Sweden’s Jansson Leads Opening Round of 2024 USBC Masters
Five games are in the books at the USBC Masters, the third major of the 2024 PBA Tour.
Markus Jansson of Sweden led the three-squad, 465-player field with a score of 1,274 (+274). Jansson fired games of 229, 256, 297, 246 and 246 for his opening five games at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas.
Justin Bohn, Justin Veitch, Giorgio Clinaz, Matt Ogle and Cortez Schenck round out the top six.
Clinaz, a former collegiate standout at Webber International University, led A-squad at +201.
“Usually the Masters is a very tough tournament, so I was just hoping to be patient, make good shots and stay close,” Clinaz said. “But today was one of those days: All the bowling balls, all the shots that were close, they were all strikes. They were all good shots and they were all carrying. It was just a good day overall.”
Clinaz said this is his first Masters appearance since 2019.
“I'm very happy to be back bowling in such a prestigious tournament,” he said. “I’m now happy that I got this first block. It’s a good confidence boost for the rest of the days.”
Ogle and Schenck (each +193) averaged 238.60 to lead B-squad, who competed on the burn squad.
After ranking fifth in points during the 2023 season, Ogle sits 42nd through six events in 2024. He said it’s no coincidence his strong performance on Monday came after an approximate three-week break in the tour schedule.
“I was putting too much pressure on myself after having the season that I had last year,” Ogle said. “This week, I'm just trying to have fun and enjoy myself. I’ve got my friends with me and my dad's here, so we're gonna have a good time. It's working out so far.
“I had 50 clean frames today. If I can stay clean the rest of the sets, I feel like that's going to give me more confidence going into match play. I had a great look on the fresh in practice, so I feel like we're ahead of the game.”
The break served as a similar confidence booster for Schenck, who competed in and won the PBA Legacy Cup: Legends and Rising Stars event as part of PBA All-Star Weekend.
Schenck said bowling the first round on the burn isn’t ideal because “no one really knows what the lanes are going to do yet.” He came in with a cautious gameplan, but was prepared to press the gas pedal if he saw an opportunity.
“Usually on the burn, you can make some pins on it,” the reigning PBA Rookie of the Year said. “My goal was to get to +100 — just play it safe, get to the 1-3 pocket, put some doubles together and call it good — and if I feel comfortable enough, I may make some more ballsy, gutsy decisions and moves. Luckily it panned out pretty well. I made kind of a random ball change (in Game 5) to shoot 258 so that worked out well.”
Qualifying continues on Tuesday with B-squad competing on the fresh at 8 a.m. local time (11 a.m. Eastern). C-squad competes on the burn at 12:30 p.m. local (3:30 p.m. ET) and A-squad rounds out the night on the fresh at 6:30 p.m. local (9:30 p.m. ET).
After all players finish 15 games of qualifying on Wednesday, the field will be trimmed to the top 64 players for double-elimination bracket match play.
The current cut is a six-way tie between Riley Woodard, David Stouffer, Israel Hernandez, Jake Peters, Kaaron Salomaa and Carlos Granados at +112.
Two-time defending Masters champion Anthony Simonsen, currently sitting in 154th place at +49, will receive the 64th seed if he qualifies outside the top 64.
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 1 Leaders
- Markus Jansson, 1,274 (+274)
- Justin Bohn, 1,257 (+257)
- Justin Veitch, 1,214 (+214)
- Giorgio Clinaz, 1,201 (+201)
- Matt Ogle, 1,193 (+193)
- Cortez Schenck, 1,193 (+193)
- Keith Guerrero, 1,189 (+189)
- Maxime Dubois, 1,185 (+185)
- Andrew Anderson, 1,184 (+184)
- Jarno Lahti, 1,184 (+184)
- Zac Tackett, 1,184 (+184)
Full standings are available here.
2024 USBC Masters Schedule
Suncoast Hotel and Casino | Las Vegas
All times Eastern
Tuesday, March 26
11am — B-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
3:30pm — C-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games; burn)
9:30pm — A-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
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.