The 36th annual KFYR TV Bowling Classic took place this past weekend at Midway Lanes in Mandan, ND. Another full field of 120 bowlers were in attendance for the seasons 2nd NDBowling.com Major.
The tournament was held on a 2.94-1 custom pattern. The pattern offered a variety of angles to the pocket, but the key was being able to fill frames until the pattern allowed you to string a few strikes together for a big game or two. Ryan Selk lead qualifying on Saturday with a 1754 total. The cut to the top 30 was Kyle Niess at 1582. Niess fired a 278 in game 8 to vault himself into the cut.
On Sunday, the top 30 bowlers returned for 10 games of match play. Brady Stearns and Chad Nelson held the top two spots for most of the day with Stearns ultimately claiming the top spot on the TV finals with a 279 in position round. Joining Stearns on the TV Finals were Chad Nelson, Randy Peterson, 2021 KFYR runner up Ryan Selk and John Urbanec. 2020 KFYR TV Bowling Classic Champion, Blake Wallstrum, missed the tv finals by just 7 pins.
Day 2
Finals on KFYR:
Urbanec def Selk, 199-192
Peterson def Urbanec, 193-154
Peterson def Nelson, 206-162
Stearns def Peterson, 215-200
Despite a slow start on Saturday, Stearns fought back to make the cut and took full advantage of it on Sunday. Stearns converted a 3-4-6-7 split in the title match against Randy Peterson to help secure the title. The win gives Stearns his 2nd NDBowling.com Major Title (2019 Shootout). Stearns becomes the 21st player to have 2 or more Major wins. Great bowling, Brady!
Shoutout to Jim Mellon, Darin Helbling and Jack Nelson for another great event.
Tune in Thursday as we preview the 2022 Manitoba Open.