2022 Masters, Qualifying Day 3
Simo steals the lead, and Peters keeps playoff hopes alive on Day 3 of the Masters
It’s no longer March, but the madness at the USBC Masters has just begun.
After 15 games over three days of qualifying, the 64-player, double-elimination bracket has been set. As I’ve said for a while, and Joe Jacquez tweeted today, the cream rises to the top at majors.
Anthony Simonsen surged into the lead at +309 with a 1,161 final block. EJ Tackett sits second, while Mykel Holliman, Brent Boho and Jason Belmonte round out the top-five.
Every week I find myself in awe of what Simonsen, Tackett and Belmonte accomplish on the lanes. They are the three best bowlers on the planet, and I don’t think it’s particularly close.
Defending champion Thomas Larsen finished 160th, so he took the 64th seed. Dino Castillo finished as the cut number at +53. See the full standings here.
Jake Peters and AJ Chapman both snuck into the cut with strong finishes in Game 15. In fact, Peters saved his season with a 238 in his final game. He sat 16th in the PBA Playoff race entering the Masters, and would have almost certainly been eliminated if he missed the cut.
A few players relevant to the playoff race also had big days. Shawn Maldonado fired 1,105 to not only make the cut in 28th, but give him some cushion in the standings. Bill O’Neill let off some steam on Twitter — while ratio'ing a man into hiding — before jumping inside the number on Day 3.
Yesterday, I predicted a player outside the top-150 would make a run. Unsurprisingly, I was incorrect: two players made the leap!
Zulmazran Zulkifli shot 1,104 to jump from 151st to 47th, while Michael Patterson shot 1,108 to climb from 169th to 53rd.
My buddy Andrew Hall, who was one of the subject of my mini-doc on how college bowlers can make money pre-NIL, made the cut as well. Unfortunately for him, he drew Jakob Butturff in Round 1.
Finally, let’s look at some stats. Just 15 players from B-squad made the top-63 cut, compared to 22 from A-squad and 26 from C-squad. Furthermore, seven of the top-10 scores came from C-squad, and none came from B-squad.
It seems like C-squad had an advantage, right? Perhaps. But consider that Simonsen, Tackett, Holliman, Belmonte, Chris Via, Tom Smallwood, Jakob Butturff, Kris Prather and Bill O’Neill were all on C-squad.
Okay, I’m tired. Onto match-play!
Key Matches to Watch
You can view the full bracket here, but here are a few matches that you should keep an eye on:
1 Anthony Simonsen vs. 64 Thomas Larsen
5 Jason Belmonte vs. 60 Jesper Svensson
8 Sean Rash vs. 57 Mitch Hupé
11 AJ Johnson vs. 54 Jake Peters
15 Andrew Anderson vs. 50 Bill O’Neill
16 Tom Smallwood vs. 49 AJ Chapman
30 Osku Palermaa vs. 35 Wes Malott
Match-play Predictions
45 Kris Prather upsets 19 Jamie Gonzalez (this seems too obvious, which means it definitely won’t happen)
50 Bill O’Neill upsets 15 Andrew Anderson
51 Kenny Ryan upsets 14 DJ Archer
Mykel Holliman or Sean Rash shoots the high block of Round 1
One of the top-10 seeds goes 0-2
Final Four: Mykel Holliman, Josh Blanchard, Sean Rash, EJ Tackett
TV Show:
Mykel Holliman
Sean Rash
Jason Belmonte
Chris Via
EJ Tackett