Tom Hess Earns PBA50 David Small’s JAX60 Open Top Qualifier Honors
Looking for his breakthrough win on the PBA50 Tour, Tom Hess averaged 236 in qualifying to lead a field of 32 players who advanced to Sunday’s match play portion of the PBA50 David Small’s JAX60 Open.
Finishing third after the first round with a 1,653 pinfall total, Hess followed it up with 1,656 in Saturday’s second round bowling games of 248, 169, 259, 249, 279, 196 and 256, to take top qualifier honors with a 3,309 pinfall for 14 games. He finished 31 pins ahead of first round leader Larry Verble who finished qualifying in second with 3,278.
Hoping to make his third consecutive PBA50 Tour finals appearance and fourth of the season, Hess feels like he’s close to winning his first title on the tour for players 50 and over but is well aware that the going gets much tougher the further you advance in a tournament when the competition gets more intense.
“It’s not easy,” said the 2011 USBC Masters champion. “On the PBA50 Tour every time you make the finals, you’re probably going to be bowling hall of famers for the title.”
Hess is all too familiar with that scenario after losing matches in the finals to Hall of Famer and eventual winner Parker Bohn III in the last two tournaments. He finished fourth in the Dave Small’s Championship Lanes Open, losing to Bohn 204-202 in the second stepladder match, and third in the Spectrum Lanes Open, losing to Bohn 244-193 in the semifinal.
Bohn, who will be trying for a third consecutive PBA50 Tour title, advanced to match play after finishing 12th in qualifying with 3,066.
Rounding out the top five after Saturday’s qualifying were Bob Learn Jr. in third with 3,232; Brad Angelo in fourth with 3,226 and Bill Watson in fifth with 3,143.
Two more of PBA’s all-time greats, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Amleto Monacelli tied for 32nd necessitating a one-game roll-off for the final match play position. Monacelli beat Williams 246-242 in the roll-off to advance.
After Sunday’s two six-game rounds of match play, which begin at Noon ET, the top five will advance to the stepladder finals at 7 p.m. ET. All the action will be covered live by Flobowling. Click on to Flobowling.com for subscription and schedule information.
TOP 10 PBA50 DAVID SMALL’S JAX60 OPEN
- Tom Hess, 3,309
- Larry Verble, 3,278
- Bob Learn Jr., 3,232
- Brad Angelo, 3,226
- Bill Watson, 3,143
- Charlie Tapp, 3,135
- Norm Duke, 3,127
- Mitch Beasley, 3,109
- Brian LeClair, 3,103
- Mark Sullivan, 3,099
For complete JAX60 Open qualifying standings visit pba.com.