Duke leads Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open entering final day

Defending champion Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., posted a 14-2 match-play record and averaged 218.8 after the fifth round to take the lead Thursday in the Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open at the Suncoast Bowling Center.

Duke’s performance in match play vaulted him into the lead after qualifying 17th. He finished the day with a 245-237 win over qualifying leader Jack Jurek of Lackawanna, N.Y., in the position round match to take the top spot with a 7,674, 34-game overall pinfall total. Jurek is second with 7,607.

“The key in qualifying is to not shoot yourself in the foot and bowl your way out of the tournament,” said Duke, a Hall of Famer who has won 38 PBA Tour events. “It’s hard to navigate qualifying in this tournament because of all the different types of players and styles out there. You don’t necessarily have to be the leader.”

Duke led a field of 24 players who advanced to Friday’s final two eight-game match-play rounds that will determine the top four players for the stepladder finals at 4 p.m.

Duke is trying to become the second consecutive player to win back-to-back Senior U.S. Open titles, after Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli accomplished the feat in 2012 and 2013. Duke is also trying for his first PBA50 Tour win of the season and third of his career.

“The 30 (match play) bonus points are just huge,” Duke said. “When you’re thinking just get through qualifying, it’s almost the opposite in match play, where you want to continuously apply the pressure. If you lose it mentally in any U.S. Open, whether it be on the regular tour or the PBA50 Tour, you will pay the maximum price.”

Duke won last year’s Senior U.S. Open by defeating fellow Hall of Famer Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., 214-174 in the title match, becoming the first player to win U.S. Open titles on the PBA and PBA50 Tours.

Rounding out the top five were Henderson’s Eric Forkel, who finished with a 7,580 pinfall; Weber with 7,562; and Bob Learn Jr. of Erie, Pa., with 7,506.

Ron Mohr of Las Vegas is eighth with 7,461.