Field set for Kia PBA finale

By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

The 16-player field is set for today’s 3rd Taylor Kia PBA Open with 2017 champion J.R. Raymond of Clinton Township, Mich., sitting atop the leaderboard at Holiday Bowl.

Raymond posted an 8-game, 1,858 (+258) pinfall during Saturday’s opening session, 86 pins better than second-place qualifier Chandler Stevens (1,772, +172) of Archbold and 89 pins ahead of four-time Hubbard Central Open champion Matt O’Grady (1,769, +169) of Rahway, N.J.

Today’s round-robin, 12-game, total pin final gets under way at 10 a.m.

Raymond, who teamed with O’Grady on Saturday evening to present the Dexter “Footwork of the Pros” workshop, put on his own clinic in the morning despite scaling back his practice schedule.

“Not practicing probably helped me. Mentally, I’ve always been the guy to practice day in and day out while making sure that I took 30 balls with me to a tournament,” Raymond said. “Today I just took eight balls, built my arsenal and just wanted to do as good as possible.

“I feel like I match up with this house really well even though I’ve only bowled two tournaments here. If it’s anything like this tomorrow, then I shouldn’t have any issues.”

O’Grady will chase his workshop partner in today’s final, adding that he must be at the top of his game if he expects to win a second local tournament in five weeks.

“I wasn’t pleased with my overall performance because I threw quite a few errant shots,” O’Grady said. “The lanes didn’t play like Friday’s practice session, but lanes never play the same day to day.”

Casey Cohagen, a native of Fairport Harbor and 2018 graduate of Notre Dame College, is fourth overall (1,766, +166) while playing in his first local tourney.

“This is the best that I have felt physically in the last six months,” he said. “The biggest thing today is that I stayed to the right of everyone.

“[Today], I’ll do what I did today, keep my hands softer and change if need be as the tournament progresses.”

Parma native Patrick Dombrowski, who finished runner-up to O’Grady at the Hubbard Central Open, qualified ninth overall with a 1,741 (+141) pinfall.

His last singles win came in 2011 (in Cincinnati). He is hungry for a first-place finish.

“I had to stay ahead of transition today and if I had to change balls, then I did,” he said. “Changing balls in the seventh game today actually bailed me out. I’ll need to make good shots and then see that happens.”

Two-time Guinness World Record holder Adam Barta of Girard finished 24th overall with a 1,653 (+53) pinfall.

“I had a lot of fun. It’s always nice to compete against the best bowlers and stay competitive,” Barta said. “I felt like I could have done better.

“I threw some bad shots on this type of pattern yet have no one to blame but myself. It’s good practice for me as I get ready for the USBC Open on May 17-18 in Las Vegas.”

Robert Harvischak of Campbell was one of 12 local bowlers in the field, finishing 38th overall (1,568, -32).

“The lanes were tricky at the start as I shot -122 my first four games,” he said. “I was +90 my last four games to get to -32 so I feel like I rallied and that was what made it a fun day for me.”