Through two days of qualifying, no player has navigated the grueling lane conditions at the 2023 U.S. Open presented by Go Bowling! as well Thomas Larsen.
The 33-year-old paces the 108-player field with a total of 3,477 (+277) through the first 16 games of competition.
“You can be 80th after the first day and win. You can be first and still finish 50th,” Larsen said after leading A- and B-squads and qualifying third overall on Day 1. “I have to grind through and hopefully my results stay pretty good.”
Larsen, the 2021 Masters champion, seeks to become the 16th player to win both Masters and U.S. Open. But the Dane isn’t concerned about joining the likes of Anthony Simonsen, Jason Belmonte, Norm Duke and Walter Ray Williams Jr.
“Winning the U.S. Open would basically be a career-defining moment,” Larsen said. “And winning it on top of the Masters would be very, very special, but I’m not thinking that far ahead yet.”
Tom Daugherty’s field-high 1,832 block on Day 2 propelled him from 52nd place to seventh. The 43-foot oil pattern on Day 2 proved to be more forgiving, and he was one of several players to make the most of it.
“Out of the three patterns, I figured this would be the easiest, especially for me,” Daugherty said. “After a bad day yesterday, I figured I would have to take advantage of it, (but) I wasn’t quite sure I was going to bowl this good.”
Kris Prather’s 1,789 series on Day 2 catapulted him into 24th place, the final spot within the current cut line. As one of four players on A-squad within the cut, Prather is an anomaly.
C-squad holds half of the positions within the current cut. The dreaded 39-foot, flat pattern awaits as those dozen players and the rest of C-squad will begin the final day of qualifying at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
All qualifying and match play rounds will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
Full standings through 16 games of qualifying at the 2023 U.S. Open are available here.
2023 U.S. Open presented by Go Bowling! Schedule
Thursday, Feb. 2 | Qualifying – Round 3 (eight games) | BowlTV
8 a.m. — C-squad
1 p.m. — A-squad
6 p.m. — B-squad — field cut to top 24
Friday, Feb. 3 | Round-robin match play | BowlTV
10 a.m. — Match play (eight games)
5 p.m. — Match play (eight games)
Saturday, Feb. 4 | Match play and TV finals
9 a.m. — Match play (eight games) – field cut to top nine | BowlTV
4 p.m. — TV finals, seeds 5-9 | FS1
Sunday,…