COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two-hander Jason Belmonte rocketed out of the gate in his pursuit to win a record 11th career PBA major title by firing a 1,508 six-game first round pinfall total (251 average) Wednesday to lead the first round of the PBA Players Championship at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
Also trying for his second consecutive major title on the 2019 Go Bowling! PBA Tour, after winning last week’s PBA Tournament of Champions, the Australian bowled games of 268, 279, 267, 245, 231 and 218.

“The lanes got really tricky toward the end of the round,” said the 19-time tour winner. “The friction was really building up in the middle of the lane so it was time to make an adjustment. You had to go way right or way left and my strength is moving left so that’s what I did.

“At this point in the tournament I’m not trying to necessarily shoot 260 every game,” he added. “The way the lanes transitioned I think a lot of guys will play them differently now that we’ve seen it for the first time. I’m not taking anything for granted. we’ll just have to see what happens.”

Belmonte holds a 66-pin lead over four-time tour winner Marshall Kent in second with 1,442 and a 74-pin lead over defending champion Tom Smallwood in third with 1,334.

Smallwood defeated Belmonte 259-239 in the title match of the 2018 Players Championship for his second major and third career tour title.

After this evening’s second qualifying round at 5 p.m. ET, qualifying continues with the third round at 10 a.m. on Thursday with a cut to the top 24 players advancing to the first match play round Thursday at 6 p.m. Match play continues Friday with rounds at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. which will determine the top five players for Sunday’s live stepladder finals on FS1 at 1 p.m. ET.

Belmonte is also trying to become the first three-time winner of the Players Championship. The 2011 and 2017 winner currently shares the lead with Dennis Horan, Dave Ferraro and Steve Hoskins.

The Players Championship will also offer a $1 million bonus if a player can bowl a 300 game in Sunday’s title match.

Fans can follow all rounds of qualifying and match play through PBA’s online streaming partner, FloBowling. For schedule and subscription information visit FloBowling.com.

PBA PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday

FIRST ROUND RESULTS (after 6 games)

1, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,508.
2, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,442.
3, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,434.
4, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,401.
5, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,393.
6, Kristopher Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 1,389.
7, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,382.
8, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 1,373.
9, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 1,368.
10, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 1,365.
11, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 1,362.
12, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,361.
13, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,356.
14, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,350.
15, Joe Bailey, Wooster, Ohio, 1,343.
15, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 1,343.
15, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 1,343.
18, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,341.
19, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 1,337.
20, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,328.
21, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 1,326.
22, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 1,323.
23, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,317.
24, Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, 1,314.
25, Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., 1,309.
26, (tie) A.J. Rice, Salem, Ala., and Sean Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,306.
28, Aaron Lorincz, Center Line, Mich., 1,298.
29, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,296.
30, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,295.
31, Jim Pratt, Avondale, Ariz., 1,294.
32, Francois Louw, South Africa, 1,292.
33, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,290.
34, Michael Machuga, Erie, Pa., 1,288.
35, (tie) Zachery Tackett, Huntington, Ind., and Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 1,287.
37, (tie) David Harold, Columbus, Ohio, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, and Jason Sterner, Fayetteville, Ga., 1,284.
40, Matthew Ogle, Louisville, Ky., 1,283.
41, Stuart Williams, England, 1,282.
42, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 1,271.
43, (tie) Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., Mike Coffey, Melbourne, Fla., and Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,262.
46, (tie) Pontus Andersson, Sweden, and Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 1,261.
48, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 1,260.
49, Kurt Pilon, Sterling Heights, Mich., 1,258.
50, (tie) Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, and Mitch Hupe, Canada, 1,251.
54, (tie) BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., and Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 1,249.
56, (tie) Richie Teece, England, Francois Lavoie, Canada, and Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 1,248.
59, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,247.
60, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 1,246.
61, (tie) Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, and Stephen Pavlinko, Sewell, N.J., 1,242.
63, Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 1,238.
64, Patrick Girard, Canada, 1,237.
65, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,234.
66, Annop Arromsaranon, Thailand, 1,233.
67, Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, 1,231.
68, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,229.
69, (tie) Thomas Larsen, Denmark, and Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 1,225.
71, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 1,222.
72, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 1,220.
73, (tie) Kyle Bigelow, Troy, Ohio, and Cristian Azcona, Puerto Rico, 1,219.
75, (tie) Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., and Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,216.
77, Gaetan Mouveroux, France, 1,215.
78, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 1,213.
79, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1,210.
80, (tie) Andres Gomez, Colombia, and Dwight Adams, Greensboro, N.C., 1,209.
82, Cody Shoemaker, Hanover, Pa., 1,199.
83, (tie) Kyle Gillum, Columbus, Ohio, and Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 1,196.
85, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 1,195.
86, Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,193.
87, (tie) JR Raymond, Clinton Twp., Mich., and Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 1,187.
89, Samuel DeWitt, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1,186.
90, Jimmy Cook, Indianapolis, 1,179.
91, Jean Perez, Puerto Rico, 1,178.
92, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 1,173.
93, John Furey, Howell, N.J., 1,170.
94, Billy Rogers, Mesquite, Texas, 1,169.
95, Justin Knowles, Okemos, Mich., 1,167.
96, Charlie Brown Jr, Grandville, Mich., 1,161.
97, Dom Barrett, England, 1,158.
98, Jason Lundquist, Columbus, Ohio, 1,156.
99, (tie) Darren Tang, Las Vegas, Nev., Arturo Quintero, Mexico, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,154.
102, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,150.
103, JoJoe Yannaphon, Thailand, 1,140.
104, Kim Bolleby, Sweden, 1,138.
105, (tie) Chris Colella, Indianapolis, Ind., and Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 1,122.
107, Rhino Page, Orlando, 1,119.
108, (tie) Keven Williams, Springfield, Mo., and Brandon Robertson, Venice, Fla., 1,115.
110, Michael Baker, Moline, Ill., 1,107.
111, Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, 1,102.
112, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 1,096.
113, Geoffrey Young, Roanoke, Texas, 1,094.
114, (tie) Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., and Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, Ill., 1,084.
116, Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico.., 1,083.
117, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 1,070.
118, Joshua Weiner, Hilliard, Ohio, 1,052.
119, Justin Wyman, Fairport, N.Y., 1,045.
120, Tristan Butler, Fort Wayne, Ind., 1,027.