Chris Barnes (pictured left) of Double Oak, Texas, trying for his 18th Professional Bowlers Association title, averaged 256.5 Monday afternoon to take a 48-pin lead over Mike Fagan (right) of Fort Worth, Texas, after the first round of the PBA Wolf Open at FireLake Bowling Center.

Barnes, behind games of 255, 289, 257, 225, 269 and 244 for a six-game total of 1,539 pins, led a field of 18 qualifiers into Monday night's second qualifying round on the 32-foot Wolf lane conditioning pattern.

Total pinfall after 12 games will determine the top five who will compete for the Wolf Open title Saturday on a special lane installation at the Grand Event Center in Shawnee, Okla.

The Wolf Open is the first of five events that comprise Oklahoma's Grand Casino Resort PBA Summer Swing. All five events (Wolf, Bear, Badger and Oklahoma Opens plus the Grand Casino Resort King of the Swing) will be televised by CBS Sports Network on consecutive Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. ET, beginning with the Wolf Open finals on June 3.

"I had a strong enough ball to control the gutter shot, and I took some of the patchy spots out of play," Barnes said. "I didn't have nearly as much difference in ball reaction from pair to pair as the other guys had.

"It's a sprint in six games," he added. "Last year (in Milwaukee) I made some mistakes and I didn't use my equipment to my advantage. This year I came into the Wolf Open more determined to stay in control of the pocket rather than worry about creating too much angle and worrying about my pin carry."

Barnes finished 17th in last year's Wolf Open, the worst of his five 2013 Summer Swing events. He won the Milwaukee Open, last year's version of the re-named Oklahoma Open, with a 246-237 decision over Norm Duke in the title match.

Fagan, who is trying for his fifth title and first since winning the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge in France, averaged 248.5 for his six games, but wasn't excited.

"Right now I'm just another casher," Fagan said. "I need to stay focused and continue doing what I'm doing in the second round."

Other players in the top five heading into Monday night's second round were Ryan Shafer (left; 1,460) of Horseheads, N..Y., who had one of the three 300 games bowled in the opening round (Mike Austin and Bill O'Neill had the others); Dom Barrett (right; 1,446) of England, and Sean Rash (below left; 1,426) of Montgomery, Ill.

Shannon O'Keefe (right; 1,357) of Arlington, Texas, one of four women bowling in the Summer Swing, advanced to round two in 15th place.

Defending Wolf Open champion Chris Loschetter (1,347) of Avon, Ohio, advanced in a tie for 16th with Dane Thomas Larsen. Venezuela's Ildemaro Ruiz hit the cutoff number for 18th place with 1,343 or an average of 223.83

The top 18 bowl another six-game block Monday evening with the top 5 advancing to the stepladder finals. Former major league pitcher John Burkett of Southlake, Texas, failed to advance, finishing 91st in his first PBA Tour appearance since 2007.

Oklahoma's Grand Casino Resort PBA Summer Swing continues Tuesday with the PBA Bear Open on a demanding U.S. Open-type flat 40-foot lane condition. Squad B will bowl six qualifying games at 8 a.m. and Squad A will bowl at 2 p.m. The top 18 players will bowl an additional six-game qualifying round at 7:30 p.m. to determine the Bear Open stepladder finalists.

The first six games on each of the three animal patterns will determine the 18 players who will advance to the Oklahoma Open match play rounds. The King of the Swing field will consist of the Wolf, Bear, Badger and Oklahoma Open winners plus the highest player in points without winning one of the four events.

All preliminary rounds of the PBA Wolf, Bear (Tuesday) and Badger (Wednesday) Opens, plus match play rounds of the Oklahoma Open (Thursday and Friday) will be covered live on PBA's online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

 

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PBA Wolf Open - First Round Qualifying

Players with position, hometown and 6-game total; top 18 advance to second qualifying round

1, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,539
2, Mike Fagan, Ft. Worth, Texas, 1,491
3, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,460
4, Dom Barrett, England, 1,446
5, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,426
6, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,414
7, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 1,412
8, Sean Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,405
9, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,397
10, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,393
11, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 1,380
12, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,375
13, Roger Petrin, BelAire, Kan., 1,373
14, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 1,367
15, Shannon O'Keefe, Arlington, Texas, 1,357
16 (tie), Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, and Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 1,347
18, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 1,343

