January 22, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Players showed zero signs of rust during the first day of competition in the 2025 season-opening PBA Delaware Classic.

Eleven players averaged north of 240 for the opening 12 games at Mid County Lanes and Entertainment in Middletown, Del. The 35-foot Cheetah pattern lived up to its high-scoring reputation.

Michael Davidson (+686) led the field after two six-game rounds, averaging more than 257. Justin Knowles, Bill O’Neill, Ryan Barnes and Jakob Butturff round out the top five.

Davidson has historically performed well at Mid County Lanes and Entertainment, finishing seventh and 18th, respectively, in Delaware’s past two PBA Tour events. He advanced to the main field out of the pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ), just as defending champion Boog Krol did a year ago in Delaware.

“Historically, this building has matched up pretty well for me. That definitely helps loosen the swing up a little bit to just go out there and bowl,” Davidson said. “Last season, I switched to Motiv so it took me a little bit of time to learn the equipment and bowling the PTQs makes it tough to learn. I’m much more confident and making ball changes knowing what they are going to do, and I have a different attitude overall.”

Entering the final round of qualifying before the cut to the top 24 players, Davidson sits in prime position to earn a one-round bye in the bracket by finishing in the top eight. 

“I looked at the scores maybe twice throughout the entire day,” Davidson said. “I was just focusing on my process and doing what I needed to do. If the pins are falling, then I'm going to keep doing that. If I need to change something, I'll do that. I'm just going to keep sticking to what I've been doing, and it's been looking pretty good so far.”

Qualifying continues Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern on BowlTV. Six games remain before the top-24 cut to bracket match play.

Trevor Roberts, another player who advanced out of the PTQ, currently occupies 24th place. Nineteen players sit within 100 pins of Roberts, including Jason Belmonte, Anthony Simonsen and Krol, the defending champion, in 43rd place.

Not only are three presumptive Rookie of the Year candidates — Ryan Barnes, Cam Crowe and Hayden Stippich — currently inside the cut, but all are in the top 15. Reigning Rookie of the Year, Nate Purches, is in 16th place.

Round 2 Leaders

  1. Michael Davidson, +686
  2. Justin Knowles, +621
  3. Bill O’Neill, +564
  4. Ryan Barnes, +535
  5. Jakob Butturff, +515
  6. Chris Via, +514
  7. Tom Smallwood, +513
  8. Graham Fach, +495
  9. Tomas Käyhkö, +494
  10. Andrew Anderson, +491

Full standings are available here.

Tournament Schedule

Mid County Lanes & Entertainment | Middletown, DE

All times Eastern

Wednesday, Jan. 22
10 a.m. — Qualifying Round 3 (six games)
Top 24 players advance to bracket match play
6 p.m. — Match Play Round of 24 (best-of-seven games)

Thursday, Jan. 23
11 a.m. — Match Play Round of 16 (best-of-seven games)
6 p.m. — Match Play Round of 8 (best-of-seven games)
Four winners plus highest-seeded Round of 8 loser advance to stepladder finals

Saturday, Jan. 25
5 p.m. — Finals | FS1