After cruising through the first 15 games of qualifying as the tournament leader, Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., survived his lowest game of the tournament Wednesday to handily earn top qualifier honors for the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open presented by 900 Global at the Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas.

Duke, who led after the first two rounds, bowled a 178 game in Wednesday’s third six-game round after bowling games of 246, 237 and 258, but then rebounded with 215 and 254 to finish with a 4,264 18-game overall qualifying pinfall and an average of 236.9.

“It’s a good thing it’s only a 10-frame game or it could have been worse,” said Duke of his 178 game. “Actually, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. You’re in an environment where there’s a lot of change from day to day and lane to lane.

“If you keep it in perspective, it won’t hurt you mentally,” the 2014 Senior U.S. Open champion added. “You just learn from it and move on. I’m still making tweaks to my game and will continue do so until the end.”

Duke, who felt comfortable playing a variety of shots and angles on the ever-changing Senior U.S. Open conditions over three days of qualifying, led 40 players who advanced to Thursday’s match play rounds.

Defending champion, Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., who is trying for a record fourth consecutive PBA50 Tour title, moved into fourth with 4,069 thanks to a 1,404 six-game pinfall in the final qualifying round on games of 256, 249, 235, 194, 246 and 224.

“This was my best round but really I felt the same as I did the other two rounds,” Weber said. “In qualifying you’re just grinding it out and trying to knock down as many pins as possible. In match play the focus is on winning the match because of the bonus pins, so it’s going to get a little more intense from here on out.”

Duke, who finished third in the 2015 Senior U.S. Open, holds an 87-pin lead over three-time PBA50 Tour winner Harry Sullins (left) of Chesterfield Twp., Mich., in second with 4,177, and non-member Mike Klosin of Windham, N.H., bowling in his first Senior U.S. Open, in third with 4,126.

Duke and Weber are the only players to win U.S. Open titles on the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. Weber has won the U.S. Open on the regular tour a record five times while Duke has won the PBA Tour’s U.S. Open twice.

Trying to become the first Senior U.S. Open three-time winner, Hall of Famers Amleto Monacelli (left) of Venezuela and Tom Baker (right) of King, N.C., both qualified in the top 20. Monacelli, who won in 2012 and 2013, finished tied for 13th in qualifying with a 3,938 pinfall and Baker, who won back-to-back in 2005 and 2006, finished qualifying in 17th with a 3,909 pinfall.

After two six-game match play rounds Thursday, the top half of the field will bowl two more six-game match play rounds Friday, with the top four players after 42 games advancing to the stepladder finals at 7:15 ET (4:15 p.m. PT).

All rounds of the Senior U.S. Open are being covered live on PBA’s Xtra Frame online video streaming service. Live scoring also is available on PBA’s official website, pba.com.

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Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open – Third Round Standings

Players with position, hometown and 18-game total; top 40 players advance to match play. n-denotes non-member, ss-denotes PBA60 player out of the regular prize list also cashing for $1,000

1, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 4,264
2, Harry Sullins, Chesterfield Twp., Mich., 4,177
3, n-Mike Klosin, Windham, N.H., 4,126
4, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 4,069
5, Ron Mohr, Las Vegas, 4,002
6, Eddie Graham, Centerville, Ohio, 3,989
7, Bob Learn Jr., Erie, Pa., 3,956
8, (tie) Brian Voss, Centennial, Colo., and Rick Steelsmith, Wichita, Kan., 3,951
10, Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., 3,941
11, Eric Forkel, Henderson, Nev., 3,940
12, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 3,939
13, (tie) Bryan Goebel, Shawnee, Kan., and Amleto Monacelli, Venezuela, 3,938
15, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 3,920
16, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 3,913
17, Tom Baker, King, N.C., 3,909
18, Andrew Frawley, Australia, 3,908
19, n-Mike Taylor, Las Vegas, 3,899
20, David Williams Jr., Omaha, Neb., 3,896
21, n-Bill Oakes, Lawton, Okla., 3,892
22, Robert Brown, Cody, Wyo., 3,884
23, Christer Petersson, Sweden, 3,883
24, Mark Williams, Beaumont, Texas, 3,877
25, Johnny Petraglia, Jackson, N.J., 3,866
26, n-Paul Renteria, Henderson, Nev., 3,858
27, John Burkett, Southlake, Texas, 3,850
28, n-Alvin Lou, El Cajon, Calif., 3,846
29, n-Warren Eales, Chandler, Ariz., 3,843
30, n-Andrew Neuer, Lewisburg, Penn., 3,841
31, Dave Arnold, Elk Grove, Calif., 3,834
32, Jim Murtishaw, Menifee, Calif., 3,832
33, Brian LeClair, Delmar, N.Y., 3,829
34, Don Blatchford, Santa Monica, Calif., 3,827
35, Hugh Miller, Mercer Island, Wash., 3,821
36, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 3,820
37, John Dudak, Orland Park, Ill., 3,812
38, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 3,811
39, Mike Kanada, Camarillo, Calif., 3,806
40, Jerry Brunette Jr., Rochester, N.Y., 3,804

