Belmonte Maintains Lead, Marshall Kent and Tommy Jones Surge During Second Round of USBC Masters Qualifying
Jason Belmonte continues to lead the USBC Masters through the second round of qualifying at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich. The 39-year-old has averaged more than 238, tallying a 2,387 (+387) 10-game total pinfall.
The four-time Masters champion won his 15th career PBA Tour major title earlier this month at the Tournament of Champions.
Marshall Kent leads A-squad and sits in second overall at +319, while Russ Oviatt (+308) tops B-squad in third overall.
"I feel like everything's getting close, the closest I've felt in a long time," Kent said. "A few weeks ago, I switched to 15 pounds and started seeing shapes on the lane I'm comfortable seeing. I feel like I don't have to make the ball work; I can let the ball do what it's supposed to do. Physically and mentally, things are starting to click."
Anthony Simonsen, the defending champion, sits in 40th place overall at +183. He said this year’s tournament, where players are competing on this 46-foot pattern, is the highest scoring Masters he’s bowled in his career.
The two-time Masters champion wants to keep up with the pace despite earning an automatic spot in the match play field.
“Tomorrow, I’ll probably do the same thing as the first block and shuffle through a couple ideas,” Simonsen said. “The last three games, I'll hunker down and bowl as if I had to make the cut, just to get an idea of how some of the balls are going to react off each other.”
“I still want to try to bowl my way into the cut, even though there’s maybe not as much pressure (on me) as some of the other guys have trying to get there.”
Tommy Jones felt that pressure after a rough first round, sitting in 292nd place at -61. But the 44-year-old averaged more than 243 on the burn squad to lead all competitors in Round 2.
“The goal was to just try to get enough score to be able to get back to where we have a chance to make match play,” said Jones, who is now tied for 57th place.
Based on his experience at the Masters, Jones estimated that the cut will finish at about +180 (roughly double what it was after the first round). Jesper Svensson occupies the final spot in the current cut at +147.
The final round of qualifying begins at 8 a.m. ET Wednesday morning with B-squad.
A few notable players looking to move into the cut: last week’s PBA Kokomo Classic champion Packy Hanrahan (+120), Tom Daugherty (+116), Dom Barrett (+115), Sean Rash (+85) and Kyle Troup (+77).
Round 2 Leaders
- Jason Belmonte, 2,387 (+387)
- Marshall Kent, 2,319 (+319)
- Russ Oviatt, 2,308 (+308)
- Jakob Butturff, 2,291 (+291)
- Zach Wilkins, 2,290 (+290)
- Cody Shoemaker, 2,289 (+289)
- John Janawicz, 2,264 (+264)
- Deo Benard, 2,260 (+260)
- Chris Via, 2,259 (+259)
- Justin Knowles, 2,258 (+258)
Full standings are available here.
Tournament Schedule
All times are listed in Eastern time. The full schedule is available here.
Wednesday, March 29 | BowlTV
8 a.m. — C-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games; fresh oil)
12:30 p.m. — A-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games; burn)
6:30 p.m. — B-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games; fresh oil)
Thursday, March 30 | BowlTV
10 a.m. — Match play Round 1 (left side of bracket)
12:30 p.m. — Match play Round 1 (right side of bracket)
2:30 p.m. — Match play (all winners)
5 p.m. — Match Play (two contenders rounds)
Friday, March 31 | BowlTV and FS1
8 a.m. — Match play cont.
2 p.m. — Match play cont.
7 p.m. — Match play on FS1
Tickets are available for Friday night’s show here.
Sunday, April 2 | FOX
1 p.m. — Stepladder finals
More information on the tournament is available here.