Ryan Shafer Tops Qualifying At Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship
Sterling, Virginia – After a conversation with his tour roommate and PBA50 Player of the Year frontrunner Troy Lint, Ryan Shafer tried something new at the 2023 Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship.
While talking about lane conditions and how they were bowling, they started talking about Brad Angelo and how he attacks the lanes with equipment that has surface on it.
“It kind of opened my eyes and the light bulb turned on,” Shafer said. “Brad is amazing to watch, and it confuses me every week. I wanted to figure out how he does that.”
Shafer has relied on fellow PBA50 player and ball rep Tom Carter to use his “magic hands” and add more surface to Shafer’s equipment. On top of that, Shafer is looking farther down the lane. This has allowed him to stay in the pocket while crossing the house without moving a lot.
That combination resulted in games of 240, 226, 234, 234, 256, 267, 210 and 257 for 1,924, an average of 240.5, on Tuesday. Paired with his score of 1,828 on Monday, the 36-year PBA Tour player is sitting at the top of the leaderboard at +552 inside Bowl America Dranesville. Rounding out the top five is Chris Barnes, Jeff Johnson, Brad Angelo and Pete Weber.
Shafer also credits finally feeling healthy for the first time while competing on the PBA50 Tour with his 13th place standing in points. He has cashed in three tournaments, including a third-place finish at the PBA50 South Shore Classic.
“Since I turned 50, I have never been healthy out here,” the 56-year-old said. “When you’re not 100%, it’s hard to win. I am bowling against guys that beat me my whole life in Weber, (Parker) Bohn and Barnes; it would be nice to beat them for once.”
The field of 141 players was cut to the top 24. The final bowler in is Bobby Hall II at +321. Lint has rolled the highest game of the tournament so far at 299, sitting in 7th place.
All pins will carry forward to Wednesday and Thursday’s two rounds of match play. Each day they will bowl 12 games, with the first round starting at 9 a.m. and the second at 2 p.m. ET. The winner of each match receives 30 bonus pins.
The stepladder finals for this major championship will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the home of Bill Moore.
You can watch all of the action on BowlTV.
Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship Leaders
- Ryan Shafer, 3,752 (+552)
- Chris Barnes, 3,693 (+493)
- Jeff Johnson, 3,653 (+453)
- Brad Angelo, 3,652 (+452)
- Pete Weber, 3,651 (+451)
- Kip Roberts, 3,647 (+447)
- Troy Lint, 3,645 (+445)
- Tom Hess, 3,635 (+435)
- Gregory Turner, 3,623 (+423)
- Jeff Keller, 3,613 (+413)