FORT MYERS, Fla. — PBA50 Bowler of the Year Tom Hess picked up where he left off last season, averaging 256.57 over his opening seven qualifying games to take the first round lead during the season-opening PBA50 Lightning Strikes Lanes Open on Tuesday.
Hess, a 52-year-old Granger, Iowa, right-hander who owns three career titles, including a pair of senior majors, finished with 1,796 total pinfall at Lightning Strikes Bowl to hold a 44-pin lead over Super Senior Tom Adcock.
“I was trying too hard in the beginning,” Hess said as he left several 10-pins in Game 1. “I decided to relax my hand and just let it go. From there the ball started going through the pins and it started striking.”
Hess did a lot of striking first with his Storm Proton PhysiX then with his Global 900 Altered Reality from Games 5 through 7.
At this tournament last year, Hess made the cut but lost early, so he is looking for a better outcome.
Hess doesn’t see the scores coming down much over the next couple of days. The top-eight bowlers on the leaderboard are averaging 240 or higher and 57 bowlers are averaging at least 220.
“Guys are going to have to keep striking to make it,” Hess predicts.
The entire 128-player field will return for seven more qualifying games today before the field is cut to the top one-third for the Advancers Round of five games, which begins at 8 a.m. Thursday. That group then will be trimmed to the top 24 for match play, which will culminate with the stepladder finals at 7 p.m.
Mike Preston of Gainesville, Fla., sits third with 1,744, followed by PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III of Jackson, N.J., in fourth with 1,712.
Germany’s Pete Knopp had the day’s lone 300 game in Game 7 of qualifying and sits 12th overall.
Among others in the top 20 are Hall of Famers Chris Barnes (17th, 1,635), Pete Weber (19th, 1,632) and Jason Couch (20th, 1,631).
Akron right-hander Don Hogue is 21st with 1,631, including a high game of 259. Hogue recently rolled 300 during the Team Canada team trials
Among other area players, former Hartville resident Dick Gran is 99th with 1,448 and Canton’s Tony Johnson is 111th with 1,388.
See complete Round 1 results here: