Defending champion Wes Malott (pictured left) of Pflugerville, Texas, advanced from seventh place into the lead in the Lumber Liquidators Marathon Open at AMF Country Club Lanes Wednesday in a bid for his first title of the season in the tour’s final event and a chance to play spoiler in the 2009-10 PBA Player of the Year race.

Malott, who won the 2008-09 PBA Player of the Year in the final event last year, averaged 246 as he finished Wednesday’s demanding Shark round with an 18-game total of 4,434 pins and a 155-pin lead over Brad Angelo (right) of Lockport, N.Y., who had 4,279 pins.

Twelve-time PBA champion Chris Barnes (left) of Double Oak, Texas, was in third place with 4,274 pins followed by Sean Rash (right) of Wichita, Kan., at 4,266 and Dave D’Entremont of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, at 4,261. None of the top five have won a title this season.

Malott, after taking last week off to tend to illnesses in his family, ate the Shark condition alive. He didn’t have a game under 211 and six of his nine games were 242 or higher, including a 280 final game.

“I was looking forward to bowling the Plastic Ball Championship last week, but the night before the tournament, my son got sick and my wife took him to the hospital. While she was there, she got sick and wound up being admitted, so I thought it was my job to go home and take care of my family. It was the right thing to do.

“While I was home, I found out a dear old friend isn’t doing well, so I wanted to dedicate this week to him. Whenever I have gotten down on myself a little, I think about him and I’ve been able to refocus on what I need to do.

“One of my goals since I started to win out here is to get at least one title a year, and I don’t have one yet this year,” Malott said. “It’s been an up-and-down year, but so far this week things are going well. I’ve got a little lead, but I’m not one to look ahead of myself, so I’ll take it one day, one pattern at a time and we’ll see.”

“This is my last chance to make something out of this year,” said Barnes, who is still looking for his first title of the season. “I had my struggles in the (Thunderbowl Lanes) arena (during the World Series of Bowling in Detroit in August), but other than that, it probably would have been a pretty good year.

“It’s still early in the tournament,” Barnes added. “One of the unique challenges of the Marathon Open format is that every day you have to come up with a new game plan. It’s nice to have an event like this with multiple patterns and lots of games. By no means do two rounds determine anything, but this format will prove out who is the best player this week.”

While the leaders duked it out, the only three players with a chance to win Player of the Year honors remained in contention. Walter Ray Williams Jr. (pictured left) of Ocala, Fla., and Bill O’Neill (right photo, on the left) of Southampton, Pa., who are tied for the Player of the Year points lead, advanced to Thursday’s third round in 14th and 29th places, respectively. Mike Scroggins (right photo, on the right) of Amarillo, Texas, who is third in the race, also advanced in 33rd place.

If Williams and O’Neill both advance to Sunday’s TV finals, the higher finisher would win the Player of the Year race. If one of the two makes it, that player would win. If neither make the TV show, Williams will win the title based on overall points for the reason unless Scroggins wins Sunday’s titles – in which case he would become Player of the Year.

The top 44 players at the conclusion of the Cheetah and Shark rounds advanced to the “cashers’ rounds” Thursday where they will bowl two more seven-game rounds on the Viper and Chameleon lane conditions.

Over the course of the six-day event, the tournament leaders will bowl seven rounds, all on different lane conditioning patterns, to decide the top five players for the stepladder finals that will air Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. The tournament leader after 53 games will select the lane condition to be used for the TV finals.

 

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Marathon Open - Standings after Round 2 (Shark lane condition)

Players with position, hometown and 18-game total,

1, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 4,434
2, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 4,279
3, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 4,274
4, Sean Rash, Wichita, Kan., 4,266
5, Dave D'Entremont, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, 4,261
6, Todd Book, Wapakoneta, Ohio, 4,245
7, Parker Bohn III, Jackson, N.J., 4,216
8, Stevie Weber, Chalmette, La., 4,184
9, Jeff Carter, Springfield, Ill., 4,171
10, Mika Koivuniemi, Hartland, Mich., 4,156
11, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 4,141
12, (tie) Robert Smith, Columbus, Ohio, and Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., 4,113
14, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 4,112
15, Eddie VanDaniker Jr., Essex, Md., 4,111
16, Billy Oatman, Chicago, 4,108
17, Bobby Hall II, Landover, Md., 4,107
18, Joe Ciccone, Buffalo, N.Y., 4,106
19, Tom Daugherty, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 4,105
20, Jason Sterner, McDonough, Ga., 4,095
21, Derek Sapp, Keokuk, Iowa, 4,091
22, Tim Criss, Bel Air, Md., 4,087
23, Doug Kent, Newark, N.Y., 4,080
24, Ryan Abel, Bel Aire, Kan., 4,067
25, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 4,054
26, Michael Machuga, Erie, Pa., 4,041
27, (tie) Eddie Graham, Centerville, Ohio, and Chris Loschetter, Avon, Ohio, 4,038
29, Bill O'Neill, Southampton, Pa., 4,037
30, Jesse Buss, Wichita, Kan., 4,035
31, Brian Waliczek, Birch Run, Mich., 4,031
32, George Lambert IV, Canada, 4,024
33, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 4,012
34, Bob Hale, Louisville, Ky., 4,010
35, Nathan Bohr, Wichita, Kan., 4,000
36, D.J. Archer, Mineral Wells, Texas, 3,994
37, Andres Gomez, Colombia, 3,991
38, Kevin Cartier, Beverly, N.J., 3,988
39, Ronnie Horton, Christiansburg, Va., 3,977
40, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3,966
41, Chris Hans, Richmond, Va., 3,964
42, Mike DeVaney, San Diego, 3,956
43, Brian Kretzer, Dayton, Ohio, 3,948
44, William Barlow, Edgewood, Md., 3,944

