Graham Fach , a 24-year-old left-hander from Gulph, Ontario, bowling in his second Professional Bowlers Association Tour event, averaged 248.38 to charge into the second round lead in the Barbasol PBA Players Championship at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl Wednesday.

Fach (pronounced “faw”; pictured above) fired games of 276, 227, 195, 289, 235, 256, 245 and 247 during Wednesday’s second round to finish with 3,974 pins, overtaking first-round leader Sam Cooley (left) of Australia by 56 pins.

Anthony Pepe (above right) of Elmhurst, N.Y., advanced from 12th to third place among the 36 players who advanced to Thursday’s cashers round with 3,887 pins.

He was followed by PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., with 3,848 pins and 2016 PBA FireLake Tournament of Champions winner Jesper Svensson (right) of Sweden in fifth with a 3,830 total. Norm Duke, who is pursuing a fifth different PBA major title, advanced in 17th place.

Fach, who finished 171st in the field of 417 players in his PBA debut in last week’s United States Bowling Congress Masters, entered the day in second place, 47 pins behind Cooley.

“After the Masters, I was a little upset; I thought I bowled well and didn’t get a check,” Fach said. “Today I felt pretty comfortable the whole day. I’m just trying to stay on the high from day one.”

Fach, a member of Canada’s national bowling team, said, “I’ve bowled some pretty big amateur tournaments that were kinda similar in format, but this is the first time bowling with this caliber of players, this much talent. It makes you want to strike a lot more because you know they’re going to.

“The biggest part for me is, no matter what pair you look at, there’s a big name professional. When you start anything as a rookie, you want to make a good impression. Fortunately, my impression here was better than the Masters, where I was barely in the top half of the field. I got comfortable with my ball motion here, and it let me play to my strength.

“Today just means I’ve proven to myself I can compete with the guys I grew up watching. My goals are to make some money, make the cut to match play, make the show and win a title. I think I’ve met two of them so far.”

The 2015 graduate of Ohio’s Urbana University, where he got his degree in sports management, said he’s well aware no Canadian has ever won a PBA Tour title.

“Yup, I’m aware. Every time Dan MacLelland makes a TV show, the point is made,” Fach said of MacLelland, a Windsor, Ontario native and former Saginaw Valley State All-American who has made nine PBA television shows without winning a title – including a runner-up finish in last week’s Masters. “The fact that he hasn’t won yet indicates how tough this Tour is.”

Last week’s USBC Masters winner Anthony Simonsen (left) of Princeton, Texas, and Jack Jurek (right) of Lackawanna, N.Y., took the last spots for the casher’s round as they tied for 35th place at 3,636 or an average of 227.25.

The PBA Players Championship continues with an eight-game cashers’ round at 10 a.m. Thursday to determine the 24 players who will advance to round-robin match play beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The final two match play rounds begin at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday. After 48 games, the top five players will compete for the $40,000 first prize live on ESPN Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. All preliminary rounds will be covered live, exclusively on PBA’s Xtra Frame online video-streaming service.

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PBA Players Championship – Final Second Round Standings

Players with position, hometown and 16-game total; top 36 advance to cashers’ round; f-denotes female

1, Graham Fach, Ontario, Canada, 3,974
2, Sam Cooley, Australia, 3,918
3, Anthony Pepe, Elmhurst, N.Y., 3,887
4, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 3,848
5, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 3,830
6, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3,829
7, D.J. Archer, Friendswood, Texas, 3,818
8, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 3,806
9, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 3,804
10, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3,783
11 (tie), Dave Wodka, Beavercreek, Ohio, and Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 3,781
13, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,777
14, J.R. Raymond, Bay City, Mich., 3,757
15 (tie), Osku Palermaa, Finland, and Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 3,755
17, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 3,747
18, Ronnie Sparks Jr., Ecorse, Mich., 3,735
19, Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 3,731
20, Dom Barrett, England, 3,727
21, f-Shannon Pluhowsky, Dayton, Ohio, 3,722
22, Brian Himmler, Cincinnati, 3,716
23, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 3,714
24, Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 3,710
25, Patrick Allen, South Salem, N.Y., 3,706
26, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 3,681
27, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 3,674
28, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 3,658
29, Scott Norton, Mission Viejo, Calif., 3,656
30 (tie), Francois Lavoie, Wichita, Kan., and Martin Larsen, Sweden, 3,654
32, Dino Castillo, Highland Village, Texas, 3,644
33 (tie), Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., and John Szczerbinski, N. Tonawanda, N.Y., 3,642
35 (tie), Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., and Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 3,636

