After hanging on to make the cut from qualifying by just one pin, Sean Rash survived two rounds of elimination competition Friday at the PBA World Bowling Tour Thailand event in Bangkok.

Rash started the day advancing through Round 2 by finishing the six-game block in fourth place among 18 players. In the third round, Rash led the way with a six-game total of 1,354, a 225.67 average, as 12 players advanced from that round. All pins are dropped, however, after each round.

The 12 advancing players from Round 3 will join the players with two byes into Round 4. Those players include Osku Palermaa, Ryan Ciminelli, Darren Tang, Dom Barrett, Jesper Svensson, defending champion Danielle McEwan, Liz Johnson and Yannaphon Larpapharat.

Rash started the third round slow with games of 178, 247 and 188 before turning it up a notch and shooting 236, 268 and 237 to surge into the lead.

Also advancing into the fourth round were Wes Malott, Wu Siu Hong, Anthony Simonsen, Chong Jun Foo, Tommy Jones, Ahmad Muaz, Michael Tang, Cheah Ray Han, AJ Johnson, Mitch Hupe and Kyle Troup.

Troup was able to surge from outside the cut to two pins inside the number in the final game when he shot 224. Kris Prather, meanwhile, shot 160 the last game to fall outside the cut by 22 pins.

The remaining 20-player field will bowl six games Saturday with the top six scores guaranteed a spot in the finals. At least one woman and one Thai bowler will earn spots in the eight-player final.

Because of the rule guaranteeing a woman a spot in the finals, whoever finishes higher between McEwan or Johnson will be on the show. Should both of them qualify among the top six, they would both make the finals. It also means Larpapharat is guaranteed a spot on the show as he is the only remaining Thai player in the field.

The modified eight-player stepladder will feature players seeded sixth, seventh and eighth bowling a one-game match with the winner advancing to face the fourth and fifth seeds in an identical match. From there, it’s heads-up bowling but the top seed must be defeated twice in the final match.

The winner of the event will earn one million Thai Baht, the equivalent of $32,258.06 in U.S. dollars. If the winner is a PBA member, they will also earn a PBA Tour title.

Round 3 Results

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org

Round 2 Results

Results courtesy ABF-Online.org