will advance to Sunday’s stepladder finals on ESPN will be based purely on pinfall over 30 games.
That’s because another tournament — the Mark Roth/ Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship — is being waged simultaneously. Pairs of bowlers will have their combined scores for the first three days determine which 14 will advance to a Friday competition to determine the top five for Sunday. Belmonte was also on top of that standing after Tuesday night with his doubles partner Bill O’Neill.