Mike Hoffman was the runaway leader on Day One of the MAST Schwoegler’s Pro Shop Year-End Championship Saturday. Hoffman totaled an astounding 2119 through eight games of qualifying, averaging just short of 265 and outpacing the field by nearly 200 pins.
35 bowlers competed on host Spartan Bowl’s house pattern. The qualifying cut to Sunday’s match play was 1818, an 11th-place tie between Chris Gibbons and Chris Pounders with the high-game tiebreakers going to Gibbons (269-268 vs. 269-258). Gibbons’ 269 game came in the final qualifying game and vaulted him from 21st to 11th.
The other qualifiers advancing to Sunday’s round-robin match play are Chris Pollentier (1930), Jacob Thomas (1910), Brian Hoffman (1899), Paul Bloemer (1884), Andy Bunkoske (1884), Jay Heinzelman (1873), Danny Verdecchia (1869), Dal Geitz (1848), and Jonathan Schalow (1828). MAST also paid out 13th and 14th cash spots, going to Kevin Thompson (1813) and Herb Kimpel (1791).
Despite the high scoring pace, there were no honor counts Saturday. Thomas had the only near miss with a 299 in his third game.
The top twelve qualifiers from Saturday advance to Sunday’s round-robin match play, with the top four bowlers after those twelve games advancing on to the stepladder finals.