Tom Hess Goes +313 On The Day To Lead Qualifying At PBA50 Morgantown Classic
Morgantown, West Virginia – A focused Tom Hess continues to ride his current hot streak to the top of the leaderboard after qualifying at the PBA50 Morgantown Classic.
Since his 17th place finish and some raw emotion came out at the PBA50 South Shore Classic last month, Hess has finished in the top five at the next four events during the PBA50 World Series of Bowling, which included his fourth title at the PBA50 Petraglia Championship.
“It just got me fired up and got me lined up and I have been 100% focused since then,” Hess said. “Using that energy that people are watching me is keeping me focused and it has paid dividends.”
His intense focus was tested in Game 1 on Wednesday as he shot 200 and kept thinking he just needed to throw it better. Instead, Hess realized it was time for a ball change and from there he went +313. He posted scores of 257, 269, 268, 234, 237 and 248, for a 14-game total of 3,288, moving him into first place.
“I am seeing the lane really well and it’s a lot of fun bowling right now,” Hess admits. “Trying to keep riding that positive momentum as long as I can.”
His plan heading into Thursday is to see the lane, trust himself and his process. If he can do that, he believes the results will come. Hess is one title away from being eligible for the PBA Hall of Fame.
Jay Davis Jr. posted the second perfect game of the tournament Wednesday in Game 13. He is in 11th place.
The field was cut to the top 32 players with Sammy Ventura and Timothy Banks getting in at +110. Those 32 players will each bowl five games in the advancers round starting at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday and the top 24 will go on to bracket match play. Each match is three games and the player with the highest total pinfall will keep bowling.
The Round of 24 will feature players in ninth through 24th place beginning at 12:30 p.m. The Round of 16 will include the previous rounds winners and qualifiers in first through eighth place who got a first-round bye. They will bowl at 2:30 p.m. with the Round of Eight set to start at 5 p.m.
For the stepladder finals, positions one through four will be determined according to bracket seed number, and the highest seed that lost in the Round of Eight will be the fifth seed. The finals are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
You can watch all of the action on BowlTV.
PBA50 Morgantown Classic Leaders
- Tom Hess, 3,288 (+488)
- Jason Couch, 3,225 (+425)
- Bill Rowe, 3,217 (+417)
- Troy Lint, 3,205 (+405)
- Parker Bohn III, 3,160 (+360)
- Michael Haggitt, 3,151 (+351)
- Dan Knowlton, 3,133 (+333)
- Amleto Monacelli, 3,102 (+302)
- Tom Adcock, 3,101 (+301)
- Jon Rakoski, 3,100 (+300)