Sweden's Jesper Svensson (pictured left) struck on 22 of his first 23 shots Thursday morning in the 51st FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions at FireLake Bowling Center, advancing from sixth place to first, and he continued his blistering pace in match play Thursday night to build a 266-pin lead over Mitch Beasley (right) of Clarksville, Tenn.

Svensson, a 20-year-old left-handed two-hander and PBA's 2015 Rookie of the Year, averaged 232.1 for his first 32 games to lead the field of 24 finalists into Friday's final two rounds of match play in the PBA's first major championship of the year.

Following games of 289 and 300, Svensson finished his morning round with games of 220, 258, 235, 213, 223 and 203. He then started Thursday night's first round of match play with games of 267, 229, 256 and 290, winning all four matches to break away from the field.

He finished the evening round games of 213, 196 and 213 for losses, and a 238 win in his last game for a 5-3 match play record and a 32-game total of 7,624 pins, including 30 bonus pins for each match won.

"That was good," Svensson said of his start in the evening round, "but I struggled a bit in the middle, so it was good to finish with a good game. In the middle, the urethane ball I was using got a bit shiny, and I couldn't get as good of pin carry as when it has a fresh surface.

"But I'm happy; I didn't expect this at all. I'm just going to have a good time and see where I finish tomorrow."

Chasing Svensson and Beasley (7,358 pins) in the race for Sunday's five-player stepladder finals were Tom Daugherty (left) of Riverview, Fla., with 7,328 pins; Dom Barrett (right) of England with a 7,317 total and EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., with 7,300 pins.

Australia's Jason Belmonte, the two-time defending champion, was fifth heading into match play, but posted a 4-4 record in the opening round and slipped back to ninth place.

The 24 finalists will bowl their final two eight-game round-robin match play rounds Friday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. CST to determine the five finalists for Sunday's live ESPN stepladder finals at 1 p.m. CST (2 p.m. Eastern). The finals will be held on a special two-lane installation inside FireLake Arena.

All match play rounds are being covered exclusively, live on PBA's Xtra Frame online bowling channel.

 

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51st PBA FireLake Tournament of Champions - Match Play Round 1 Standings (fourth round overall)

Players with position, hometown, W-L-T record and 32-game total

1, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 5-3, 7,624
2, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 7-1, 7,358
3, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 6-2, 7,328
4, Dom Barrett, England, 4-4, 7,315
5, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 6-2, 7,300
6, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 6-2, 7,292
7, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 2-6, 7,262
8, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 3-5, 7,219
9, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 4-4, 7,212
10, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 4-4, 7,178
11, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 5-3, 7,167
12, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 3-5, 7,141
13, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 5-3, 7,139
14, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 4-4, 7,135
15, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 5-3, 7,125
16, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3-5, 7,110
17, x-A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 6-2, 7,085
18, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 4-4, 7,044
19, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 2-6, 7,036
20, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 3-5, 7,014
21, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 2-6, 7,010
22, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3-5, 6,987
23, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 3-5, 6,949
24, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1-7, 6,704
x-Johnson replace Norm Duke, who withdrew due to a neck injury.

300 games (1) - Jesper Svensson.

 

51st PBA FireLake Tournament of Champions - Cashers Round Standings (third round overall)

Players with position, hometown, 24-game total and average; top 24 advance to match play; f-denotes female

1, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 5572, 232.17
2, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash. 5568, 232.00
3, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C. 5480, 228.33
4, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind. 5464, 227.67
5, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 5450, 227.08
6, Dom Barrett, England, 5445, 226.88
7, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 5426, 226.08
8, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla. 5416, 225.67
9, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich. 5407, 225.29
10, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo. 5337, 222.38
11, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 5299, 220.79
12, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 5279, 219.96
13, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa. 5274, 219.75
14, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 5269, 219.54
15, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 5268, 219.50
16, Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 5265, 219.38
17, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 5258, 219.08
18, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill. 5257, 219.04
19, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y. 5255, 218.96
20, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C. 5252, 218.83
21, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn. 5251, 218.79
22, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C. 5243, 218.46
23, Tyler Jensen, Ft. Worth, Texas, 5201, 216.71
24, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla. 5187, 216.13
25, f-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y. 5184, 216.00
26, A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill. 5150, 214.58
27, Jason Sterner, Covington, Ga. 5078, 211.58