Missed Cut:
19, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,342
20 (tie), Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., and Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 1,329
22, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,328
23, Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., 1,325
24, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,321
25, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 1,314
26, Stephen Pavlinko Jr., Sewell, N.J., 1,312
27 (tie), Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla.; Bryant Ezell, Fayetteville, Ark., and Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 1,310
30, Brad Miller, St. Charles, Mo., 1,309
31, Jason Sterner, Covington, Ga., 1,307
32 (tie), Osku Palermaa, Finland, and Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 1,302
34 (tie), Shawn Maldonado, Houston, and Sean Swanson, Springfield, Mo., 1,300
36, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,298
37, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 1,296
38 (tie), Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, and Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 1,294
40, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 1,293
41, Jeff Campbell II, Amarillo, Texas, 1,292
42, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 1,290
43 (tie), Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., and Clara Guerrero, Colombia, 1,286
45, Aaron Lorincz, Saginaw, Mich., 1,283
46 (tie), Brett Cooper, Denver; Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., and Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 1,282
49, Mike DeVaney, Winchester, Calif., 1,281
50, Jesse Buss, Belvidere, Ill., 1,278
51 (tie), D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, and Giorgio Clinaz Jr., Venezuela, 1,272
53, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 1,267
54 (tie), James Cantere, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Scott Norton, Mission Viejo, Calif., 1,265
56, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 1,264
57 (tie), Tim Mack, Indianapolis, and Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,259
59, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 1,250
60, Stuart Williams, England, 1,248
61, Adam Monks, Conway, S.C., 1,246
62, Humberto Vazquez, Mexico, 1,241
63, Barry McKee, Maxwell, Texas, 1,239
64, Billy Rogers, Mesquite, Texas, 1,237
65, John Ferraro, Kingston, N.Y., 1,235
66, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,233
67, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 1,230
68 (tie), Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla.; Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, and Michael Austin, Magnolia, Texas, 1,229
71, Joe Findling, Mesquite, Texas, 1,223
72, Anthony Simonsen, Mesquite, Texas, 1,220
73, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 1,219
74, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 1,216
75 (tie), Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio; Miguel Lopez, Wichita, Kan., and Julio Cesar Blancas, Mexico, 1,213
78, John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., 1,208
79, Kyle Biggs, Sapulpa, Okla., 1,201
80, Chris Skillings, Shawnee, Okla., 1,199
81 (tie), Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., and Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,198
83, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 1,194
84, Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., 1,193
85, Thomas Patterson, Owasso, Okla., 1,192
86, Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif., 1,188
87, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,186
88, Eric Odette, Killeen, Texas, 1,182
89, Manuel Otalora, Colombia, 1,180
90, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 1,176
91, John Burkett, Southlake, Texas, 1,174
92, Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., 1,167
93, Dale Renken, St. Jacob, Ill., 1,166
94, Jason Poli, West Des Moines, Iowa, 1,161
95, Jason Romeiser, Quanah, Texas, 1,159
96, Kenneth Bland Jr., Lorton, Va., 1,157
97, Brian Nicodemus, Akron, Ind., 1,156
98 (tie), Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., and Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 1,151
100, Andy Patterson, Tyler, Texas, 1,149
101, Clint Land, Richmond, Texas, 1,142
102 (tie), Jeff Hatt, Oklahoma City, and Mark Morgan, Killeen, Texas, 1,141
104 (tie), Paul Brewbaker, Midwest City, Okla., and Dylan Macon, Ennis, Texas, 1,132
106, Chad Lusche, Arvada, Colo., 1,131
107, John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 1,121
108, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 1,118
109, Tim Dooley, Van Buren, Ark., 1,098
110, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 1,097
111, Hernan Ramirez, Venezuela, 1,095
112, Justin Morris, McLoud, Okla., 1,048
113, Armando Santacruz, Ecuador, 1,038
114, Will Hoge, Sand Springs, Okla., 954
115, Jayden Warner, Muskogee, Okla., 850

300 Games (3) - Mike Austin, Ryan Shafer, Bill O'Neill.