Virginia bowler rolls to Standard All-Events lead at 2025 Open Championships
March 14, 2025
BATON ROUGE, La. – After making his first appearance at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in 1995, Jeff Dent of Glade Hill, Virginia, was hooked.
He has enjoyed the chance to compete across the country through 21 visits to the tournament after his recent stop at the Raising Cane’s River Center for the 2025 event, but even through that time and experience, he’s willing to try new things on the lanes.
Dent’s adjustments in 2025 allowed him to find success across all three events in Baton Rouge – team, doubles and singles – on the way to his top overall performance at the tournament and the lead in Standard All-Events.
The 48-year-old right-hander posted sets of 695 in team, 655 in singles and 631 in doubles for a 1,981 tally to take over the top spot by nearly 175 pins. Scott Buermann of Otsego, Minnesota, previously held the lead with 1,807.
He also passed his personal best on the championship lanes by more than 140 pins (1,838 in 2016).
Like many who have logged 20-plus appearances at the USBC Open Championships, Dent has experienced some strong sets to go along with some struggles, too. That hasn’t deterred him from trying to find the right combination, though.
“The first time I came out here was in 1995 when Reno opened the new (National Bowling) Stadium,” Dent said. “I was pretty much hooked on it then. Our group didn’t go every year, so I missed a couple, but the group I’m with now – hopefully we’ll be doing this for another 20 years. It’s been a lot of fun, but a lot of aggravation and bad bowling over the years, too. You just have to learn and move on from it.
“I’ve learned a lot over the last few years about what to bring and what not to bring. The biggest difference this year was how I surfaced the bowling balls. I used way more surface than I ever have out here in 20 years, and it really opened the lanes up to me and made a big difference.”
Even while the strikes were adding up at the River Center on Wednesday and Thursday, Dent still was keeping an eye out for what he could take to the event moving forward.
“You learn every time,” Dent said. “Even today, I threw a lot of strikes, but I was still seeing things the lanes were doing that surprised me. I’m putting that in mind for next year, too.”
After the strong start in team Wednesday, Dent did take a look at the tournament standings to see that the all-events score was within reach.
He didn’t let that impact his performance Thursday during doubles and singles, and he worked well with his teammates as they also put together some strikes.
Chris Roberts of Roanoke, Virginia, joined Dent on the leaderboard, moving into fourth place in Regular Singles with 730.
“I wasn’t trying to add any pressure for myself, since I already had a lot of fun during the team event,” Dent said. “Of course, I wanted to take the lead – that was in the back of my mind. Normally, that would have been another thing that would have held me back, but it never bothered me. I think the way I was able to play the lanes allowed me to have more confidence than I ever had out here, and I felt like I could get it done.
“There’s a lot of good bowlers in our group, and on my pair, we were playing the lanes together. I think we helped each other out quite a bit.”
On Wednesday, another part of Dent’s six-team group found success as well at the River Center. The members of Ryano’s Pro Shop #4 – Kennie Goad, Coy Wright, Tim Nagel, Tyler Lisk and Keith Christiansen – took the lead in Standard Team at the 2025 Open Championships with a 2,759 total.
Dent knows it’s a long wait until the final ball is rolled at the 2025 event, with plenty of bowlers looking to challenge his final score.
Whether or not it is the top number at the end of July, he gets to walk away from the 2025 event with a new experience.
“It’s going to be hard not to look at it everyday to see what’s going on,” Dent said. “It’s a long way to go. I know if I can put those numbers up, there are a lot of people that can put them up, too. If it holds on, though, that would be great. It would mean quite a bit to hold onto that, since it seemed so out of reach.”
The Standard Division features bowlers with entering averages of 156-175.
The Open Championships is celebrating its third trip to Baton Rouge in 2025 and scheduled to feature more than 58,000 bowlers and 11,600 five-player teams competing across 150 consecutive days at the River Center.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.
He has enjoyed the chance to compete across the country through 21 visits to the tournament after his recent stop at the Raising Cane’s River Center for the 2025 event, but even through that time and experience, he’s willing to try new things on the lanes.
Dent’s adjustments in 2025 allowed him to find success across all three events in Baton Rouge – team, doubles and singles – on the way to his top overall performance at the tournament and the lead in Standard All-Events.
The 48-year-old right-hander posted sets of 695 in team, 655 in singles and 631 in doubles for a 1,981 tally to take over the top spot by nearly 175 pins. Scott Buermann of Otsego, Minnesota, previously held the lead with 1,807.
He also passed his personal best on the championship lanes by more than 140 pins (1,838 in 2016).
Like many who have logged 20-plus appearances at the USBC Open Championships, Dent has experienced some strong sets to go along with some struggles, too. That hasn’t deterred him from trying to find the right combination, though.
“The first time I came out here was in 1995 when Reno opened the new (National Bowling) Stadium,” Dent said. “I was pretty much hooked on it then. Our group didn’t go every year, so I missed a couple, but the group I’m with now – hopefully we’ll be doing this for another 20 years. It’s been a lot of fun, but a lot of aggravation and bad bowling over the years, too. You just have to learn and move on from it.
“I’ve learned a lot over the last few years about what to bring and what not to bring. The biggest difference this year was how I surfaced the bowling balls. I used way more surface than I ever have out here in 20 years, and it really opened the lanes up to me and made a big difference.”
Even while the strikes were adding up at the River Center on Wednesday and Thursday, Dent still was keeping an eye out for what he could take to the event moving forward.
“You learn every time,” Dent said. “Even today, I threw a lot of strikes, but I was still seeing things the lanes were doing that surprised me. I’m putting that in mind for next year, too.”
After the strong start in team Wednesday, Dent did take a look at the tournament standings to see that the all-events score was within reach.
He didn’t let that impact his performance Thursday during doubles and singles, and he worked well with his teammates as they also put together some strikes.
Chris Roberts of Roanoke, Virginia, joined Dent on the leaderboard, moving into fourth place in Regular Singles with 730.
“I wasn’t trying to add any pressure for myself, since I already had a lot of fun during the team event,” Dent said. “Of course, I wanted to take the lead – that was in the back of my mind. Normally, that would have been another thing that would have held me back, but it never bothered me. I think the way I was able to play the lanes allowed me to have more confidence than I ever had out here, and I felt like I could get it done.
“There’s a lot of good bowlers in our group, and on my pair, we were playing the lanes together. I think we helped each other out quite a bit.”
On Wednesday, another part of Dent’s six-team group found success as well at the River Center. The members of Ryano’s Pro Shop #4 – Kennie Goad, Coy Wright, Tim Nagel, Tyler Lisk and Keith Christiansen – took the lead in Standard Team at the 2025 Open Championships with a 2,759 total.
Dent knows it’s a long wait until the final ball is rolled at the 2025 event, with plenty of bowlers looking to challenge his final score.
Whether or not it is the top number at the end of July, he gets to walk away from the 2025 event with a new experience.
“It’s going to be hard not to look at it everyday to see what’s going on,” Dent said. “It’s a long way to go. I know if I can put those numbers up, there are a lot of people that can put them up, too. If it holds on, though, that would be great. It would mean quite a bit to hold onto that, since it seemed so out of reach.”
The Standard Division features bowlers with entering averages of 156-175.
The Open Championships is celebrating its third trip to Baton Rouge in 2025 and scheduled to feature more than 58,000 bowlers and 11,600 five-player teams competing across 150 consecutive days at the River Center.
Visit us on Facebook at the official USBC Open Championships page.