FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jerry Schneider | PBA Media Relations 

Professional Bowlers Association | 55 E. Jackson Blvd., Suite 401 | Chicago, IL 60604

| Jerry.schneider@pba.com | 262.366.2157

Sherman Edges Simonsen by One Pin

to Take PBA Bear Open Lead After First Round

Simonsen holds commanding lead in PBA Illinois Open qualifying heading

into Thursday’s second Bear Open qualifying round

AURORA, Ill. (Aug. 28, 2019) – Kyle Sherman of O’Fallon, Missouri, made the necessary adjustments to a different PBA lane condition averaging nearly 240 for eight games Wednesday to take the PBA Bear Open first-round lead in the second of three events that make up the FloBowling PBA Summer Swing presented by the Brands of Ebonite International at Parkside Lanes.

Bowling on the 41-foot PBA Bear lane conditioning pattern, the 25-year-old Sherman finished the day with a 1,918 pinfall total with games of 223, 237, 236, 244, 222, 279, 230 and 247 to edge out PBA Wolf Open runner-up Anthony Simonsen of Little Elm, Texas, finishing the round in second just one pin behind with 1,917.                                        .

Sherman, who is in pursuit of his first Go Bowling! PBA Tour individual title, rebounded after a 45th-place finish in the Wolf Open which was conducted on PBA’s 32-foot Wolf lane condition.

“I just had to forget about the last two days and clear my mind going into this (Bear Open) tournament,” said Sherman who teamed with Amanda Greene to win the Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles in July for his first tour title. “The 230 and 240 games could have been 250 or 260 but I didn’t have good finishes in those games, so I left some pins on the table. But overall, I’ve regained my confidence mentally and with the adjustments I need to make so hopefully this will be a very different tournament for me.”

Rounding out the top five were Wolf Open fourth-place finisher Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, North Carolina  in third with 1,886 followed by 2018 Bear Open winner EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Indiana, in fourth with 1,835 and four-time PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte of Australia in fifth with 1,831.

Wolf Open winner Sean Rash of Montgomery, Illinois finished the first round of the Bear Open in 22nd with a 1,750 eight-game pinfall.

The entire field returns for a six-game qualifying round Thursday at Noon CT that will determine the top 18 players who will advance to a six-game cashers round at 5 p.m. The top five players after the cashers round will advance to the Bear Open stepladder finals at 8:30 p.m. CT.

The players are also competing to make the cut to the top 24 for the match play rounds of the PBA Illinois Open.

Based on the combined 28-game qualifying totals from the Wolf and Bear events, the top 24 will advance to Illinois Open match play, consisting of two eight-game match play rounds on Friday beginning at 11 a.m., and the final eight-game round Saturday morning at 11 a.m. that will determine the top five players for the Illinois Open stepladder finals at 3:30 p.m.

Simonsen holds a commanding lead in the Illinois Open standings with a 5,155 pinfall (234 average) for 22 games, 188 pins ahead of Rash in second with 4,967.

Rounding out the top five in Illinois Open qualifying are Troup, 4,961; Francois Lavoie of Canada, 4,921 and Belmonte and Wolf Open third-place finisher PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke tied for fifth with 4,914.

The entire PBA Summer Swing is streamed live by PBA’s online streaming partner FloBowling. For subscription information visit www.flobowling.com.

PBA BEAR OPEN

Second event of the FloBowling PBA Summer Swing presented by the Brands of Ebonite International

Parkside Lanes, Aurora, Ill., Wednesday

FIRST-ROUND QUALIFYING RESULTS (after eight games)

1, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 1,918.
2, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 1,917.
3, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,886.
4, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 1,835.
5, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,831.
6, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 1,811.
7, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,810.
8, (tie) Francois Lavoie, Canada, and Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,809.
10, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,798.
11, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 1,794.
12, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,789.
13, (tie) Mitch Hupe, Canada, 1,787, and Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,787.
15, Kurt Pilon, Sterling Heights, Mich., 1,778.
16, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,766.
17, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 1,764.
18, (tie) Tun Ameerul Al-Hakim, Malaysia, and AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,760.
20, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 1,754.
21, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 1,752.
22, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,750.
23, Matt Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 1,746.
24, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,740.
25, Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., 1,733.
26, Christopher O'Neil, Decatur, Ill., 1,728.
27, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 1,717.
28, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 1,708.
29, Dom Barrett, England, 1,704.
30, (tie) Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., and Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 1,700.
32, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,697.
33, (tie) Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., and Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,693.
35, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 1,692.
36, Zach Doty, Campbellsville, Ky., 1,687.
37, (tie) Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., and Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, 1,675.
39, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,673.
40, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 1,669.
41, Tom Sorce, Blasdell, N.Y., 1,666.
42, (tie) Dakota Vostry, Chicago, Ill., Richard Teece, England, and Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 1,665.
45, Jason Sterner, Rochester, N.Y., 1,664.
46, (tie) Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, and John Furey, Howell, N.J., 1,663.
49, Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., 1,661.
50, (tie) Greg Ostrander, Brick, N.J., and Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 1,660.
52, Rhino Page, Spokane, Wash., 1,659.
53, Kenneth Ryan, Farmingdale, NJ, 1,655.
54, Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 1,653.
55, Zac Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,645.
56, (tie) George Duke, Vidor, Texas, and Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 1,640.
58, Stuart Williams, England, 1,639.
59, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 1,631.
60, (tie) Michael Martell, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 1,627.
62, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 1,625.
63, (tie) n-Kyle Salter, Montgomery. Ill., and James Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 1,623.
65, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 1,620.
66, Ryan Lakota, Shorewood, Ill., 1,617.
67, (tie) n-Matt Russo, Fariview Heights, Ill., and Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,614.
69, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 1,605.
70, (tie) DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, and Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., 1,603.
72, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 1,602.
73, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 1,595.
74, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 1,592.
75, JR Raymond, Clinton Twp., Mich., 1,584.
76, William Svensson, Sweden, 1,581.
77, Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, IL, 1,570.
78, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 1,569.
79, Christopher Dower, Cary, Ill., 1,567.
80, Oskar Wirefeldt, Sweden, 1,565.
81, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 1,564.
82, Craig Schneider, Marcy, N.Y., 1,561.
83, Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico, 1,560.
84, Raul Ayala Salazar, Ecuador, 1,552.
85, n-Tannya Lopez, Mexico, 1,550.
86, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,545.
87, (tie) Mike Coffey, Melbourne, Fla., and Darren Tang, Las Vegas, 1,543.
89, Chandler Stevens, Archbold, Ohio, 1,538.
90, Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 1,537.
91, Francois Louw, South Africa, 1,536.
92, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 1,522.
93, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 1,518.
94, Russ Oviatt, Chandler, Ariz., 1,499.
95, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,496.
96, Stephen Hahn, Sterling, Va., 1,480.
97, John Contos, Crystal Lake, 1,477.
98, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,471.
99, Joseph Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 1,438.
100, Richard Lupo, St. Charles, Mo., 1,416.
101, Armando Santacruz, Ecuador, 1,363.

