Rash Top Seed For Stacked U.S. Open Stepladder
Rash Top Seed For Stacked U.S. Open Stepladder
Sean Rash earned the top seed for the stepladder finals to make his first show at the U.S. Open.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – After taking the lead in the cashers round, it seemed like Sean Rash couldn’t buy a win in the first round of match play at the 2019 U.S. Open.
He turned that around, however, in the second and third rounds of match play Tuesday to earn the top seed for the stepladder finals and make his first show at the U.S. Open.
Rash posted a brutal 1-7 record in the first round Monday night but came back to Victory Lanes ready to fight. He went 11-5 in matches on the day and put up a 12,379 total over 56 games.
Results: U.S. Open Match Play Round 3
Joining Rash on the show, which will be broadcast by CBS Sports Network at 8 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, will be Francois Lavoie, Jason Belmonte, Bill O’Neill and Anthony Simonsen.
The five players survived 56 grueling games of qualifying and match play to earn their spot to bowl for the final major title of the 2019 PBA Tour season.
Rash entered match play as the leader Monday and at the end of that block was 61 pins off the show and 216 pins off the lead. He fought back throughout the day Tuesday and when it came down to the final frame, he had the goods.
Needing nine pins on his first shot in the final frame of the position round match against Lavoie to secure the top seed, Rash buried a strike and let out a loud roar. He had a 60-pin cushion going into that last match and stayed on top despite losing to Lavoie, 217-211.
Lavoie, who was the leader entering the day, earned the second seed with a 15-8-1 record and 12,355 total. A three time PBA champion, Lavoie is looking to win his second U.S. Open title after he won the 2016 event.
Like Rash, Belmonte also had a tough start to match play, going 3-5 in the first round and dropping to 14th place. He climbed his way back into contention, however, and secured his spot in the stepladder with a 266-233 win over Shawn Maldonado in the position round. He finished with a 13-11 record for a 12,312 total.
Belmonte has already won two majors this season – the PBA Tournament of Champions and the PBA World Championship – and he is the all-time leader in major wins in PBA Tour history. The Australian two-hander has won 11 career major titles but the only one missing from his collection is the U.S. Open.
A victory Wednesday night for Belmonte would absolutely slam the door shut on the 2019 PBA Player of the Year race, which many think is already decided based on Belmonte’s performance this season.
O’Neill, who bowled solid throughout the event, earned the fourth seed with a 13-10-1 record and 12,303 total. Simonsen took the fifth seed with a 14-10 record and 12,261 total.
Maldonado, who finished sixth and missed the show by just 27 pins, put up some late strikes in the final game to put some pressure on Simonsen.
Needing a mark to make the show, Simonsen delivered a perfect strike but the foul light went off because he slid into the gutter cap. PBA Deputy Commissioner Kirk von Krueger was watching and declared it was not a foul since Simonsen didn’t actually cross the line.
Chris Barnes finished in seventh place, missing the show by 40 pins, while Tom Daugherty was eighth, off the show by 54 pins.