Texas teenager Anthony Simonsen averaged 225 Saturday to lead the qualifying round of the Professional Bowlers Association's Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open presented by Xtra Frame by 16 pins over EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind.

Simonsen (pictured above), a 19-year-old two-handed player, rolled games of 237, 182, 243, 276, 200, 172, 219 and 278 to finish the eight-game qualifying round with 1,807 pins, while Tackett (right) toppled 1,791 pins.

Simonsen won both of his PBA Tour titles earlier in the year, teaming with Connor Pickford of Charlotte, N.C., to win the Mark Roth/Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship and later winning the United States Bowling Congress Masters, becoming the youngest bowler in PBA history to win a major championship.

Simonsen and Sweden's Jesper Svensson are the only two players with two PBA Tour titles during the 2016 season. Svensson isn't competing in Jonesboro.

In third place among the 34 players still in contention was two-handed player Kyle Troup (left) of Taylorsville, N.C., followed by Ryan Shafer (right) of Horseheads, N.Y., and Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas.

The top one-third of the field of 103 bowlers advances to Sunday's five-game cashers round at 8:30 a.m. CDT.

Based on 13-game pinfall totals, the top 16 players will advance to a modified round robin match play round at noon, leading to the four-player stepladder finals at 5:45 p.m. First prize is $15,000 plus a PBA Tour title if the winner is a PBA member.

All rounds of the Downums Waste Services PBA Jonesboro Open are being video-streamed live on PBA's online bowling channel, Xtra Frame.

 

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PBA Jonesboro Open - Qualifying Results

Top with position, hometown and 8-game total; top 34 advance to cashers round; n-denotes non-member

1, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 1,807
2, EJ Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 1,791
3, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 1,778
4, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 1,774
5, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 1,770
6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 1,759
7, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,753
8, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 1,753
9, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 1,752
10, Anthony Lavery-Spahr, Pasadena, Texas, 1,732
11, DJ Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 1,731
12, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 1,720
13, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 1,713
14, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 1,709
15, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 1,699
16, n-Jared Wolf, Lowell, Ark., 1,695
17, Jason Sterner, Cocoa, Fla., 1,693
18, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 1,688
19, n-Matt Gasn, Laurel, Md., 1,687
20, n-Grace Hall, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1,681
21, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 1,662
22, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,660
23, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 1,659
24, Francois Lavoie, Wichita, Kan., 1,655
25, Joe Findling, Greenville, Texas, 1,643
26, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,639
27, n-Anthony Richmond, Memphis, Tenn., 1,638
28, Gary Faulkner, Sanford, Fla., 1,635
29, Curt Dupre, Metairie, La., 1,635
30, Patrick Allen, Mount Kisco, N.Y., 1,633
31, n-Justin Williams, Bartlett, Tenn., 1,630
32, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 1,626
33, Dino Castillo, Highland Village, Texas, 1,620
34, Will Hoge, Sand Springs, Okla., 1,618

Missed Cut:
35 (tie), Shawn Maldonado, Houston, Texas, and Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,616
37, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 1,615
38, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,614
39, Justin Veitch, St. Petersburg, Fla., 1,609
40, A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 1,596
41, James Cantere, Purcell, Okla., 1,590
42, Mark Decman, Canada, 1,588
43 (tie), Beau Peterson, Newton, Kan., and Jeff Atkins, Hot Springs Village, Ark., 1,585
45, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 1,580
46, Blake Demore, Springfield, Mo., 1,579
47, Dave Han, Birmingham, Ala., 1,577
48, Aaron Ramsden, Pleasant Valley, Mo., 1,576
49 (tie), Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, and Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 1,573