300 games – Mitch Hupe

n – denotes non-PBA member

PBA ILLINOIS OPEN STANDINGS (after 22 games)

1, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 5,155.
2, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 4,967.
3, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 4,961.
4, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 4,921.
5, (tie) Jason Belmonte, Australia, and Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 4,914.
7, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 4,895.
8, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 4,894.
9, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 4,863.
10, Jason Sterner, Rochester, N.Y., 4,856.
11, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 4,841.
12, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 4,838.
13, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 4,813.
14, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 4,802.
15, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 4,800.
16, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 4,792.
17, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 4,781.
18, Mitch Hupe, Canada, 4,779.
19, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 4,772.
20, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 4,761.
21, Tun Ameerul Al-Hakim, Malaysia, 4,758.
22, Sam Cooley, Australia, 4,755.
23, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 4,733.
24, Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 4,731.
25, Greg Ostrander, Brick, N.J., 4,726.
26, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 4,719.
27, Kurt Pilon, Sterling Heights, Mich., 4,718.
28, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 4,705.
29, Dom Barrett, England, 4,685.
30, Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 4,666.
31, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 4,665.
32, Pontus Andersson, Sweden, 4,664.
33, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 4,662.
34, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 4,659.
35, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 4,643.
36, (tie) Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., and Stuart Williams, England, 4,636.
38, John Furey, Howell, N.J., 4,615.
39, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 4,598.
40, Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., 4,592.
41, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 4,591.
42, (tie) Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., and Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 4,585.
44, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 4,584.
45, Zach Doty, Campbellsville, Ky., 4,565.
46, Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., 4,552.
47, Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 4,548.
48, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 4,546.
49, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 4,543.
50, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 4,542.
51, (tie) Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., Tom Sorce, Blasdell, N.Y., and William Svensson, Sweden, 4,538.
54, Kenneth Ryan, Farmingdale, NJ, 4,524.
55, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 4,520.
56, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 4,515.
57, Michael Martell, Brooklyn, N.Y., 4,514.
58, Dakota Vostry, Chicago, Ill., 4,495.
59, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 4,487.
60, Matt Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 4,468.
61, Christopher O'Neil, Decatur, Ill., 4,443.
62, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 4,436.
63, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 4,434.
64, Zac Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 4,420.
65, Francois Louw, South Africa, 4,415.
66, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, 4,413.
67, Ryan Lakota, Shorewood, Ill., 4,411.
68, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 4,409.
69, Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 4,382.
70, Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico, 4,373.
71, Russ Oviatt, Chandler, Ariz., 4,369.
72, JR Raymond, Clinton Twp., Mich., 4,362.
73, Richard Teece, England, 4,361.
74, Mike Coffey, Melbourne, Fla., 4,352.
75, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 4,347.
76, Stephen Hahn, Sterling, Va., 4,340.
77, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 4,338.
78, Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 4,337.
79, Rhino Page, Spokane, Wash., 4,324.
80, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 4,290.
81, Raul Ayala Salazar, Ecuador, 4,287.
82, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 4,275.
83, Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, IL, 4,260.
84, Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., 4,242.
85, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 4,223.
86, n-Matt Russo, Fariview Heights, Ill., 4,191.
87, Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, 4,175.
88, Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 4,141.
89, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 4,099.
90, Chandler Stevens, Archbold, Ohio, 4,080.
91, Christopher Dower, Cary, Ill., 4,075.
92, George Duke, Vidor, Texas, 4,051.
93, n-Kyle Salter, Montgomery. Ill., 4,021.
94, Oskar Wirefeldt, Sweden, 4,000.
95, Craig Schneider, Marcy, N.Y., 3,994.
96, James Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 3,977.
97, n-Tannya Lopez, Mexico, 3,911.
98, Joseph Grago, Hampstead, N.C., 3,896.
99, John Contos, Crystal Lake, 3,776.
100, Richard Lupo, St. Charles, Mo., 3,715.

101, Armando Santacruz, Ecuador, 3,514.

n-denotes non-PBA member