Sam Cooley Surges to Top of USBC Masters Standings
With two rounds completed at the USBC Masters, the third major of the 2024 PBA Tour, Sam Cooley finds himself atop the standings.
During his second round on Tuesday, the Australian native demolished the 44-foot pattern at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas.
Cooley shot games of 269, 268, 256, 249 and 256 for a 1,298 (+298) five-game block on the burn squad.
Cooley leads the three-squad, 465-player field with a total score of 2,435 (+435) through 10 games. He came up just shy of Parker Bohn III's 1998 five-game block Masters scoring record of 1,319.
During the three-week break between the PBA Delaware Classic and the Masters, Cooley said he spent a few days in Phoenix for PBA All-Star Weekend before heading to Buffalo, N.Y. to regroup and practice with Brad Angelo and Rick Benoit.
“It’s almost like coming in fresh again,” Cooley said. “The biggest thing I struggled with was keeping my angles shallower. I could kind of do it, but I hadn’t really seen what I needed to. We tried to drill a few balls that could help make my angles a lot more closed and practiced every day for over a week. And now, I can see those angles on the lane. I don't have to think about it; I can see what I need to do, so those pictures are a lot clearer now.”
Markus Jansson, Giorgio Clinaz, Cortez Schenck and Robin Persson round out the top five. Zac and EJ Tackett close out the top 10 with the former leading his older brother by a single pin.
Qualifying concludes on Wednesday with Cooley and C-squad competing on the fresh at 8 a.m. local time (11 a.m. Eastern). A-squad competes on the burn at 12:30 p.m. local (3:30 p.m. ET) and B-squad rounds out the night on the fresh at 6:30 p.m. local (9:30 p.m. ET).
After Wednesday’s final round of qualifying, the field will be trimmed to the top 64 players for double-elimination bracket match play.
The current cut is Fujimura Takashi of Japan at +178.
Two-time defending Masters champion Anthony Simonsen, currently sitting in 34th place at +223, will receive the 64th seed if he qualifies outside the top 64.
A few notable players outside the cut but within the top 100 through 10 games are François Lavoie (T-65th, +176), Bill O’Neill (70th, +165), David Krol (76th +154), Thomas Larsen and Stu Williams (82nd, +146), Chris Barnes (86th, +142) and Packy Hanrahan (91st, +135).
All rounds of qualifying match play will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
The finals will be held Sunday, March 31 at 10:30 a.m. local (1:30 p.m. ET), airing live on FOX.
Round 2 Leaders
- Sam Cooley, 2,435 (+435)
- Markus Jansson, 2,377 (+377)
- Giorgio Clinaz, 2,366 (+366)
- Cortez Schenck, 2,355 (+355)
- Robin Persson, 2,346 (+346)
- Maxime Dubois, 2,341 (+341)
- Chase Nadeau, 2,325 (+325)
- Jarno Lahti, 2,307 (+307)
- Zac Tackett, 2,306 (+306)
- EJ Tackett, 2,305 (+305)
Full standings are available here.
2024 USBC Masters Schedule
Suncoast Hotel and Casino | Las Vegas
All times Eastern
Wednesday, March 27
11am — C-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
3:30pm — A-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games; burn)
9:30pm — B-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
Top 64 players (or top 63 players and defending champion, Anthony Simonsen) advance to double-elimination match play
Thursday, March 28
1pm — Match Play Round 1 (left side of bracket)
3:30pm — Match Play Round 1 (right side of bracket)
5:30pm — Match Play Round 2 (all Round 1 winners)
8pm — Match play continues
Friday, March 29
1pm — Match play continues
5pm — Match play continues
Saturday, March 30
7pm (FS1) — PBA Elite League Round 10
KingPins vs. Strikers; High Rollers vs. Wonders
Sunday, March 31
1:30pm (FOX) — USBC Masters stepladder finals
More information on the 2024 USBC Masters is available here.