Professional Bowlers Association

A fall during practice may have been just what Greg Thompson Jr. needed.

Thompson, who has fallen three times in a month as a result of the heel on his shoe coming off, went to a pair of regular shoes Wednesday to lead the Denny’s PBA Tour Qualifying Round for the 2006 Motor City Classic at Taylor Lanes.

The 23-year-old, who only became a PBA member in February, had a good showing last week in the 2006 USBC Masters, one of four PBA Major events. He finished 36th in qualifying, but fell in match play to Brian Waliczek, literally.

“I had a good shot against him and I beat him the first game with a 260, but in the middle of the second game I fell and after that I was scared to get to the line,” said Thompson. “I felt good coming into today because this is a pattern I usually bowl well on, but I shot a 199 after the first game and to be honest I was worried. I changed balls after the fourth game and bowled great the last two games. It must be the shoes.”

Thompson (Dayton, Ohio) fired a 279 in game five after switching to an Ebonite Overtime and closed the day with scores of 258 and 243 to finish the day with a 1,669 seven-game pinfall.

Denny’s PBA Tour titlist Jeff Lizzi (Sandusky, Ohio) finished second with 1,655. Also advancing were Edward VanDaniker Jr. (Essex, Md.), James Wallace (Hicksville, N.Y.), Mike Mineman (Belleville, Ill.) and Chad Kloss (Greenfield, Wis.) as the top six PBA members advanced, with exempt bowler Tommy Delutz Jr. withdrawing due to an injury.

Also advancing as the top amateur was Paul Koehler (Roseville, Mich.), who finished 12th with 1,588.

Thursday’s Round of 64, which features two seven-game qualifying blocks, gets underway at 11 a.m. EST. The top 32 will advance to round robin match play on Friday.

The top five after Friday’s match play will advance to Sunday’s championship round and will bowl for the $25,000 top prize and an exemption for the 2007-08 Denny’s PBA Tour season. The live ESPN televised stepladder finals will take place at 1 p.m. EST.

Notes
Koehler, a former Tour regular, now lives in nearby Roseville, Mich., and works for Turbo 2n1 grips. With a job and a family, he doesn’t have time to bowl full-time, though he still thinks about trying to make it back on Tour.

“It’s still in the back of my mind, but it’s not something I’m striving for,” Koehler said. “I love the competition and I miss everyone out here. I bowl league twice a week and bowl a few tournaments here and there. Now that I’m only putting in 15 hours a week at work and watching the baby I can delegate some time for tournaments.”

Koehler finished second twice when he bowled full-time, falling 266-245 to Dave Husted in the finals of the 1995 U.S. Open and 202-182 to Kurt Pilon in the 2001 Peoria Open title match. He said he hasn’t ruled out trying to qualifying again through Tour Trials.

“I definitely would consider it,” Koehler said. “My wife and I decided we were going to bowl the Tour Trials this past summer, but then she got pregnant and we had a baby so that obviously didn’t happen, but I might consider it again.”

For now, he’s just focused on Thursday’s Round of 64, which he says he feels no pressure for.

“I feel great about tomorrow,” said Koehler, who bowled full-time from 1991-2003. “The pressure is off. The last two games today were some serious pressure. I know I was up there at the top, but I have never been in that situation before. The circumstances were a little different than what I’m used to.”