MONTICELLO, Minn. (July 10, 2019) – Despite a 180 closing game, PBA50 Tour veteran Don Herrington edged PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. to take the first-round lead in the PBA50 River City Extreme Open presented by Hammer Wednesday.

Herrington led the first round with a 1,874 eight-game pinfall total (234 average) with games of 235, 258, 276, 246, 242, 213, 224 and 180 to hold a four-pin lead over Williams who finished with 1,870 on games of 290, 194, 246, 200, 192, 300, 216 and 232.

Herrington is hoping his first-round lead is part of a breakthrough in his career having also finished 13th in the PBA50 Northern California Classic and tied for 13th in the USBC Senior Masters earlier this season – his best finishes on the tour for players 50 and over.

“It’s been a continuous process to gain experience and gather the tools necessary to be competitive out here,” said the 57-year-old Herrington who owns two runner-up finishes in PBA regional competition. “You can work on a lot of things yourself but there’s no substitute for tournament experience. I’m feeling more comfortable and confident all the time so hopefully I continue to improve.”

In pursuit of his fourth PBA50 Tour win of the season and a record 15th of his career, the 59-year-old Williams – the Go Bowling! PBA Tour all-time titles leader with 47 wins – used his two-handed delivery for much of the round including his 300 game. Williams has 110 career 300 games in PBA competition but his 300 in the first round was his first using the unique two-handed delivery.

Finishing the round in third was Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli with 1,852, followed by James Campbell, 1,846, and Hall of Famer Ron Mohr and Henry Dawson who rounded out the top five both posting 1,800 pinfall totals. Defending champion and reigning PBA50 Player of the Year Michael Haugen Jr. got off to a slow start finishing the round in 32nd with 1,638.

The entire field returns for another eight-game qualifying round Thursday which begins at 10 a.m. CT. The top 24 players after the second round will advance to Friday’s match play rounds at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. which will determine the top five players for the stepladder finals at 5 p.m.

FloBowling, is providing live start-to-finish coverage of the River City Extreme Open as well as the remaining events during the 2019 PBA50 Tour season. Subscription and schedule information is available by visiting www.flobowling.com.

PBA50 RIVER CITY EXTREME OPEN

Presented by Hammer

River City Extreme, Monticello, Minn., Wednesday

FIRST ROUND (after eight games)

1, Don Herrington, Ballston Lake, N.Y., 1,874.

2, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 1,870.

3, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 1,852.

4, James Campbell, Clearwater, Fla., 1,846.

5, (tie) ss-Ron Mohr, Las Vegas, and ss-Henry Dawson, Elma, Wash., 1,800.

7, Ernie Segura Jr., Taylor, Mich., 1,789.

8, John Marsala, St. Louis, Mo., 1,787.

9, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 1,781.

10, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,753.

11, Paul Fleming, Fort Worth, Texas, 1,750.

12, Steve Hoskins, New Port Richey, Fla., 1,741.

13, Don Breeden, Clive, Iowa, 1,730.

14, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,728.

15, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 1,722.

16, Brian Menini, Brookfield, Mo., 1,719.

17, Brian LeClair, Albany, N.Y., 1,716.

18, ss-Mike Dias, Lafayette, Colo., 1,705.

19, (tie) n-Lyle Kuhlmann, Woodruff, Wis., and ss-Christopher Keane, Cape Coral, Fla., 1,692.

21, Warren Eales, Chandler, Ariz., 1,691.

22, Jeff Johnson, Freeport, Ill., 1,689.

23, Scott Greiner, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 1,681.

24, Todd Kjell, Roscoe, Ill., 1,677.

25, John Burkett, Southlake, Texas, 1,676.

26, ss-Steven Jansson, Barnes, Wis., 1,675.

27, ss, n-Gary Green, Houlton, Wis., 1,671.

28, Ricky Schissler, Brighton, Colo., 1,660.

29, Greg McDaniel, Kimball, Neb., 1,653.

30, Tommy Martin, Millington, Tenn., 1,641.

31, Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 1,639.

32, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,638.

33, (tie) Keith Lesko, Prosper, Texas, and ss-Ted Staikoff, Black Hawk, S.D., 1,633.

35, Michael Duran, Banning, Calif., 1,616.

36, ss-Richard Hunt, Valparaiso, Ind., 1,613.

37, Bob Learn Jr., Erie, Pa., 1,606.

38, Bryan Goebel, Shawnee, Kan., 1,597.

39, (tie) ss-Tom Carter, Columbus, Ohio, and ss, n-Clark Poelzer, Arden Hills, Minn., 1,591.

41, ss-John Dudak, Orland Park, Ill., 1,589.

42, Rick Francis, Linden, Calif., 1,578.

43, (tie) Brad Snell, Mount Prospect, Ill., and ss-Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., Mich., 1,569.

45, n-John Hommes, Crystal, Minn., 1,562.

46, ss-Paul Mielens, Menomonie, Wis., 1,561.

47, n-William Faerber, St. Cloud, Minn., 1,553.

48, Greg Thomas, Irmo, S.C., 1,551.

49, ss-Don Blatchford, Santa Monica, Calif., 1,547.

50, Joel Carlson, Omaha, Neb., 1,534.

51, ss-Gary Reh, Fort Mohave, Ariz., 1,531.

52, n-Fred Schossow, Zimmerman, Minn., 1,530.

53, n-Edward Peterson, Taylor, Mich., 1,526.

54, Michael Smith, Centenniel, Colo., 1,522.

55, ss-Edward Silva, Manteca, Calif., 1,513.

56, n-Daniel Frion, Anoka, Minn., 1,510.

57, Bill Vannoy, Lexington, S.C., 1,502.

58, n-Thomas Jones, Blaine, Minn., 1,498.

59, ss-Terry Metzner, Kentwood, Mich., 1,495.

60, ss, n-Tom Corbett, Brooklyn Park, Minn., 1,491.

61, n-Dana Wright, St. Paul, Minn., 1,490.

62, ss-Thomas Sliwinski, Reynoldsville, Pa., 1,489.

63, ss-Brian Miller, Springfield, Ohio, 1,488.

64, n-Todd Nouis, St. Cloud, Minn., 1,487.

65, n-Curtis Matlock, Cloquet, Minn., 1,474.

66, n-Wayne Jensen, Rogers, Minn., 1,454.

67, ss-Mike Schmid, St. Paul, Minn., 1,451.

68, ss-James Storts, Westfield, Ind., 1,448.

69, ss-Brian Phillips, Quinnesec, Mich., 1,418.

70, ss-Lucien Casagrande, Canada, 1,406.

71, ss-Glen Nakagawa, Highland Village, Texas, 1,390.

72, ss-Dale Reh, Appleton, Wis., 1,358.

73, ss-Galen Keas, Alda, Neb., 1,356.

74, Jim Horan, Mountain View, Calif., 1,337.

75, ss, n-Tim Petersen, Brooklyn Center, Minn., 1,300.

ss – PBA60 players ages 60 and over

n – non-member

300 games – Walter Ray Williams Jr.