Industry Insider by Jeff Ussery
Pickford Qualifies for First Television Appearance with Lead at the PBA Viper Championship
[/custom_frame_left] Las Vegas, NV – Connor Pickford took another step in his bowling career Sunday night by qualifying for his first PBA telecast with the lead at the PBA Viper Championship.
Pickford averaged 230.57 for 14 games of qualifying, finishing with a pinfall of 3,228. The Viper Championship is the second full field event at the World Series of Bowling VI, being hosted by South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, NV. Also qualifying for the telecast were Ronnie Russell, Dom Barrett, Mika Koivuniemi, and Jason Belmonte.
“I had an amazing ball reaction tonight,” Pickford said. “I’ve had all of my recent success with a Motiv Venom Shock, my purple ball. I told my ball rep when I got into that ball tonight, it was game on. I didn’t realize scores were so low because my ball reaction was so good.” Pickford has had incredible success at other events with the Venom Shock, including a day with four 300 games in one PBA regional, and an incredible USBC Open Championship run.
After two days of qualifying, Pickford also finds himself inside the cut line at the PBA World Championship, currently sitting in 20th place. After four tournaments worth of qualifying, the field will be cut to the top 24 to compete for one of bowling’s biggest prizes, a major championship.
“Right now I’m just taking it one day, one game, one shot at a time,” said Pickford. “Hopefully I’ll be able to repeat this type of success later throughout the week.”
Pickford is the store manager at BowlersMart Charlotte inside AMF Centennial Lanes.
BowlersMart, based in Hudson, FL, owns 22 pro shop locations, the website www.BowlersMart.com, and several online shopping channels.
