RENO, Nev. - Monday is the traditional start of the work week, and four bowlers didn't have any trouble getting the job done as they recorded perfect games at the USBC Open Championships.

Brett Wolfe of Scottsdale, Ariz., was the first to clock in and register 12 consecutive strikes at the National Bowling Stadium on Monday morning, and he was followed by three-time Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour titlist Mike Miller of Albuquerque, N.M., James Pirtle of Waipahu, Hawaii, and David Welage of Cincinnati.

Wolfe, who won the 2002 USBC Masters at the Stadium as an amateur, currently tops the two and three-year average lists at the Open Championships with 244 and 234.96, respectively, and turned in another solid performance in 2011.

The 34-year-old left-hander got off to a slow start with a 609 series in team but bounced back with 686 in doubles before starting singles with the 28th 300 of this year's event. He added games of 209 and 239 for a 748 series and 2,043 all-events total. Matt Weggen of Muscatine, Iowa, leads Regular Singles with 826 and Regular All-Events with 2,268.

"Well, it was fun," said Wolfe, who finished second in Regular All-Events last year with a 2,245 total. "You always want to check that off the list at least once. Of course, winning is what matters, but when given the opportunity to finish out in the 10th frame, I'm glad I did. It's neat to say I have a 300 here. I'll get that announced every year in the squad room, and one of my teammates has one, too. It'll be fun for us to be there together."

Wolfe competes regularly in USBC Sport Bowling leagues, and rolled his first Sport-certified 300 game in November 2010. Although he already is an accomplished bowler, he uses Sport Bowling to stay sharp. His hard work also paid off at the nearby Storm Bowlers Journal Championships presented by USBC.

"Sport Bowling is how you get better," said Wolfe, who is second in Open Singles at the Bowlers Journal Championships with a 951 four-game total. "There's no other way around it. The only way you improve is by being forced to make your mistake area much, much smaller, which is what Sport Bowling does. When your mistake area is wide, there's no incentive to improve. When it's small, everything becomes sharper. You also become more focused and more detailed on every shot."

Miller, who won the 1991 PBA National Championship, probably is best known for bowling the 18th televised 300 game in PBA history when he accomplished the feat at the National Bowling Stadium on June 20, 1999. Now, he will be recognized for tossing one at the Open Championships, too.

The 50-year-old right-hander has been battling knee problems and rolled games of 201 and 144 before getting comfortable and closing out his team event with the 29th perfect game of the year for a 645 series. He helped SSDLL to a 3,116 team total.

Miller, who owns Tenpins & More in Rio Rancho, N.M., is half of the only brother-sister tandem to own professional national titles with his sister, Dana Miller-Mackie. His daughter, Adrienne, also is a PBA member and owns a regional title. In January, they became the first father and daughter to participate in the PBA Tournament of Champions.

Now that he's no longer a full-time member of the PBA Tour, Miller is glad to be able to compete at the Open Championships.

"This tournament has always been a very big deal," said Miller, who added 644 in doubles and 628 in singles for a 1,917 all-events total Tuesday. "After I retired from the Tour, I finally became eligible to bowl the Open Championships. I'm here with my friends. We want to bowl well, but we're here to have a good time and enjoy being together. I know the prestige of this event and hope to be bowling in it for a long time."

Pirtle, a 21-year-old right-hander, made his Open Championships debut even more memorable when he finished his team event with 12 consecutive strikes for the 30th 300 of the 2011 event. The effort came after games of 163 and 189 for a 652 series and nearly left him speechless.

"I don't even know how to react," Pirtle said. "Yesterday was the first time I'd ever seen the National Bowling Stadium. It's really a humbling experience."

Pirtle, who owns JP's Reaction Pro Shop, has been a bowler as long as he can remember and is hoping to represent his home state well during his tournament career.

"A couple of my friends wanted to come to bowl and see the Stadium," said Pirtle who bowls at Naval Station Lanes at Pearl Harbor, which is managed by his mother. "My dad and his friends have told me about the Stadium many times, but it is different when it is you walking down Center Aisle. It's really an amazing place. I would eventually like to win an eagle. Many of the people in Hawaii don't think they can do it, but I think I can. I'm excited to be somebody from Hawaii who's done something big at Nationals."

Pirtle finished his first Open Championships appearance with 554 in singles and 491 in doubles for a 1,697 all-events total.

Welage, a 46-year-old right-hander, took to the lanes with a very experienced group and made a run at the Regular Team lead Monday night. The team included three-time Open Championships titlist and USBC Hall of Famer Don Scudder Jr. as well as USBC Hall of Famers Rick Pollard and Bill Spigner.

Welage's 300 came in the team's opening game, and Scudder matched him strike for strike through nine frames before a 4 pin ended his run. The group went on to post games of 1,212, 1,068 and 1,140 for a 3,420 total and third place overall. Turbo 2-N-1 Grips 1 of Madison, Wis., leads Regular Team with 3,473.

"I thought we were going to have two of us shoot 300," said Welage, who made his 28th Open Championships appearance. "Our team was really fired up at that point. It was absolutely unbelievable. I was kind of nervous to start the game, and after the first five or six in a row, I got relaxed. I've never felt as comfortable in the 10th frame as I was tonight. All I could think was that I was finally going to get my name on that board."

Welage followed the year's 31st 300 with games of 186 and 215 for a 701 series and was joined by Pollard (724), Alan Runkel (693), Spigner (655) and Scudder (647).

At the 1996 event in Salt Lake City, Scudder, Pollard and Spigner teamed with Ron Pollard and Jerry Kessler to claim the Team All-Events title with a record score of 10,425. Scudder also took home the Regular Singles title that year with 823.

Click here to watch video highlights from the 2011 Open Championships.