Missed Cut:
37, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 3,629
38, John Furey, Freehold, N.J., 3,616
39, Jon Van Hees, Charlestown, R.I., 3,611
40, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,610
41, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 3,609
42, Bill O’Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 3,607
43, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 3,602
44 (tie), Chad Roberts, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and Shawn Maldonado, Houston, 3,594
46, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 3,593
47, f-Liz Johnson, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 3,587
48 (tie), Ildemaro Ruiz, Venezuela, and Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 3,581
50, Josh Conner, Columbus, Ohio, 3,576
51, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 3,572
52, David Simard, Quebec, Canada, 3,569
53, Jason Sterner, Covington, Ga., 3,568
54, Jesse Buss, Wichita, Kan., 3,565
55, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 3,554
56, Tom Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 3,549
57, Patrick Girard, Canada, 3,545
58, David Haynes, Las Vegas, 3,539
59, B.J. Moore III, Apex, N.C., 3,536
60, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 3,529
61, Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 3,527
62, Lucas Legnani, Argentina, 3,525
63, Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 3,523
64, Gregory Thompson Jr., Dublin, Calif., 3,520
65 (tie), Jakob Butturff, Chandler, Ariz., and Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 3,517
67, Mike Eaton Jr., Cincinnati, 3,516
68, Andrew Cain, Phoenix, 3,515
69, Gary Faulkner Jr., Memphis, Tenn., 3,514
70, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 3,508
71, Tim Foy Jr., Seaford, Del., 3,489
72, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 3,488
73, Jaime Gonzalez, Colombia, 3,472
74, Brett Cunningham, Clay, N.Y., 3,471
75, Kyle Bigelow, Troy, Ohio, 3,470
76, Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, 3,463
77, Ronnie Russell, Marion, Ind., 3,459
78, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 3,456
79, Anthony LaCaze, Melrose Park, Ill., 3,452
80, Anthony Kennard, Wapakoneta, Ohio, 3,439
81, A.J. Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 3,425
82, Bryan Goebel, Shawnee, Kan., 3,422
83, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 3,418
84, Manuel Otalora, Colombia, 3,405
85 (tie), Aaron Lorincz, Belleville, Mich., and Brian Robinson, Morgantown, W.Va., 3,404
87, Michael Haugen Jr., Phoenix, 3,403
88, Miguel Lopez, Wichita, Kan., 3,395
89, Connor Pickford, Charlotte, N.C., 3,381
90, f-Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y., 3,378
91, Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 3,372
92, f-Rocio Restrepo, Colombia, 3,364
93, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 3,363
94, Wayne Webb, Columbus, Ohio, 3,340
95, John Petraglia, Jackson, N.J., 3,329
96, Devin Bidwell, Wichita, Kan., 3,328
97, Chris Colella, Templeton, Mass., 3,324
98, Stuart Williams, England, 3,323
99, Brad Miller, Maryland Hts, Mo., 3,318
100, f-Liz Kuhlkin, Rotterdam, N.Y., 3,317
101, Tony Johnson, Canton, Ohio, 3,315
102, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 3,306
103, Carleton Chambers, Detroit, 3,300
104, Tom Carter, Columbus, Ohio, 3,297
105, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 3,291
106, f-Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 3,277
107, Sean Johnson, Moundsville, W.V., 3,254
108, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 3,248
109, Frankie Mazzella, Staten Island, N.Y., 3,230
110, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 3,229
111, Terrance Bright, Atlanta, 3,201
112, Cameron Weier, Tacoma, Wash., 3,192
113, Brandon Dye, Columbus, 3,136
114, Joshua Weiner, Hilliard, Ohio, 3,081
115, Mark Nance Sr., Grove City, Ohio, 3,054
116, Trey Ford III, Bartlesville, Okla., 2,985
117, Frank Bellavia Jr., Niagara Falls, N.Y., 2,980
118, James Owens, Vernon, N.Y., 2,802
119, Larry Helton, Bolingbrook, Ill., 2,722
120, Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., withdrew

300 Games (4) – Tom Hess, Kyle Troup, DJ Archer, David Haynes.