OWASSO, Okla.  – Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, won the FloBowling PBA Wolf Open Tuesday to become the fifth two-time winner this season and adding his name as a candidate for PBA Player of the Year honors with only three Go Bowling! PBA Tour tournaments left in the season.

In the first tournament of the FloBowling PBA Fall Swing, Simonsen, the top qualifier for the finals, beat another two-time winner, Andrew Anderson of Holly, Mich., 239-226, in the title match at The Lanes at Coffee Creek to also win his fifth career title.

Simonsen opened in the eighth frame of the title match but still had a five-pin lead over Anderson heading into the ninth frame. He got back on track with a strike in the ninth and the first shot of the 10th frame which was enough for the victory.

“I didn’t throw a good shot in the seventh frame so when I left the 2-4-8 in the eighth frame, that was the result of an over correction,” Simonsen said. “I didn’t panic because with the five-pin lead heading into the ninth I felt the match was still in my hands. I had confidence in my ball reaction and that I could buckle down and throw the good shots I needed to make.”

Simonsen joined Anderson, and other player of the year candidates 2016 player of the year EJ Tackett, four-time and reigning player of the year Jason Belmonte and Jakob Butturff as the season’s other two-time winners.

“Overall it’s been a good season for me but I think there’s a couple guys, including Andrew, who have the edge on the player of the year race, said the 21-year-old Simonsen. “We’ve got two more tournaments here and we wrap up the season with the U.S. Open so there’s a lot of bowling left to determine that.”

The 2018 season concludes with the U.S. Open Oct. 24-31 at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kan.

In the semifinal match, Anderson, the 2018 USBC Masters winner, beat Kris Prather of Plainfield, Ill., who was trying for his first tour win, 297-227. Anderson was denied a 300 game when his final shot in the 10th frame went high and he left the 3-6-10.

In the opening stepladder match, 18-time tour winner Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., beat Darren Tang of San Francisco, who was also trying for his first tour win, 227-216. Jones then advanced to the second match where he lost to Anderson 230-191.

The FloBowling PBA Fall Swing continues with the first round of qualifying for the Bear Open which will be followed by the second round Thursday to determine the top five players for the Bear Open stepladder finals Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CT.

After the combined 24-game qualifying totals from the Wolf and Bear events, the top 18 players will advance to Tulsa Open match play, consisting of two six-game round robin match play rounds on Friday and the final six-game round on Saturday morning. The top five after 42 games, including match play bonus pins will advance to the Tulsa Open finals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

The entire Fall Swing is streamed live on Xtra Frame on FloBowling which is providing multi-stream coverage of every lane of competition. For subscription and schedule information visit www.flobowling.com. Lanetalk is providing Fall Swing tournament statistics which can be accessed by visiting the Lanetalk link on the pba.com homepage.

Release courtesy of Jerry Schneider, PBA Media Relations