Kris Prather has consistently been one of the best bowlers on the PBA Tour in recent months but has yet to break through and win his first career title.

On Wednesday, the 27-year-old averaged 230 for seven games to take the first-round qualifying lead at the 2019 PBA Jonesboro Open. Prather led the 83-player field with 1,610 in the opening round at Hijinx Family Entertainment in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Prather, a former Wichita State University star, rolled games of 214, 192, 246, 258, 214, 249 and 227 and holds a 13-pin lead over Shota Kawazoe of Japan. The second round of qualifying begins at 11 a.m. Eastern live of FloBowling.

Results: PBA Jonesboro Open Qualifying Round 1

“I’m just trying to make it to match play,” Prather said in a PBA release. “On the left lane, I was just trying to throw the ball toward the 3 pin. On the right lane, it was a polar opposite. I was throwing it at the gutter at 30 feet and trying to get my ball to change direction. The game plan was to take advantage of the easy pairs and not hurt myself on the tough ones. I got lucky with that tonight.”

The players are facing dual patterns for the second consecutive week with the 48-foot Shark pattern on the left lane and the 36-foot Viper pattern on the right lane.

Another non-titlist, Brian Robinson is in third place with 1,584 pins followed by Jakob Butturff at 1,565 and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., rounding out the top five with 1,563.

It took Duke seven years to win his most recent singles title, but if his performance Wednesday was any indication, he’d like to make the gap between winning another seven days instead of years.

Duke, who defeated Australia’s Jason Belmonte to win his 39th PBA Tour title last Sunday in the PBA Indianapolis Open, averaged 223.29 Wednesday to lead the early squad.

“After all of the emotion of last week, you have to put it behind you and come up with a game plan. I had three, and the one I picked wasn’t it,” Duke told FloBowling, referring to his 155 first game. “Once I figured out how to play the lanes, I was able to settle down and bowl. It’s just a left and right lane. They were very different, but that’s what mixed patterns are and that’s to my advantage over time.”

If Duke is able to win in Jonesboro on Sunday, he’ll become the third player in PBA history to win 40 career titles, joining all-time leader Walter Ray Williams Jr. with 47 and Earl Anthony with 43.

Bill Vint of PBA Media Relations contributed to this report.