ARLINGTON, Texas (Jan. 15, 2020) – Anthony Lavery-Spahr, a 29-year-old right-hander from Pasadena, Texas, beginning his third full season on the Go Bowling PBA Tour, averaged 242 for six games Wednesday to take the first-round lead in the PBA Hall of Fame Classic at the International Training and Research Center.

In the first tournament of the 2020 season, Lavery-Spahr, who is trying for his first career PBA Tour title, bowled games of 269, 226, 217, 235, 242 and 263 for a 1,452 pinfall total holding an 18-pin lead over Darren Tang of Las Vegas in second with 1,434.

I’m getting a lot better at putting myself in a position to succeed regardless of the lane condition,” said Lavery-Spahr whose best tour finish was third in the 2019 PBA Roth-Holman Doubles Classic with Sam Cooley. “With a six-game block you hope you can keep your adjustments simple and fortunately I could rely mainly on speed control on all the pairs (of lanes) to make the adjustments I needed. I had a little bit of a concern about the shorter lane condition but I really had good touch all day.”

For the Hall of Fame Classic, players are facing the added challenge of competing on a dual lane condition scoring environment with PBA’s 45-foot Dick Weber lane condition applied to the left lane and the 38-foot Mike Aulby condition to the right lane throughout the event.

Competition continues with the field of 56 players, which includes 40 PBA Tour Champions, bowling second-round qualifying Thursday with six-game blocks at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT.  After 12 qualifying games, the top 14 players will advance to match play rounds Friday at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Total pinfall, including match play bonus pins, for 26 games will determine the top five for the stepladder finals live on FS1 Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT).

Among other notables after the first round, defending champion Bill O’Neill finished 27th with 1,259; five-time and reigning PBA Player of the Year Jason Belmonte of Australia, who finished third in last season’s Hall of Fame Classic, in 11th with 1,325 and PBA Hall of Famer Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas, in a tie for third with Ryan Ciminelli with 1,412. Boston Red Sox star Mookie Betts, who is making his first PBA Tour appearance since the 2017 PBA World Series of Bowling, finished the first round in 45th with 1,187 for six games.

All preliminary rounds of the Hall of Fame Classic are live-streamed by PBA’s online streaming partner FloBowling. For subscription and schedule information visit www.flobowling.com.

PBA HALL OF FAME CLASSIC

(a 2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour event)

International Training and Research Center, Arlington, Texas, Wednesday

First Round Standings (after six games)

1, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,452.
2, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, 1,434.
3, (tie) Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., and Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,412.
5, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 1,339.
6, (tie) Deo Benard, Henderson, Nev., amd Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 1,329.
8, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,328.
9, (tie) Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., and Nick Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 1,327.
11, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,325.
12, (tie) Patrick Girard, Canada, and Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,316.
14, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,310.
15, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,306.
16, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,301.
17, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 1,295.
18, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 1,293.
19, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 1,290.
20, (tie) Tom Hess, Granger, Iowa, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., and Mark Williams, Beaumont, Texas, 1,287.
23, Mitch Hupe, Wichita, Kan., 1,284.
24, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 1,276.
25, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 1,274.
26, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,271.
27, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,259.
28, Stuart Williams, England, 1,256.
29, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 1,253.
30, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,248.
31, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,247.
32, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 1,245.
33, Matthew Ogle, Louisville, Ky., 1,244.
34, Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 1,241.
35, (tie) Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., and Matt Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 1,239.
37, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 1,234.
38, (tie) Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., and Richard Teece, England, 1,232.
40, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 1,221.
41, Nate Garcia, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 1,220.
42, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,219.
43, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,216.
44, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 1,211.
45, Mookie Betts, Studio City, Calif., 1,187.
46, (tie) Dom Barrett, England, and Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 1,184.
48, Wesley Low Jr., Palmdale, Calif., 1,176.
49, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,170.
50, Bryan Goebel, Shawnee, Kan., 1,167.
51, Jason Sterner, Rochester, N.Y., 1,165.
52, Brent Boho, Colgate, Wis., 1,156.
53, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 1,154.
54, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 1,145.
55, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,123.
56, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,022.