Coming off a second-place finish in the United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters and fifth-place finish in the Etonic Professional Bowlers Association Senior U.S. Open, Hugh Miller (pictured) of Seattle took the first-round lead Monday in the PBA Senior Northern California Classic presented by Track at Harvest Park Bowl.

Miller opened the first day of qualifying with a 1,988 eight-game pinfall total (248.50 average) bowling games of 227, 209, 256, 279, 300, 236, 267 and 214.

"The first two games I was throwing my share of strikes but I had a couple big splits as well," said Miller, who owns two career Senior Tour titles and seven PBA Tour titles. "I thought it was time to switch to another ball in the third game and it was off to the races from there."

In addition to his top five finishes in the Senior Tour's two majors, Miller likes his chances at Harvest Park Bowl where he has qualified well in the past and is coming off a second-place finish to reigning PBA Player of the Year and defending champion Ron Mohr in last year's Senior Northern California Classic.

"I've bowled a hundred games the last two weeks and I've never qualified worse than eighth here so I think I'm bowling as well as can be expected," Miller said. "It hasn't been quite as smooth in match play because it seems like I'm always running up against someone who gets the better of me."

Miller holds a commanding 102-pin lead over amateur Mark McCreary of Livermore, Calif., in second with 1,886. Rounding out the top five are Christopher Keane, New City, N.Y., 1,880; Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. (left), Ocala, Fla., 1,854 and Ron Mohr (right), Eagle River, Alaska, 1,824.

Eight-game qualifying continues Tuesday after which the 85-player field will be cut to the top 32 who will advance to match play Wednesday morning. Round of 8 and championship rounds will get underway Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT.

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PBA Senior Northern California Classic - First Round Results

Players with position, hometown and 8-game total. a-indicates amateur.

1, Hugh Miller, Seattle, 1,988
2, a-Mark McCreary, Livermore, Calif., 1,886
3, Christopher Keane, New City, N.Y., 1,880
4, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 1,854
5, Ron Mohr, Eagle River, Alaska, 1,824
6, Wayne Webb, Columbus, Ohio, 1,815
7, (tie) a-Sam Carter, BenLomond, Calif., and Rohn Morton, Vancouver, Wash., 1,813
9, Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., 1,804
10, Mike Dias, Lafayette, Colo., 1,786
11, Bill McCorkle, Westerville, Ohio, 1,784
12, Paul McCordic, Sugar Land, Texas, 1,779
13, Frank Gallo Jr., Jacksonville, Fla., 1,778
14, Bill Nichols, Roseville, Calif., 1,776
15, Randy Shewmake, Fort Worth, Texas, 1,761
16, Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., Mich., 1,751
17, (tie) Ron Winger, Las Vegas, and Tom Baker, King, N.C., 1,750
19, Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 1,742
20, Ted Staikoff, Black Hawk, S.D., 1,740
21, (tie) Dave Soutar, Bradenton, Fla., and Ricky Beck, Box Elder, S.D., 1,737
23, Steve Davis, Manteca, Calif., 1,736
24, a-Dick Baker, Henderson, Nev., 1,727
25, Todd Kjell, Roscoe, Ill., 1,719
26, Joe Goldstein Sr., Hayward, Calif., 1,718
27, Tom Carter, Rockford, Ill., 1,715
28, Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 1,714
29, Peter Knopp, Germany, 1,712
30, Ty Dawson, Sunnyvale, Calif., 1,695
31, Noel Vazquez, Sacramento, Calif., 1,689
32, a-Terry Leong, Las Vegas, 1,687
33, Kenny Parks, Hammond, Ind., 1,685
34, (tie) Dave Sill, Titusville, Fla., and Jim Gordin, Modesto, Calif., 1,684
36, a-Steve Corsaro, Tracy, Calif., 1,683
37, Dave Bernhardt, Romeo, Mich., 1,679
38, Barry Gurney, West Hills, Calif., 1,669
39, Brian Cooper, Visalia, Calif., 1,660
40, Kevin Foley, Reno, Nev., 1,652
41, a-Dan Roberts, Brentwood, Calif., 1,647
42, Don Blatchford, Santa Monica, Calif., 1,642
43, Ross Packard, San Jose, Calif., 1,641
44, Dave Flemming, Fairborn, Ohio, 1,629
45, Bob Kelly, Dayton, Ohio, 1,628
46, Don Sylvia, Reno, Nev., 1,626
47, Rodney Garrick, San Francisco, 1,620
48, Ron Garr, Ridgedale, Mo., 1,613
49, a-Gip Lentine, Chino, Calif., 1,609
50, Fred Cole, Visalia, Calif., 1,607
51, Doug Kempt, Monrovia, Calif., 1,602
52, (tie) a-Gerald Calvin, Thousand Oaks, Calif., and a-Al Bella, Pittsburg, Calif., 1,592
54, Ross Larsen, Riverside, Calif., 1,588
55, Robert Harvey, Boise, Idaho, 1,582
56, Tim Pierce, Portland, Ore., 1,581
57, a-Stan Winters, Simi Valley, Calif., 1,577
58, (tie) Bruce Hall, Los Altos Hills, Calif., and Dale Eagle, Tavares, Fla., 1,572
60, Andy Anderson, Falls Church, Va., 1,569
61, a-Kenneth Daily, San Leanardo, Calif., 1,565
62, Bill Stempke, Moorpark, Calif., 1,558
63, Paul Herrera, San Jose, Calif., 1,552
64, Marc Clyburn, Pittsburg, Calif., 1,546
65, Gerry Chinn, Castaic, Calif., 1,545
66, Sammy Ventura, Syracuse, N.Y., 1,539
67, Edward Silva, Manteca, Calif., 1,537
68, a-Pat Kruse, Castro Valley, Calif., 1,535
69, a-Dennis Jones, Fremont, Calif., 1,530
70, Rick Francis, Galt, Calif., 1,527
71, Lauri Karppala Jr., Folsom, Calif., 1,524
72, Don Lane, San Francisco, 1,512
73, Dan Clausse, Reno, Nev., 1,509
74, a-Bob Rhiner, Discovery Bay, Calif., 1,503
75, (tie) Pete Milkovich, Hercules, Calif., and Dave Schultz, Jackson, Wis., 1,489
77, Tim Shirlock, Mather, Calif., 1,486
78, Scott Hansel, Stockton, Calif., 1,464
79, Van Fenner, Reno, Nev., 1,445
80, a-Douglas Thompson, Aberdeen, S.D., 1,442
81, Chuck Best, Buda, Texas, 1,431
82, Thomas Goodchild, Fairfield, Calif., 1,407
83, (tie) Sam Perrotta, Lincoln Park, N.J., and Sam Loftus, Stockton, Calif., 1,388
85, Duane Wilson, Brentwood, Calif., 1,373.