ARLINGTON, Texas – After dominating and leading by 175 pins heading into the final round of qualifying, Jakob Butturff nearly lost the top seed Saturday at the 2019 PBA Hall of Fame Classic.

Butturff had his lowest six-game block by more than 200 pins in the final round but managed to hold on with an 18-game total of 4,284, a 238 average, to earn the top seed for the stepladder finals on Sunday.

Jason Belmonte made a hard charge and nearly stole the top spot but finished just 11 pins short with a total of 4,273. Needing a strike and nine in the final frame, Belmonte left a 2-10 split to finish second.

Results: PBA Hall of Fame Classic Qualifying Round 3

Joining Butturff and Belmonte on the show is third seed Bill O’Neill, fourth seed Jesper Svensson and fifth seed Rhino Page.

Butturff said the lanes played differently for him in the final round with less players on each pair and the other left-handed bowlers in the field playing the lanes a little differently.

In the first round Thursday, Butturff totaled 1,551 for six games and followed that up with 1,480 in the second round. On Saturday, he managed just 1,253 on games of 268, 214, 215, 138, 215 and 203.

“I wasn’t seeing the same transition on the left side and the righties were hooking it a little more today,” Butturff said. “So, I saw the fronts hooking a lot earlier and some pairs were really bad. I shot a 130 game in there but I was able to hold on for the lead.”

The Hall of Fame Classic airs Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern on FS1. International viewers can watch live on FloBowling with an archive available for all audiences seven days after the show airs.