Tightly Packed Field Set For Final Push At U.S. Open
Tightly Packed Field Set For Final Push At U.S. Open
Most of the field will have a shot to make the stepladder finals in what promises to be a dramatic day Tuesday at the 2019 U.S. Open.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Most of the field will have a shot to make the stepladder finals in what promises to be a dramatic day Tuesday at the 2019 U.S. Open.
After the first round of match play, the players are tightly bunched in the standings, especially between fourth and 18th places, as they will make their final push for the finals at Victory Lanes.
The second and third rounds of match play will be broadcast live on FloBowling starting at 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday.
Results: U.S. Open Match Play Round 1
Francois Lavoie, who lost his lead earlier in the day after the cashers round, found his way back into the top spot with a solid eight-game opening block of match play. The 2016 U.S. Open champion posted a 6-2 record and has a 40-game total of 8,729, a 213.73 average.
The Canadian opened match play with a 199-190 win over Sean Rash, who overtook Lavoie in the cashers round. He then took down Jesper Svensson, 204-179, and Anthony Simonsen, 226-174.
Lavoie also picked up victories over Shawn Maldonado, Kris Prather and Kyle Sherman. His only losses came to Tom Daugherty and Norm Duke.
“It’s really nice to have all those pins banked, if you want to call it that, going into tomorrow because we’ve seen how hard they are on fresh,” said Lavoie, who is nearly 200 pins inside the show at the moment. “I don’t want to say it’s necessarily going to loosen up my swing but it’s definitely something to consider. It’s going to allow me to stay a little more patient so I can concentrate on hitting the pocket and making spares.”
Simonsen also posted a 6-2 record as he jumped into second place with 8,694 total. Bill O’Neill is third with a 4-3-1 record and 8,668 total.
After that, things get tight with lefty Jesper Svensson in fourth with 8,588 total and 14 other players within 181 pins of fourth place.
Among the players in contention is PBA Hall of Famer Chris Barnes, who is 10th and 95 pins back of fifth place.
“The U.S. Open is always the U.S. Open,” Barnes said. “The lanes are hard. There are pairs that are next to impossible and there are pairs that are pretty good. You have to hit the good pairs and find a way to survive the bad ones. You saw a lot of movement up and down the standings tonight and there’s probably still 16 or 18 guys who have a swing at it.”
One player who made a dramatic dive down the standings was Rash, who after taking the lead in the cashers round, posted a 1-7 match-play record, winning his last match against Prather to avoid going winless.
Rash dropped from first down to ninth and is now 61 pins back of fifth place. He’s also now 216 pins back of the lead with a total of 8,513.