Missed Cut:
41, (tie)Joe Goldstein Sr., San Bruno, Calif., and Stoney Baker, Canton, Ga., 3,801, $1,000
43, Kent Wagner, Bradenton, Fla., 3,789, $1,000
44, n-Michael Karch, Edgewood, Wash., 3,786
45, Terry Metzner, Kentwood, Mich., 3,780
46, (tie) Lennie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., and Sammy Ventura, Syracuse, N.Y., 3,779
48, ss-Steven Jansson, Barnes, Wis., 3,761, $1,000
49, Dennis Horan Jr., Oakley, Calif., 3,756
50, ss-Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nev., 3,753, $1,000
51, (tie) Robert Lawrence, Austin, Texas,and ss-Ron Winger, Las Vegas, 3,746, $1,000
53, Joel Carlson, Omaha, Neb., 3,745
54, n-Barry Zimmerman, Grand Forks, N.D., 3,741
55, (tie) n-Rick Benard, Clovis, N.M., and Tommy Martin, Olive Branch, Miss., 3,740
57, Ricky Schissler, Brighton, Colo., 3,735
58, (tie) ss-James Knoblauch, Waukesha, Wis., $1,000, and ss-Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 3,729, $1,000
60, ss-Jeff Jamison, Boulder City, Nev., 3,723, $1,000
61, n-David Cirigliano, Phoenix, Ariz., 3,720
62, Derek Gregory, Chowchilla, Calif., 3,712
63, ss-Sal Bongiorno, Las Vegas, 3,706, $1,000
64, Mike Dias, Lafayette, Colo., 3,680
65, ss-Gregory Waldon, Sun City West, Ariz., 3,677, $1,000
66, Warren Burr, Wilmington, Del., 3,672
67, n-Robert Yadao, Las Vegas, 3,665
68, (tie) ss-Darryl Bower, Middletown, Pa., 3,663, $1,000, and Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 3,663
70, Olle Svenson, Sweden, 3,661, $1,000
71, Doug O’Bryant, Ball Ground, Ga., 3,659
72, (tie) Lee Brosius, Ashburn, Va., and Scott Greiner, Platte City, Mo., 3,657
74, n-Russ Davies, Las Vegas, Nev., 3,652
75, Tom Carter, Columbus, Ohio, 3,644
76, n-Henry Dawson, Elma, Wash., 3,641
77, n-Kelly Bonta, Wichita, Kan., 3,639
78, Warren Nelson, Middleburg, Fla., 3,632
79, Mike Hastings, Millsboro, Del., 3,624
80, Marv Sargent, Temecula, Calif., 3,622
81, (tie) Ron Boroff, Mansfield, Texas, and Edward Silva, Manteca, Calif., 3,618
83, Rob Rice, Sunnyside, Wash., 3,614
84, n-Darwin Wimer, Mesquite, Nev., 3,610
85, Diz Francisco, Bakersfield, Calif., 3,606
86, n-Nelson Sand, Maple Valley. Wash., 3,605
87, n-Clint Frazer, Reseda, Calif., 3,600
88, Jimmy Jean, Kathleen, Ga., 3,599
89, Steve Stein, Staten Island, N.Y., 3,596
90, Brian Cooper, Henderson, Nev., 3,589
91, (tie) Bengt-Ake Bengtsson, Sweden, and n-Terry Leong, Las Vegas, 3,578
93, Peter Knopp, Germany, 3,576
94, n-Pete Toth, Simi Valley, Calif., 3,575
95, n-Dave Washburn, Las Vegas, 3,569
96, (tie) n-Daniel Winter, Rockford, Ill., and Tracy Teeters, Eugene, Ore., 3,565
98, (tie) Mike Keough, Stockton, Calif., and Bob Spaulding, Colorado Springs, Colo., 3,558
100, Rick Francis, Linden, Calif., 3,552
101, n-John Riozzi Jr, Catskill, N.Y., 3,545
102, ss-Russ Simmons, Fontana, Calif., 3,542
103, Kenneth Bland Jr., Cibilo, Texas, 3,539
104, Steve Davis, Manteca, Calif., 3,537
