LUBBOCK, Texas (Jan. 23, 2019) – After a slow start, Kris Prather of Plainfield, Ill., rebounded to average 236.8 after the first round to lead the PBA Lubbock Sports Open Wednesday at South Plains Lanes.

In a tournament that features mixed (or dual) lane condition patterns, bowling on the PBA 32-foot Wolf lane condition, Prather finished the first round with a 1,658 seven-game pinfall total. After starting with games of 188 and 215, he came back with games of 258, 234, 290, 237 and 236.

“I started a little slow the first couple of games trying to find the right rhythm and ball speed,” said the 27-year-old Prather. “If I was too aggressive, the ball was going through the nose, and if I wasn’t aggressive enough, I couldn’t get the ball to the pocket. I think it was a matter of just staying patient, getting lose and letting the rest of the round develop. My ball motion got better as the round went on.”

Looking for his first Go Bowling! PBA Tour title, Prather started the season with two 10th-place finishes, in the PBA Hall of Fame Classic and PBA Oklahoma Open, after finishing 2018 with four consecutive championship round appearances.

Prather withstood a challenge by AJ Chapman of Manchester, Iowa, who finished the round in second 22 pins behind with 1,636. Chapman faltered in the final game of the round bowling 181.

Last week’s Oklahoma Open winner Jakob Butturff of Tempe, Ariz., who has been the No. 1 qualifier for the stepladder finals in a record-tying three consecutive PBA Tour singles tournaments, struggled in the first round finishing the day in a tie for 42nd with a 1,450 pinfall. Butturff won the 2016 Lubbock Sports Open, finished second last season and third in 2017.

Defending champion PBA Hall of Famer Chris Barnes, who beat Butturff in last season’s title match 207-206, finished the first round in a tie for 18th with 1,532.

The field returns for the second seven-game qualifying round on the 42-foot Scorpion lane condition Thursday, after which the top 24 players will advance to a seven-game cashers round Friday with the Scorpion condition on the left lane and the Wolf on the right.

The top 16 players after Friday’s cashers round will advance to an eight-game match play round Friday afternoon and Saturday morning after which the top five will advance to the stepladder finals live on FS1 Sunday at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT). The stepladder finals will also feature the Scorpion pattern on the left lane and Wolf pattern on the right lane.

Fans can catch all the live streaming action on FloBowling.com.  Visit www.flobowling.com for subscription and schedule information.

PBA LUBBOCK SPORTS OPEN

South Plains Lanes, Lubbock Texas, Wednesday

FIRST ROUND RESULTS (after 7 games)

1, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 1,658.
2, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 1,636.
3, Nicholas Pate, Inver Grove Heights, Minn., 1,619.
4, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 1,612.
5, Stuart Williams, England, 1,593.
6, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 1,578.
7, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 1,571.
8, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,570.
9, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 1,567.
10, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 1,565.
11, Dino Castillo, Highland Village, Texas, 1,559.
12, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,556.
13, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,553.
14, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 1,552.
15, Matt O'Grady, Rahway, N.J., 1,549.
16, Joe Findling, Mesquite, Texas, 1,543.
17, Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,541.
18, (tie) Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, and  AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,532.
20, Rhino Page, Orlando, 1,526.
21, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,517.
22, Michael Steele, Abilene, Texas, 1,516.
23, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 1,513.
24, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,509.
25, Dwight Adams, Greensboro, N.C., 1,508.
26, Zeke Bayt, Westerville, Ohio, 1,504.
27, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,500.
28, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 1,499.
29, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 1,496.
30, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,494.
31, (tie) Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, and Francois Lavoie, Canada, 1,493.
33, Christopher Sloan, Ireland, 1,492.
34, Nick Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 1,490.
35, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, Nev., 1,486.
36, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,484.
37, Kamron Doyle, Brentwood, Tenn., 1,479.
38, Mike Coffey, Melbourne, Fla., 1,467.
39, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,466.
40, Mitch Hupe, Canada, 1,458.
41, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 1,451.
42, (tie) Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, and Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 1,450.
45, Andrew Suscreba, Clifton, N.J., 1,445.
46, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,438.
47, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 1,436.
48, (tie) A.J. Rice, Salem, Ala., and Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 1,434.
50, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 1,433.
51, Jason Sterner, Fayetteville, Ga., 1,425.
52, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,424.
53, Stephen Pavlinko Jr., Sewell, N.J., 1,422.
54, Cody Meiers, Lubbock, Texas, 1,420.
55, (tie) Jake Rollins, Glen Rock, N.J., and Richie Teece, England, 1,417.
57, Nate Garcia, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 1,404.
58, Sean Wilcox, Altamonte Springs, Fla., 1,401.
59, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,388.
60, Jim Pratt, Avondale, Ariz., 1,381.
61, Anthony Pepe, East Elmhurst, N.Y., 1,380.
62, Eduardo Astiazaran, Mexico, 1,379.
63, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 1,375.
64, Trey Ford III, Bartlesville, Okla., 1,373.
65, Zacharay Wilkins, Canada, 1,371.
66, (tie) Billy Rogers, Mesquite, Texas, and Graham Fach, Urbana, Ohio, 1,366.
68, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 1,356.
69, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 1,349.
70, Matt Kuba, Chicago Ridge, IL, 1,344.
71, Michael Duran, Banning, Calif., 1,342.
72, Will Vidulich, Montville, N.J., 1,336.
73, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 1,335.
74, Mykel Holliman, Collierville, Tenn., 1,334.
75, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 1,331.
76, Greg Ostrander, Brick, N.J., 1,329.
77, Scotty Pope Jr., Odessa, Texas, 1,327.
78, Patrick Hanrahan, Wichita, Kan., 1,322.
79, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 1,311.
80, Levi Fintel, Lubbock, Texas, 1,298.
81, Mason Edmondson, Amarillo, Texas, 1,293.
82, Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, 1,259.
83, DJ Archer, Spring, Texas, 1,241.
84, Tyler Albracht, Amarillo, Texas, 1,238.
85, (tie) Scott McCleery, Lubbock, Texas, and Justin Wyman, Fairport, N.Y., 1,199.
87, (tie) Ronald Johnson, III, Durango, Colo., and Kenneth Harlan, Lubbock, Texas, 1,183.
89, Dave Chubb, Farmington, N.M., 1,171.
90, Christopher Hull, Odessa, Texas, 1,108.
91, James Britton, Grand Prairie, Texas, 1,090.
92, Athol Packer, Jr., Little Elm, Texas, 1,084.
93, Gordon Bellamy Jr, Orlando, Fla., 987.

300 games – Dino Castillo