Per a Facebook post by Matt Cannizzaro, the most accomplished first-timer in the history of the Open Championships, Walter Ray Williams Jr., will make his tournament debut tomorrow night (Eastern time). Walter Ray actually has three decades experience on the championship lanes, but all in the USBC Masters, including two titles at the Stadium.

http://bowl.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?id=23622326609

An all-female team, We Are Here Anyway (Naperville, IL) shot 2,702 yesterday to take the Classified Team lead. The group, brought together by years of supporting their SOs, was making their fourth appearance.

I don't usually also post about participation milestones, but found this one worthy of mentioning:

http://bowl.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?id=23622326603

Alfred Jones (81, Southhampton, Bermuda) yesterday became the first international bowler to reach 50 years of Open Championships participation, having bowled his first in 1964 in Oakland, CA.

Go Walter Ray. Love to watch him bowl.

What a big day its been on the lanes already, before we even see what Walter Ray will accomplish.

Have to give a shoutout to another Arizona bowler, Jakob Buttruff, in taking the lead in Regular All-Events. He's another top Phoenix player with a very bright future. Phoenix bowlers are currently 1st, 3rd, and 6th in All-Events.

And we have new doubles leaders, taking the lead by nearly 60 pins after so many great duos came up just short. Their 1401 is probably a winning score. 1409 won last year, and this year the doubles scores have been much lower.

For those interested, Walter Ray shot 1,838 all-events in his debut at the Open, currently good for 537th. His team, Northern Lanes Pro Shop, is 33rd; Bo Goergen, who had the highest series ever at the Open with his 862 in singles in 2009, was one of his teammates, and Sean Riccardi of St. Petersburg, FL was his doubles partner (101st).

USBC has posted the estimated prize fund, below:

http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/...OCPrizeFund.pdf

Goes to show how difficult the conditions are at Nationals if a bowler of Walter Ray's caliber scores are that low. Here's the full low down on Walter Ray's performance:

http://apps.bowl.com/tournaments/usbcopen/national/viewentry.aspx?e=331798369

I posted the same thing, goobee, just linked on his name.

http://bowl.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?id=23622326672

Andy Shutt (34, R, Waukee, IA) celebrated 15 years on the tournament lanes by posting the 5th 300 game of the 2016 tournament in singles. Shutt has spent time as an employee of one of the on-site pro shops at the Open, and that helped him get up to speed.

Got word from the local paper in Rochester, MN (via Facebook) that Syl Thiel, who had just tied the Open Championships participation record (71 years) earlier in the tournament, has passed away @ 93.