BY EMIL WILLIAMS JR.

Results

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. - Singapore’s Cherie Tan averaged more than 217 to lead after the first round of qualifying at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.

Tan fired an eight-game block of 1,938 during B squad Thursday afternoon on the event’s first of four lane conditions, a 44-foot oil pattern. She was joined in the top five by Lindsay Boomershine of Brigham City, Utah, and Hope Gramly of Aubrey, Texas (1,919), Kayla Bandy of Wichita, Kansas (1,909), and Jordan Richard of Maumee, Ohio, (1,896).

Competition at Kingpin’s Alley Family Fun Center will resume Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern with the second of three rounds of qualifying, this time on a flat 39-foot oil pattern.

A final eight games Saturday, which will be contested on a 42-foot oil pattern, will determine the 30 players who advance to the fourth round and final oil pattern. Those 30 competitors will bowl an additional eight games before the field is cut to the top 24 athletes. Those players will then bowl 24 games of round-robin match play over two days, with seeding based on their 32-game pinfall totals.

There will be 30 bonus pins awarded for each win in match play, and the 56-game pinfall totals, including bonus pins, will determine the five players for the championship stepladder.

All rounds of qualifying and match play are being broadcast live at BowlTV.com through Monday night, and the event will conclude live Tuesday on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. Eastern.

The winner will take home the iconic U.S. Women's Open trophy, coveted green jacket and $60,000 top prize.

Tan, who collected her third career Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour title last week at the BowlTV Classic, is off to another good start at the most prestigious event of the season.

At the 2021 event at Double Decker Lanes in Rohnert Park, California, she also held the lead after the first day of competition and made a run to the title match, losing to reigning champion Josie Barnes of Hermitage, Tennessee.

The 34-year-old left-hander was consistent throughout the day with a high game of 246 and a low game of 199, especially considering she found the lanes to be very different from pair to pair throughout her eight games of competition.

“I think I was pretty consistent throughout all eight games,” Tan said. “It wasn’t very high or very low. I think the reaction pair to pair was actually quite different, so I was using different balls for every lane and every pair I went to. At the beginning of each game, I actually had a few opens here and there and was able to strike out to save myself. So, I think it was more of matching up the lanes with the equipment and keeping everything simple.”

Boomershine, who finished tied for 16th at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, understands the grind of the event and how each day is its own unique challenge. But, once the day is complete, it’s on to the next.

“This is great,” Boomershine said. “I didn't have the most consistent block and had a couple pairs where the transition was really difficult, but I only missed one makeable spare in eight games. My job's done for today. I got the most pins I could and now I'm moving on. I'm already thinking about tomorrow, and the surfaces I need to change and how I'm going to play the lanes, because I know they're going to be super flat. We always see a pattern like that, and it should test you and test your game to the utmost because this is the most prestigious tournament to win.”

Gramly, who finished fifth at her first United States Bowling Congress Queens appearance in May, also is competing in her first U.S. Women’s Open. The two-time National Tenpin Coaches Association Division II Player of the Year had simple goals for the first day but was able to get comfortable in an area of the lane she likes during the back half of her squad.

“My goal was to be as close to even as possible, fill frames and catch a few breaks,” Gramly said. “Eventually, I got comfortable and in the part of the lane that I consider my ‘A’ game, so I just kept executing the best shots I could and never looked back. I couldn’t have imagined a better start to the U.S. Women’s Open, and I’m only that much more excited for tomorrow. It’s going to be another great week of bowling.”

For more information about the U.S. Women’s Open, visit BOWL.com/USWomensOpen.