Ricky Schissler Leading 2026 Senior U.S. Open
Greeley, Colorado – Ricky Schissler is enjoying a bit of a hometown advantage at the 2026 PBA Senior U.S. Open. He lives in nearby Brighton, Colorado, and he bowls league on Friday nights at Highland Park Lanes.
The center hosts a lot of tournaments and Schissler admits he has been pretty successful there. He relied on that experience and a few things he was working on during practice to get to the top spot Wednesday on the first day of qualifying.
“I worked with Schlem (Chris Schlemmer, SPI Tour Rep) and it seemed to pay off pretty good. I think it was just a combination that snowballed,” Schissler said. “More of playing the lanes like EJ (Tackett) would with my angles through the front of the lanes. That was what we were trying to accomplish, and it seemed to work really good today.”
The two-handed righty shot 279, 256, 178, 222, 262 and 219 for a total pinfall of 1,416. He was thrilled with his start but knows there is a lot of bowling to go. Last year, he finished in 17th place and he is aiming to improve on that result.
“It is being able to match up every round,” he said after averaging 236. “If the guys in front of us stay to the right, I think they will be even nicer. If they jump in too early, you better get all you can on the good pairs and grind out the pairs that are not as good.”
Thirty-four pins behind Schissler is B-squad leader Brad Angelo. He averaged 230 during his six-game block with games of 213, 206, 247, 238, 236 and 242 for 1,382.
“There was a lot of oil down lane. I just tried to match-up to the oil down lane and manipulate whatever I could in the front part of the lane to be able to match-up down lane,” Angelo said. “It is always nice to get out of the gate on a high note in these formats that are total pins. The goal for this week is to make sure that I am present every shot and go from there. It is a long, grueling tournament.”
Tom Adcock, John Burkett and Butch Cormier all shot 1,354 to round out the top five. Defending champion Andres Gomez started out the tournament leading the A-squad with a total pinfall of 1,338, which puts him in sixth place.
“Usually the fresh is very challenging for me, so to be able to start like this on fresh is very encouraging. I started controlling the pocket but then game two and game three, I had some carry issues. The ball wasn’t going through the pins the right way,” Gomez said about shooting 204 and 193 in games three and four. “If you shoot a low game just try to find it and the strikes will come. I was able to shoot 246 and 255 the last two to make up some ground. The lanes are challenging and the pace of play is quick with only three per pair, so you have got to be on top of every single shot you are throwing. There is not a lot of time to think about what you are going to do. You have to commit to the decisions you make and go through your process and hopefully you are guessing the right way. That is what I did.”
The 105-player field will be back on the lanes Thursday for six more games of qualifying. The B-squad will get things started at 11 a.m. Eastern followed by the C-squad at 2:30 p.m. ET and finally the A-squad beginning at 6 p.m. ET. Watch the action only on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 Senior U.S. Open standings:
- Ricky Schissler, 1,416 total pinfall (+216)
- Brad Angelo, 1,382 (+182)
- Tom Adcock, 1,354 (+154)
- Butch Cormier, 1354 (+154)
- John Burkett, 1,354 (+154)
- Andres Gomez, 1,338 (+138)
- Mario Quintero, 1,332 (+132)
- John Verbich, 1,328 (+128)
- John Marsala, 1,327 (+127)
- Jerry Rich, 1,326 (+126)