By JILL WINTERS
PBA Communications
WESTLAND, Mich. —On the heels of the “gut-wrenching disappointment” Brad Angelo felt last week, after finishing sixth in the Petraglia Championship and seventh in the World Championship during the PBA50 World Series of Bowling III, he now sits atop the PBA50 Hamtramck Singles Classic standings after qualifying.
Coming into this week, Angelo let that tension go and came out firing on the final day of qualifying at Vision Lanes. On Wednesday, he shot 248, 248, 269, 236, 259, 248 and 248 for 1,756. That is an impressive 250.86 average for seven games.
“I think this might be my highest block ever as a professional. I don’t think I have ever averaged 250 in a block. It certainly felt good,” Angelo said.
“I carried everything, and I really did execute well. I had a handful of trip 4s, a handful of light pocket hits that struck, and I rolled a couple of 2-pins. When I threw it really good, I struck most of the time. It was one of those days.”
Angelo, who won his second PBA50 Tour title in May, doesn’t use urethane. Instead, he used two oil-soaked reactive resin balls and a few other tricks to get the results that pushed him into the lead.
“I had my hand really soft, and I was really controlling my rotational axis off my hand well. I had a lot of good things going,” Angelo said. “I’ll watch and adapt to what I see tomorrow. Hopefully, my carry stays there and I hold on for the number one spot and I am fortunate enough to get through the first match.”
Behind Angelo, by 74 pins, is Mika Koivuniemi. The Finland native caught fire on the final day of qualifying in this tournament last year, and he did it again. He averaged 245.57 to get to +578.
After Day 1 of qualifying Tuesday, Troy Lint mentioned Parker Bohn III was the guy to chase. As B-squad finished its block first on Wednesday, Lint was right. Bohn III jumped into the lead with 210, 258, 214, 236, 247, 225 and 226 for 1,616. He is in third after both squads at +539.
“The one thing I keyed in on yesterday and today was I gave the ball a little bit of loft. It really allowed my ball to pick up (and have) a positive reaction that went through the pins to mix them around and produce some score,” Bohn said.
“Your urethane transition is mainly the lanes are going to get tighter because your target is in front of you. You manipulate that with either your ball speed or a hand position. You are pretty much narrowed down to one part of the lane and when you start eliminating variables, just repeat shots and try to accumulate score.”
Bohn won the 2022 PBA50 Cup for a major win at Vision Lanes, in addition to other wins in Michigan on the PBA and PBA50 Tours in his career. He is hoping that magic continues.
“I would say my big win in Michigan is that is where my wife is from. I have had some success winning tour titles here along the way and our kids have had success,” Bohn said. “The state of Michigan has been extremely kind to the Bohn family.”
After his morning block, he drove three hours to Warsaw, Ind., to visit his close friend, 45-year-old Josh Hyde. Hyde, who is wheelchair-bound, had spent the past couple of nights in a hospital ICU.
“I want to surprise him and hopefully put a light in his eye and a smile on his face. This young man means a lot to me. I’ve known him since he was 5 or 6 years old,” Bohn said. “He is an honorary PBA member. He will never throw a ball down the lane like any of us on the PBA Tour, but he has more heart and soul for the tour than probably more than half the guys.”
Behind Bohn III is John Janawicz at +531 in fourth place and Tony Oliva is +526 in fifth place. The field was cut to the top 32. The final bowler in was 74-year-old Charlie Tapp at +274. Tapp rolled a 300 in Game 5.
The pins will carry over as they bowl four games in the advancers round starting at 9 a.m. Thursday. The top 24 will then move into bracket match play. All pins will drop in the best two-of-three-games matches.
The top eight players will receive a bye. Qualifiers 9 through 24 will start the Round of 24 at 12:45 p.m. The winners of those matches and the top eight will move into the Round of 16 starting at 2:45 p.m.
The Round of 8 will begin at 5 p.m. The four undefeated bowlers and the highest-seeded eliminated player in the Round of 8 will be in the stepladder finals, scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Watch the final day of action live on BowlTV.
See the complete standings here:
https://www.leaguepals.com/league-info?id=6810df89bf635a73499b9c7f