FAIRLAWN, Ohio – After falling for the trap of urethane in the opening round of qualifying, Anthony Simonsen changed his strategy Wednesday night and it helped him take the lead at the 2020 PBA Tournament of Champions.

Simonsen shot 153 pins better in the second round than he did in the first round to move into the lead with a 12-game total of 2,715 (+315), a 226.25 average, at AMF Riviera Lanes.

The field will bowl an additional six-game qualifying round Thursday starting at 11 a.m. Eastern live on FloBowling to determine the 24 match-play finalists after 18 total games.

RESULTS: PBA Tournament of Champions Qualifying Round 2

Simonsen opened qualifying Wednesday with games of 182 and 190, two of his lowest thus far in qualifying, and knew he would need to make a change to start the second round of qualifying.

That change was ditching urethane for reactive and the result was starting with games of 246 and 258 in the second round. After opening with 1,281 in the first round, Simonsen totaled 1,434 in the second round despite a 190 in Game 5.

“I started out with a different game plan on the fresh,” Simonsen said. “Urethane looked like it was going to be the option, but I couldn’t get it to shape the right way. I decided in Game 2 of that block that the next block I wasn’t using urethane on the fresh. I went with the new Omega Crux and it seemed to allow me to use it over a few games.”

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Cristian Azcona, who shot 300 in the opening round, sits in second place with 2,672 (+272). He finished the first round in third place and managed to move up a spot in the evening block despite shooting 50 pins lower.

First-round leader Kris Prather dropped to third with 2,627 (+227) as he struggled down the stretch to close out the evening, ending with games of 171 and 181. Kyle Troup sits in fourth place with 2,613 (+213), and Stu Williams is fifth with 2,611 (+211).

Defending champion Jason Belmonte, who was in fourth after the first round of qualifying, tumbled down the standings to 23^rd place after two rounds. He shot 1,351 in the opening round and followed it up with just 1,160.