Bill O'Neill (pictured left) of Langhorne, Pa., charged out of 11th place Wednesday night to capture the top qualifying berth for Saturday's finals in the Professional Bowlers Association's Badger Open at FireLake Bowling Center in a battle that saw the top five players separated by only 18 pins, and defending champion Jake Peters eliminated from the stepladder finals by another three pins.

O'Neill, a four-time PBA Tour champion, averaged 230.33 to finish the 12-game Badger Open qualifying rounds with 2,764 pins, winning the top spot in the stepladder finals by two pins over PBA Hall of Famer and 37-time champion Pete Weber (right) of St. Ann, Mo.

PBA rookie Marshall Kent of Yakima, Wash., who joined the PBA the week before Oklahoma's Grand Casino Resort PBA Summer Swing started, qualified third with a 2.761 total – one pin behind Weber.

Two-handed player Brian Valenta (right) of Lockport, Ill., qualified for his first PBA television show in fourth place with 2,750 pins, and 13-time PBA Tour winner Mika Koivuniemi (below left), a Finnish native now living in Hartland, Mich., fired a 257 final game to nip Peters (below right) for the fifth spot in the finals.

"If you don't like matches being close and games coming down to final frame, you're in the wrong business," O'Neill said. "That's why we do what we do. If you lead by 100 pins, when it's over, it's over; it's kind of anticlimactic. When it's tight like this was and you lead, there's no better feeling."

O'Neill, who has admittedly been in a funk over the past couple of years, said he discovered a flaw in his game only a couple of weeks ago, and that was the difference here.

"On my fourth step in my delivery, I was drifting to the right instead of going straight," he said, "so my arm swing was going off to the right which means the ball could go either direction. When I straightened out my fourth step, the ball fell right into place. Now if I throw a bad shot, I know exaxtly what to do to fix it."

Earlier Wednesday, with a big first round in the Badger Open, Tom Daugherty (left) of Wesley Chapel, Fla., led the field of 18 players who qualified for the Oklahoma Open based on combined six-game rounds in the Wolf, Bear and Badger Opens.

Three rounds of match play in the Oklahoma Open will be contested Thursday at 10 a.m., 2 and 6:30 p.m. at FireLake with the top five advancing to the stepladder finals Sunday at noon at the Grand Events Center.

Thursday's Oklahoma Open match play rounds will be covered live on PBA's online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

 

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PBA Badger Open - Second Round Qualifying

Players with position, hometown and 12-game total; top 5 advance to stepladder finals Saturday; places 6-18 show earnings

1, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 2,764
2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 2,762
3, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 2,761
4, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 2,750
5, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 2,746

Missed Cut:
6, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 2,743, $2,000
7, Stuart Williams, England, 2,730, $1,800
8, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 2,705, $1,600
9, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 2,703, $1,400
10, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 2,666, $1,300
11, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 2,647, $1,200
12, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 2,638, $1,100
13, Mike Fagan, Ft. Worth, Texas, 2,623, $1,000
14, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 2,602, $900
15, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 2,601, $800
16, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 2,600, $700
17, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 2,555, $600
18, Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., 2,521, $500

300 Games - none.

 

PBA Oklahoma Open after 12 of 18 qualifying games

The top 18 after 18 games advance to round-robin match play. * non PBA member

1, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 4,092
2, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 4,088
3, Mike Fagan, Ft. Worth, Texas, 4,069
4, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 4,054
5, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 4,031
6, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 4,019
7, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 4,013
8, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,992
9, Dave Wodka, Henderson, Nev., 3,987
10 (tie), E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., and Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 3,977
12 (tie), Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, and Dom Barrett, England, 3,967
14, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 3,960
15, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 3,959
16, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 3,941
17, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 3,938
18, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 3,931

