Yesterday's squads marked the halfway point of the qualification round for the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters. In the only Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour event outside the U.S., no one has yet surpassed Markus Jansson's incredible total score of 1480.
Just nineteen pins shy of Team Pergamon's Markus Jansson is his teammate, the eleven-time PBA Tour titleholder Jesper Svensson. The 2016 TOC champion was pleased with his strategic adjustment during the fresh conditions after squad 9, which played a crucial role in securing his second-place position with a total score of 1861.
'These tournaments, where you can try again and again, are about trying different things," Jesper Svensson said when questioned about the changes that led to improved performance. 'In my previous two squads, I had a decent score, but I didn't have a very good look on the fresh, so I tried to come out today and do something different. I had a couple of days to think about what I needed to change, and it seemed to work out pretty well.'
John Faragalla, an eighteen-year-old from Singapore, is still closest to challenging the two Swedes. The Asian Junior Championships doubles gold medalist displayed an incredible performance during squad 4, winning the squad and positioning third on the leaderboard with a total score of 1415, averaging 235.8.
AJ Johnson, an eight-time member of Team USA, achieved a total score of 1393, placing him in the fourth position, while his compatriot, PBA Major titleist Andrew Anderson, is fifth with 1387.
The competition for a spot in the final stages of the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters will intensify with each squad, as more top-tier players like three-time PBA Major title champions Chris Barnes and Dominic Barrett join the show.
The youngest player to reach five PBA Majors and currently one of the best in the world, Anthony Simonsen, will also need to summon his A-game to enhance his chances for a 17th top-10 finish in the 2023 PBA Tour season. He is currently ranked twenty-third in the qualification with a total of 1296.
Competitors at the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters bowl six qualifying games before the field is cut to the top 56 players here at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Four more qualification squads will be played today. Livestream, full results and livescoring of the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters can be found here.