105, Brian Miller, Springfield, Ohio, 3,530
106, Daniel Miyamoto, Mililani, Hawaii, 3,524
107, Christopher Keane, Cape Coral, Fla., 3,523
108, Todd Kjell, Roscoe, Ill., 3,518
109, n-Stephen Putnam, Warner Robins, Ga., 3,516
110, Chuck Richardson, The Villages, Fla., 3,501
111, Dale Traber, Cedarburg, Wis., 3,490
112, (tie) Thomas Ream, Tampa, Fla., and Joe Salvemini, Nevada City, Calif., 3,489
114, Timothy Bell, Sacramento, Calif., 3,487
115, n-Harry Mickelson, Yakima, Wash., 3,483
116, John Austin Jr., League City, Texas, 3,480
117, David Allen, Las Vegas, 3,479
118, Gerald Calvin, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 3,478
119, Bill Hewlett, Las Vegas, Nev., 3,459
120, n-Joe Tusa, South Hackensack, N.J., 3,456
121, (tie) Tim Shirlock, Las Vegas, and n-Dean Hebner, Vancouver, Wash., 3,455
123, Ken Gibson, Greenville, S.C., 3,454
124, Tomas Karlsson, Sweden, 3,447
125, Kevin Foley, Reno, Nev., 3,444
126, Glenn Morgan, Carson City, Nev., 3,442
127, n-Robert Godden, Las Vegas, 3,438
128, Scott Schimming, Tacoma, Wash., 3,429
129, (tie) Lew Elting, Carlsbad, Calif., and John Younger, Winston-Salem, N.C., 3,428
131, n-John Shreve Sr., Sheffield Village, Ohio, 3,425
132, Ray Cobb, Highland, Calif., 3,415
133, Don Herrington, Ballston Lake, N.Y., 3,412
134, Jim Gordin, Modesto, Calif., 3,411
135, (tie) n-Keith Yamakawa, Porter Ranch, Calif., and n-Paul Appling, Camarillo, Calif., 3,407
137, Paul McCordic, Sugar Land, Texas, 3,406
138, (tie) Kerry Fulford, Ft. Worth, Texas, and n-David Chew, Brentwood, Calif., 3,395
140, n-Howie Loosbroock, Henderson, Nev., 3,392
141, Jim Montgomery, Byron, Ill., 3,384
142, Steve Kenyon, Dade City, Fla., 3,375
143, Garry Blanton, Owensboro, Ky., 3,372
144, Paul LeMond, Jasper, Ind., 3,358
145, (tie) n-David Graber, Las Vegas, and n-Forrest Cole, Riverton, Wyo., 3,353
147, Paul Mielens, Menomonie, Wis., 3,323
148, Mike Schmid, St. Paul, Minn., 3,321
149, Bob Amoruso, Glenview, Ill, 3,317
150, n-Jay Gneiting, Aberdeen, Idaho, 3,311
151, Galen Keas, Alda, Neb., 3,298
152, John Parry, Oak Park, Calif., 3,280
153, Joe Beck, Montgomery, Ala., 3,275
154, Eric Altenburg, Albuquerque, N.M., 3,273
155, Don Lane, San Francisco, 3,268
156, Tim Pierce, Portland, Ore., 3,247
157, n-Kevin Sweetman, Henderson, Colo., 3,231
158, Thomas Andres Sr., Highland, Calif., 3,224
159, n-Gabriel Luchetta, Golden, Colo., 3,161
160, n-John Smith, Lebanon, Vir., 3,159
161, David Blades, East Wenatchee, Wash., 3,148
162, Mark Fennell, Seattle, 3,118
163, Robert Walters, North Las Vegas, Nev., 3,092
164, n-Mark Goldstein, Northridge, Calif., 3,080
165, Dean Bruinsma, Clear Lake, S.D., 3,064
166, n-Fred Edick III, Glendora, Calif., 3,050
167, n-Charles Allen Jr., Pell City, Ala., 3,041
168, n-Dennis Ferguson, Bellingham, Wash., 2,889
169, Vincent Oliva, Orland Park, Ill., 2,864
170, Roger Koplin Jr., Carson City, Nev., 1,955

300 games (1) – Mike Keough