Missed Cut:
19, Jason Sterner, Covington, Ga., 3,923, $1,150
20, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 3,909, $1,130
21, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 3,905, $1,110
22, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 3,894, $1,090
23, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 3,870, $1,070
24, Roger Petrin, BelAire, Kan., 3,866, $1,050
25, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 3,863, $1,030
26, Mike DeVaney, Winchester, Calif., 3,853, $1,010
27, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 3,852, $990
28, Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 3,850, $970
29, Stuart Williams, England, 3,848, $950
30, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 3,843, $930
31, Clara Guerrero, Colombia, 3,831, $910
32, John Ferraro, Kingston, N.Y., 3,827, $890
33, Dan MacLelland, Canada, 3,814, $870
34, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 3,813, $850
35, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 3,806, $830
36, James Cantere, Honolulu, Hawaii, 3,805, $810
37, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3,800, $790
38 (tie), Jesse Buss, Belvidere, Ill.; Tim Mack, Indianapolis, and Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 3,795, $257
41, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 3,786
42 (tie), Brad Miller, St. Charles, Mo., and Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., 3,782
44, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 3,768
45, Aaron Lorincz, Saginaw, Mich., 3,766
46, John Szczerbinski, North Tonawanda, N.Y., 3,765
47, Sean Swanson, Springfield, Mo., 3,748
48 (tie), Jeff Campbell II, Amarillo, Texas, and Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 3,742
50, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 3,739
51, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 3,732
52, Scott Norton, Mission Viejo, Calif., 3,715
53, Adam Monks, Conway, S.C., 3,713
54 (tie), Craig Nidiffer, Trenton, Mich., and David Haynes, Las Vegas, 3,703
56, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 3,698
57, Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, 3,689
58, Shannon O'Keefe, Arlington, Texas, 3,688
59, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,685
60, Bryant Ezell, Fayetteville, Ark., 3,671
61, Giorgio Clinaz Jr., Venezuela, 3,664
62, Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, 3,663
63, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 3,662
64, Missy Parkin, Laguna Hills, Calif., 3,654
65, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 3,640
66, Billy Rogers, Mesquite, Texas, 3,639
67 (tie), Sean Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, and Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 3,637
69, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 3,626
70 (tie), John Burkett, Southlake, Texas, and Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 3,621
72, Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., 3,620
73, Stephen Pavlinko Jr., Sewell, N.J., 3,616
74, Anthony Simonsen, Mesquite, Texas, 3,613
75, Dylan Macon, Ennis, Texas, 3,599
76, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 3,597
77, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 3,591
78, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 3,590
79, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 3,589
80, Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 3,581
81 (tie), Miguel Lopez, Wichita, Kan., and Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 3,574
83, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 3,553
84, Manuel Otalora, Colombia, 3,548
85, John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 3,536
86, Joe Findling, Mesquite, Texas, 3,530
87, Kenneth Bland Jr., Lorton, Va., 3,509
88, Hernan Ramirez, Venezuela, 3,491
89, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 3,490
90, Julio Cesar Blancas, Mexico, 3,489
91, Chris Skillings, Shawnee, Okla., 3,486
92, Brett Cooper, Denver, 3,481
93, Barry McKee, Maxwell, Texas, 3,480
94, Thomas Patterson, Owasso, Okla., 3,471
95, Humberto Vazquez, Mexico, 3,466
96, Tim Dooley, Van Buren, Ark., 3,449
97, Eric Odette, Killeen, Texas, 3,443
98, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 3,424
99 (tie), Dale Renken, St. Jacob, Ill., and Clint Land, Richmond, Texas, 3,420
101, Andy Patterson, Tyler, Texas, 3,396
102, Jeff Hatt, Oklahoma City, 3,393
103, Paul Brewbaker, Midwest City, Okla., 3,386
104, Jason Poli, West Des Moines, Iowa, 3,350
105, Michael Austin, Magnolia, Texas, 3,335, $100
106, Chad Lusche, Arvada, Colo., 3,326
107, Mark Morgan, Killeen, Texas, 3,312
108, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 3,301
109, Brian Nicodemus, Akron, Ind., 3,287
110, Kyle Biggs, Sapulpa, Okla., 3,217
111, Justin Morris, McLoud, Okla., 3,148
112, Jason Romeiser, Quanah, Texas, 3,122
113, Will Hoge, Sand Springs, Okla., 3,093
114, Armando Santacruz, Ecuador, 2,969
115, Jayden Warner, Muskogee, Okla., 2,769