After the opening round of match play on Thursday night at the PBA New York Classic, the field has been cut to the final 16 players who remain in contention for the title in Rochester.
Even though match play usually produces intense battles until the final frame, this time it felt like no one wanted to stay late at the bowling alley on Thursday night.
The ninth through 24th qualifiers stepped onto the lanes for the opening round of match play, but things wrapped up quickly. In the best-of-seven format, half of the matches ended in dominant 4-0 sweeps, with only one matchup even reaching six games.
Matt Sanders delivered one of the most efficient performances of the round, sweeping Richie Teece 4-0 while averaging over 230 across his four games. AJ Johnson, Kyle Sherman, and Shota Kawazoe also secured clean 4-0 victories to advance without dropping a game.
Ethan Crouse defeated Chris Barnes 4-1, highlighted by a strong opening game of 276. Kris Prather also moved on with a 4-1 win over Michael Davidson, while Thomas Larsen defeated Nick Pate by the same 4-1 margin.
The closest match of the round came between Alex Horton and BJ Moore. Horton needed six games to close out the match 4-2, making it the only matchup that extended beyond five games.
With the Round of 24 completed, the top eight seeds who earned byes after qualifying now enter the bracket. Kyle Troup, who leads the event, will face Kris Prather in the Round of 16. Tomas Käyhkö meets Matt Sanders, while Chris Via takes on Kyle Sherman.
Riley Woodard is set to face Ethan Crouse, Darren Tang will bowl against Thomas Larsen, and Patrick Dombrowski meets AJ Johnson. Austin Grammar goes up against Alex Horton, while Tom Daugherty will face Shota Kawazoe.
The Round of 16 and Round of 8 will be contested in best-of-seven matches, with players competing for a place in the final stage of the event.
The winners of each bracket, along with the highest-seeded player eliminated in the Round of 8, will advance to the stepladder finals, which will be broadcast live on Sunday, April 12 at 1 p.m. ET on The CW.
