Jason Couch Builds Lead During Second Round of PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions
Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Jason Couch delivers when he shares the lanes with the game’s best.
The three-time PBA Tournament of Champions victor leads the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions field by more than 100 pins through two rounds of qualifying.
With a total pinfall of 3,854 (+654), Couch has averaged more than 240 across his 16 games on the 46-foot Petraglia oil pattern. After leading the first round by 57 pins, he doubled his lead over the 64-player field to 119 pins on Monday at Orange Bowl Lanes in Lakeland, Fla.
“I'm pretty comfortable pair to pair,” Couch said. “I've really only thrown two [reactive] bowling balls so far. Honestly, the longer patterns tend to play into my favor on the left side, I think because I put a little more on the ball than most guys.”
Twenty-four games remain before the stepladder finalists are determined. But without the elimination match play format that many PBA50 tournaments featured this season, there is a greater incentive to earn the No. 1 seed — and Couch is well aware of that fact.
“Obviously, if I can figure out a way to run and hide from these guys the next few days, I'm more than happy to do that,” Couch said.
While that thought is in the back of his mind, Couch said he is focused solely on his own game.
“I never look ahead,” Couch said. “Even in those elimination match play formats, I just bowl and then look at what pair I’m moving to. Whoever I bowl, it is what it is. If you think about it that way, I think you end up on the good side of it a lot more often than you would the bad side.”
The scoring pace dropped a bit during the second round, but Tom Adcock put together an eight-game series of 1,842 to rise from fifth place to second.
The Hall of Fame trio of Parker Bohn III, Danny Wiseman and Chris Barnes rounds out the top five.
Sitting in sixth place at +512 is John Janawicz, the front-runner for PBA50 Rookie of the Year. Janawicz would clinch the award with a top-six finish this week.
Jon Rakoski, sitting in 12th place at +407, would need a win and a sub-seventh place finish from Janawicz to bring home Rookie of the Year honors.
Meanwhile Troy Lint and Tom Hess, the two contenders for PBA50 Player of the Year, find themselves tied in 24th place through two rounds of qualifying at +318.
Lint has led the PBA50 Tour in points nearly wire-to-wire this season. He needs a 14th place finish or better to clinch the award.
Hess, who trails Lint by 5,977 points, needs to win the tournament and for Lint to finish in 15th place or below.
Following Monday’s second round, the PBA50 TOC field was trimmed to the top 32 players. Russell Hunt earned the final berth in Tuesday’s advancers round at +257.
Players will bowl eight games at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday to determine the 16 round-robin match play advancers.
Pete Weber currently occupies 16th place at +362, maintaining an average of 222.63 through the first 16 games. With 13 players within 55 pins of Weber, a dramatic conclusion to the advancers round could be in store.
Following Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon's rounds of match play, the stepladder finals of the PBA50 Tour’s season finale will begin at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday evening.
All rounds of the PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Tournament of Champions will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
Qualifying Round 2 Leaders
- Jason Couch, 3,854 (+654)
- Tom Adcock, 3,735 (+535)
- Parker Bohn III, 3,732 (+532)
- Danny Wiseman, 3,732 (+532)
- Chris Barnes, 3,716 (+516)
- John Janawicz, 3,712 (+512)
- Mitch Beasley, 3,682 (+482)
- Lennie Boresch Jr., 3,676 (+476)
- Brad Angelo, 3,656 (+456)
- Andres Gomez, 3,628 (+428)
Remaining Schedule
Orange Bowl Lanes | Lakeland, Fla.
All times listed in Eastern.
Tuesday, Aug. 29
8:30 a.m. — Advancers Round (eight games)
Top 16 players advance
2 p.m. — Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
Wednesday, Aug. 30
12 p.m. — Match Play Round 2 (eight games)
Top five players advance
6 p.m. — Stepladder finals
More information is available here.