By BILL SNIER
FAIRLAWN — The race is on to reach the stepladder finals of the PBA50 Tournament of Champions, with only 170 pins separating fifth from 12th place with eight match-play games remaining.
But, if you ask the leading competitors who will be in the race for those spots Thursday at AMF Riviera Lanes, it’s more like the grind continues.
Despite the tournament’s first two 300 games and another 289 during Wednesday’s opening round of match play Wednesday, the overall scoring continued to be difficult on the PBA Don Johnson 40 oil pattern.
“It was a grind. I didn’t bowl real well, but some of the pairs made it real difficult for me,” said Chris Warren, who led the final 16 players into match play after holding a 36-pin lead following Wednesday’s Advancers’ Round.
That is, unless you were 54-year-old PBA Hall of Famer Tom Hess.
Hess, who led the 65-player field after 16 qualifying games by averaging 226.18, averaged 233 Wednesday night and went 6-2 to take the lead with 7,350 total pinfall.
He was followed by Warren (7,207), who went 4-4 in match play; Dan Knowlton (7,164) who was 5-3; Andrew Neuer (7,149), who went 5-3; and Randy Weiss (7,142), who lost just one match 238-225 to Steven Badovinac.
“The transition was quite a bit different in the morning, I tried to get too far left too quick. I was in the wrong part of the lane,” Hess told pba.com
“I came in tonight with the plan to stay to the right, It was a great night and I saw the lane well.”
Hess, who also lost his final match to Badovinac, went 3-1 over a stretch of four games where he averaged 252.75 (his lone loss was 258-234 to Chris Barnes). He chose to go with a Roto Grip Gem the entire night.
Despite sitting second, the 60-year-old Warren, a Plano, Texas, right-hander, averaged just 214 in match play, with games of 189 and 187 — both losses.
“I had two 180s, but the rest were decent games,” said Warren, who has cashed in 10 of 12 events this season. “I just couldn’t beat anybody. They were just bowling better than me.
“I went 4-4, but that’s not a good percentage. We just have a little work to do. We’re going to bowl the same way, play conservative, and hopefully, things work out. But it’s really tight up there.”
Neuer, a Lewisburg, Pa., left-hander and the lone southpaw in the final 16 players, had games of 258 and 289 in Games 6 and 7 before falling to 203 in his final match.
“They were a little tighter and I had to be more left tonight, out to one and two (boards),” said Neuer, who has one career stepladder appearance, finishing second in the U.S. Senior Masters.
“I actually threw it really good the last 3 1/2 games, but it took a little while to get settled in with what I needed to do with the look. But after I did, I threw it pretty good from there.”
Lurking just outside of the top five are Mika Koivuniemi (7,052), Brad Angelo (7,025) and Chris Barnes (7,013). Eight more match-play games Thursday will determine the top five, who will battle for the title.
“There’s still a lot of bowling left. The first three guys off the show are Mika, Brad and Chris,” said Hess, who has three matches today against bowlers within the current top five. “None of those guys are out of it.”
NOTEBOOK: Dino Castillo (Game 2) and Jeff Johnson (Game 6) had 300 games during match play along with Neuer’s 289. Johnson’s came ironically in a match against Castillo. … Badovinac, who earned the final match-play spot out of the Advancers’ Round by just one pin, went 6-2 in match play, averaging 222 with wins over Knowlton, Weiss and Hess to move up to ninth and is just 142 out of the cut. … Fan support has been disappointing to this point, including just 20 entries in the pro-am for the major senior event. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark hopes Thursday’s finals, which begin at 6 p.m. with the doors opening at 5 will draw better attendance. … The final match-play round begins at noon Thursday to determine the final stepladder finalists. … All of the action is being live streamed on BowlTV.com.