Missed Cut:
45, (tie) Danny Wiseman, Baltimore, and Ryan Shafer, Horseheads, N.Y., 3,940
47, Steve Jaros, Yorkville, Ill., 3,939
48, Michael Haugen Jr., Carefree, Ariz., 3,937
49, Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 3,936
50, Ronnie Russell, Camby, Ind., 3,925
51, Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 3,918
52, (tie) David O'Sullivan, Orlando, Fla, and Mike Edwards, Tulsa, Okla., 3,916
54, Patrick Allen, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 3,909
55, Mitch Beasley, Puyallup, Wash., 3,908
56, Steve Harman, Indianapolis, 3,904
57, Dino Castillo, Carrollton, Texas, 3,891
58, Jack Jurek, Lackawanna, N.Y., 3,871
59, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 3,858
60, Tim Mack, Indianapolis, 3,855
61, John Nolen, Grand Blanc, Mich., 3,854
62, Troy Wollenbecker, Miami, 3,839
63, (tie) Travis Celmer, Wernersville, Pa., and Brian Voss, Alpharetta, Ga., 3,836
65, Joe Bailey, Doylestown, Ohio, 3,831
66, Gary Faulkner, Norfolk, Va., 3,815
67, Wayne Garber, Modesto, Calif., 3,808
68, Eugene McCune, Munster, Ind., 3,785
69, Michael Stocks, Leesburg, Va., 3,783
70, Thomas Wall III, Fayetteville, N.C., 3,781
71, Stuart Williams, England, 3,778
72, PJ Haggerty, Clovis, Calif., 3,764
73, Cassidy Schaub, Ashland, Ohio, 3,749
74, Christopher Blackmore, Alexandria, Va., 3,742
75, Lonnie Waliczek, Wichita, Kan., 3,738
76, Vic Marotto, Wallingford, Conn., 3,723
77, Robert Eddy II, Saginaw, Mich., 3,719
78, Matt Freiberg, Somerset, N.J., 3,678
79, Kevin Pickett, Mechanicsville, Va, 3,660
80, Tim Pfeifer, Cranberry Twp., Pa., 3,659
81, Chris Forry, Bridgeport, Conn., 3,656
82, Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 3,627
83, Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 3,623
84, (tie) Chris Paroly, Plainview, N.Y., and John May, Lincolnton, N.C., 3,616
86, Justin Warhol, Sound Beach, N.Y, 3,608
87, Stephen Haas, Enola, Pa., 3,595
88, John Di Santis, Wilmington, Del., 3,588
89, Jeremy Merriner, Winchester, Va., 3,549
90, Steven Black, Phoenix, 3,503
91, Mike McDonnell, Chesterfield, Va, 3,497
92, Ryon Collins, Richmond, Va., 3,477
93, Diandra Asbaty, Chicago, 3,461
94, Stanley Lobodzinski, Edgewood, Md., 3,457
95, David Knight, Folcroft, Pa., 3,446
96, Alvin Horne Jr, Coram, N.Y., 3,401
97, Jeff Keller, Chesapeake, Va., 3,390
98, Tom Lemanski, Hazlet, N.J., 3,387
99, Kevin Brophy, Oakhurst, N.J., 3,369
100, Philip Petersam, Baltimore, 3,340
101, Wayne Bolin, Lumberton, N.C., 3,333
102, Dave Jones Jr., Baltimore, 3,315
103, Joshua Shriver, Winchester, Va., 3,299
104, Donald Messinese, Churchton, Md., 3,295
105, Gregory Smith, Baltimore, 3,289
106, Brian DiCicco, Agawam, Mass., 3,262
107, Ralph Ehrlich, N.Massapequa, N.Y., 3,245
108, (tie) Phillip Johnson, Nasville, N.C., and Gary Mixon, Clinton, Md., 3,242
110, Larry Klick, Erie, Pa, 3,236
111, Jack Nealon, Bowie, Md., 3,226
112, Matt Traina, Farmingdale, N.Y., 3,211
113, Robert Tracey, Sykesville, Md., 3,187
114, Steven Arehart, Chesapeake, Va., 3,157
115, Mike Charney, Baltimore, 3,107
116, Jeff Bragg, Linesville, Pa., 3,106
117, Earl Langkam Jr, Toppa, Md, 3,078
118, J.J. Vece, Wallingford, Conn., 3,077
119, David Zeitz, Philadelphia, 3,011
120, Tommy Dean Garland, Sykesville, Md., 2,862
121, Colin Jones, Glen Burnie, Md., 2,834
122, Barry Wilson Jr., Landover, Md., 2,832
123, Howard Ridgeway, Cleveland, withdrew
124, Rhino Page, Dade City, Fla., withdrew
125, Ritchie Allen, Columbia, S.C., withdrew
126, Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., withdrew
127, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., withdrew
128, Mike Fagan, Patchogue, N.Y., withdrew
129, David Reed, Shoreham, N.Y., withdrew
130, Hubert Register, Philadelphia, withdrew
131, Shane Holbert, East Lansdowne, Pa., withdrew
132, Joseph Costanzo, Plainview, N.Y., withdrew
133, Larry Martin, Pasadena, Md, withdrew

300 Games (8) – Brad Angelo, Michael Machuga, Derek Sapp, Ryan Shafer, D.J. Archer, Robert Smith, Mitch Beasley, Joe Ciccone.