Many more steps up the ladder in PBA Tour an eye-opener for Timmy

National bowler Timmy Tan believes competing in the Professional Bowling Association (PBA) Tour has been helping him elevate his game.

The 29-year-old has been bowling in the PBA tour in the United States for the first time since last month and is gaining valuable experience while battling it out with some of the top bowlers in the world.

“I have been learning a lot in the PBA tour which has the toughest field of bowlers,” said Timmy.

“The format is really different compared to Open tournaments in Asia.

“In Asia, we get many attempts in the qualifying round until we make it to the main draw.

“In the PBA tour, we only have seven games and if we don’t make it, we can’t bowl in the tournament proper.

“When it comes to the tournament itself, we only bowl two rounds in Asia. There are eight games in each round.

“In the PBA, we need to bowl 36 games in total within three days to win a tournament and the pins are carried forward after each round.

“There are four rounds before the stepladder. Only the top 32 will advance to second round.

“Then the top 24 will reach the third round and top 12 will move to the fourth round. This is my rookie year in the PBA tour and my biggest targets are to adapt to the format and learn the field.

“To be honest, I didn’t put any expectations on myself to win. If I win, it’s good but if I don’t I still learn a lot,” added Timmy.

Timmy finished in 15th place in the

Indiana Classic recently.

“I’m happy with my performance. I’m close to accomplishing something big and I feel that my game is improving,” said Timmy.

“I made it into the main draw of four out of five competitions where 80 bowlers have to fight for only nine spots.”

Timmy will next compete in the Delaware Classic which gets underway today.