Williams, Davidson, Knowles, Svensson, Simonsen Lead Players Championship Regions Halfway Through Qualifying

 

Keven Williams outscores all players to lead Southwest Region

 

New York, NY—Keven Williams averaged 235 over 14 games to lead the Southwest Region halfway through qualifying in the 2021 PBA Players Championship, posting the highest score among players in all regions. Michael Davidson (East), Jesper Svensson (South), Justin Knowles (Central) and Anthony Simonsen (West) also lead their respective regions with 14 games left to play.

Three of the five regional leaders—Williams, Davidson and Knowles—have yet to win a PBA Tour title, headlining a group of non-champions who put themselves into contention through the first two rounds of qualifying. Tim Foy Jr. and Brandon Novak are both within 10 pins of Davidson and Matt Russo trails Knowles by four pins, while Williams is being chased by two-time U.S. Open champion François Lavoie, who trails by 39 pins.

Svensson, who owns 10 PBA Tour titles including one major, finished his first two qualifying rounds 83 pins ahead of his closest competitor, Christian Azcona.

Seven-time PBA Tour champion Simonsen is looking for his second career PBA Players Championship victory after defeating Jason Belmonte for the title in 2019. Simonsen holds a 35-pin advantage over Wesley Low Jr.

The top five players from each region following 28 total games of qualifying will advance to the televised regional finals that begin airing on Fox Sports’ FS1 Sunday, Jan. 24. The PBA Players Championship finals will air live on FOX Broadcast Channel Feb. 21, featuring the five regional winners competing for a $250,000 first-place prize.

East Region Top 10 Through 14 Games
Bowlero West End – Richmond, Va.

1. Michael Davidson +484
2. Tim Foy Jr. +477
3. Brandon Novak +475
4. Brandon Robertson +413
5. Kyle Troup +410
6. BJ Moore +317
7. Brandon Curtis +295
8. Chris Via +234
9. Greg Ostrander +222
10. Ryan Graywacz +218

Full east region standings: https://www.pba.com/node/117431

South Region Top 10
AMF University Lanes – Tampa, Fla.

1. Jesper Svensson +393
2. Christian Azcona +310
3. Kenneth Ryan +233
4. Tom Daugherty +217
5. Tommy Jones +207
6. DJ Archer +197
7. Ryan Ciminelli +196
8. Andres Gomez +188
9. Mike Coffey +187
10. Kristijonas Sergejevas +174

Full south region standings: https://www.pba.com/node/117426

Central Region Top 10
Bowlero Wauwatosa – Wauwatosa, Wis.

1. Justin Knowles +373
2. Matt Russo +369
3. Tom Smallwood +366
4. Zach Weidman +357
5. Wes Malott +352
6. Ryan Zagar +332
7. Nicholas Pate +326
8. Ronnie Russell +310
9. JR Raymond +293
10. Andrew Anderson +289

Full central region standings: https://www.pba.com/node/117436

Southwest Region Top 10
AMF Garland Lanes – Garland, Texas

1. Keven Williams +499
2. François Lavoie +460
3. Patrick Hanrahan +397
4. Raymond Lussier +315
5. Trey Ford III +292
6. Dimitri Cruz +287
7. Arturo Quintero +276
8. Nathan Bohr +255
9. AJ Chapman +239
10. Tim Gruendler +229

Full southwest region standings: https://www.pba.com/node/117441

West Region Top 10
Bowlero Christown – Phoenix, Ariz.

1. Anthony Simonsen +391
2. Wesley Low Jr. +356
3. Darren Tang +340
4. Kris Koeltzow +338
5. Jake Peters +305
6. Andrew Cain +301
7. Jakob Butturff +270
8. Dean Richards +252
9. Deo Benard +251
10. Lanndyn Carnate +221

Full west region standings: https://www.pba.com/node/117446

Action resumes Sunday at 9 a.m. ET on FloBowling.com with the final 14 games of qualifying from all five regions.

About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.