By JILL WINTERS
PBA Communications
COLUMBUS —Lennie Boresch Jr. once again proved that straighter is greater.
Coming into Thursday’s final seven games of qualifying at the 2024 PBA60 Tristan’s T.A.P.S. Memorial Open, he was confident in his game plan, which led to a big block. He went +313 on the day, averaging 244.71 to retain the top seed.
“I adjusted for the earlier games today and had a little more success. Later they hooked more, so I moved in and followed it left,” he said. “I used the same ball pretty much the whole tournament. That doesn’t happen too often.”
He shot 248, 216, 255, 264, 243, 266 and 221 for 1,713, to improve to +567 over 14 games. He earned a 154-pin lead over Walter Ray Williams Jr., the same guy who beat him last year in the title match. Yet, all qualifying pins are dropped as the players now look ahead to bracket matches Friday.
“It’s fun to lead, but it is a long way to go. It is a best of three match, so hopefully I will keep doing what I am doing,” he said. “If I can average 230 to 240, I’ve got a good chance but there are some good bowlers here. I would definitely like to finish this. That would be unbelievable.”
He is looking forward to his daughter, Lauren, being there to watch and he hopes she will be his extra good luck charm.
Williams showed his impressive versatility on the lanes this week. He bowled his final two games of each block two-handed.
“Today, I saw a little more friction to the right, so the last two games I decided to bowl two-handed again,” Williams said. “Today, I was in the pocket a little bit more. Very similar rounds put me in a good position for match play. I am pretty comfortable with what I am doing and on the fresh, hopefully I can figure out the right things to do, make good shots and the pins will continue to fall.”
The final super senior bowler to make the cut was Sammy Ventura at +195.
The top 24 players advance to best two-out-of-three matches. The top 8 bowlers get first-round byes on Friday, while qualifiers 9 through 24 will take to the lanes in the Round of 24 starting at 10 a.m.
The winners from those matches along with the top 8 will get started at noon in the Round of 16. After a re-oil, those winners will advance to the Round of 8 beginning at 3 p.m.
All winners move into the Round of 4 starting at 5 p.m. with a one-game match. And finally, the remaining two players will bowl a single game match for the title scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. All of the action will air on BowlTV.
This tournament is held in honor of host Wayne Webb’s late stepson, Tristan Ross. Ross was a Senior Airman in the United States Air Force.
“It’s important for us to support the military,” Webb said. “We get to have this tournament over the Fourth of July, which is perfect. We are keeping his name and his story alive.”
Webb finished in 28th place. This is a week he looks forward to as he loves spending time with guys he used to bowl with during the 80s and 90s.
“I am trying to run a bowling center, I am watching everything, I am trying to bowl, and I want to beat everybody. That is just who we are as sportspeople,” Webb said. “They were very difficult this week, which made it even harder. The scores were a little lower. But I try to do anything I can to make them happy. I feed them all after every squad. I try to run the best tournament they could possibly ever bowl in. That is important to me.”