Raymond leads after opening round at 2017 U.S. Open
October 27, 2017
LIVERPOOL, N.Y. - JR Raymond of Saginaw, Michigan, recharged before heading to the 2017 U.S. Open, and then his preparation on and off the lanes showed as the 33-year-old right-hander led Friday's opening round of qualifying.
Raymond rolled an eight-game block of 1,878 at Flamingo Bowl to pace the field, averaging 234.75. England's Dom Barrett, the 2015 runner-up, is second with 1,837, and Team USA member Nick Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, is third with 1,779.
Defending champion Francois Lavoie of Canada is in 58th place with 1,631.
After experiencing a tough stretch on the lanes, Raymond took some time away before starting his preparation for the 2017 event.
"This was a big confidence boost, since I had been bowling pretty poorly for the last few months," said Raymond, a titlist at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships. "I took some time off and didn't start again until about three or four weeks ago, knowing these events were coming up. I spent a lot of time just working on my mental and physical game, and it really helped a lot today."
Raymond minimized mistakes throughout his block on the burn, recording just one game under 220. Each competitor at the 2017 event will have one qualifying block on each of the three phases of the 43-foot lane condition - fresh, burn and double-burn.
Participants also experienced a new transition from warm-up to the beginning of competition at the 2017 event. The number of competition lanes is limited to 24, allowing bowlers to visit the same lanes and see them the same amount of times during qualifying. Competitors are not allowed to practice on the competition lanes, so 14 lanes are dedicated for warm-up prior to the start of their squads.
"Today was more or less about having a grind focus," Raymond said. "Not having the chance to practice on the pairs beforehand changed the mentality a bit, so it was more about making quality shots, staying clean for as long as I could and just seeing what happened from there. I did a good job staying clean throughout the block and only had two opens, which was pretty hard to do on this pattern, since it's not easy out there."
Qualifying will continue Saturday with the second round, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern.
After 24 games over three days, the field will be cut to the top fourth (36 players) for Monday's cashers' round, which will consist of an additional eight games to determine the 24 players for round-robin match play.
Match play will begin Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern with the first of three eight-game rounds and resume Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern, concluding with a position round. The five finalists for the stepladder finals will be determined by total pinfall, including bonus pins, for 56 games.
The stepladder finals will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network on Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. The champion will earn the $30,000 top prize and coveted green jacket.
The U.S. Open is the fourth of five major championships on the 2017 Professional Bowlers Association Tour schedule and is conducted jointly by the USBC and Bowling Proprietors' Association of America.
Each round of the 2017 U.S. Open leading up to the stepladder finals will be broadcast live on Xtra Frame, the exclusive online bowling channel for the PBA.
Raymond rolled an eight-game block of 1,878 at Flamingo Bowl to pace the field, averaging 234.75. England's Dom Barrett, the 2015 runner-up, is second with 1,837, and Team USA member Nick Pate of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, is third with 1,779.
Defending champion Francois Lavoie of Canada is in 58th place with 1,631.
After experiencing a tough stretch on the lanes, Raymond took some time away before starting his preparation for the 2017 event.
"This was a big confidence boost, since I had been bowling pretty poorly for the last few months," said Raymond, a titlist at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships. "I took some time off and didn't start again until about three or four weeks ago, knowing these events were coming up. I spent a lot of time just working on my mental and physical game, and it really helped a lot today."
Raymond minimized mistakes throughout his block on the burn, recording just one game under 220. Each competitor at the 2017 event will have one qualifying block on each of the three phases of the 43-foot lane condition - fresh, burn and double-burn.
Participants also experienced a new transition from warm-up to the beginning of competition at the 2017 event. The number of competition lanes is limited to 24, allowing bowlers to visit the same lanes and see them the same amount of times during qualifying. Competitors are not allowed to practice on the competition lanes, so 14 lanes are dedicated for warm-up prior to the start of their squads.
"Today was more or less about having a grind focus," Raymond said. "Not having the chance to practice on the pairs beforehand changed the mentality a bit, so it was more about making quality shots, staying clean for as long as I could and just seeing what happened from there. I did a good job staying clean throughout the block and only had two opens, which was pretty hard to do on this pattern, since it's not easy out there."
Qualifying will continue Saturday with the second round, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern.
After 24 games over three days, the field will be cut to the top fourth (36 players) for Monday's cashers' round, which will consist of an additional eight games to determine the 24 players for round-robin match play.
Match play will begin Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern with the first of three eight-game rounds and resume Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern, concluding with a position round. The five finalists for the stepladder finals will be determined by total pinfall, including bonus pins, for 56 games.
The stepladder finals will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network on Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. The champion will earn the $30,000 top prize and coveted green jacket.
The U.S. Open is the fourth of five major championships on the 2017 Professional Bowlers Association Tour schedule and is conducted jointly by the USBC and Bowling Proprietors' Association of America.
Each round of the 2017 U.S. Open leading up to the stepladder finals will be broadcast live on Xtra Frame, the exclusive online bowling channel for the PBA.