INDIANAPOLIS - Sweden’s Jesper Svensson dominated from the left side of the lanes to grab the top seed Wednesday at the 2020 PBA Indianapolis Open at Royal Pin Woodland Bowl.

Svensson, an eight-time PBA Tour champion, never scored a game under 200 on a very high-scoring environment as he finished with a 30-game total of 7,493, a 238.77 average, to earn the No. 1 seed.

Joining Svensson on the show, which will be broadcast live on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on FS1 (United States) and FloBowling (international), will be Shawn Maldonado, Anthony Simonsen, Nick Pate and Smallwood.

RESULTS: PBA Indianapolis Open Match Play Round 2

“You cannot understand how hard it is to be in this position,” Svensson said. “I’m exhausted, but I’m really happy.”

Svensson, who is the only lefty on the show, was ninth after the first two rounds of qualifying but made his big moves in match play with a 11-5 record.

“All I can blame is myself if I don’t win,” Svensson said.

Urethane was in play on both patterns on the high friction surface for the Swede, which helped him move up in the standings. This will be Svensson’s second TV show appearance this season as he finished fourth at the PBA Oklahoma Open back in January.

A pair of Texas two-handers clinched the second and third seeds for Saturday’s show. Seeking his first PBA Tour title, Maldonado grabbed the second seed with a total pinfall of 7,469, averaging 237.97 with an 11-5 match play record.

“It’s been a tough grind in the beginning of the year,” Maldonado said. “This season is tough being away from family back home. But I couldn’t do this without the support I have.”

This is Maldonado’s first TV show since his fifth-place finish with doubles partner DJ Archer at the 2018 Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship.

Simonsen, a two-time PBA major champion, secured the third seed for the show with a total of 7,350 and 10-6 match-play record. This marks his third time on television this season as he finished third in the PBA Tournament of Champions and second in last week’s U.S. Open show, where he qualified as the top seed.

“I obviously would much rather be the top seed to bowl one game for the title,” Simonsen said. “However, you can’t win if you are not on the show and that’s the most important thing.”

PBA Regional champion and Team USA member Pate will make his debut on television Saturday looking for his first PBA Tour title. He clinched the fourth seed with a total pinfall of 7,288 and a 9-6-1 match-play record, which included a 300 game during Game 2 of Round 1 of match play. 

“It feels great,” Pate said. “It hasn’t really set in yet. I was inspired by my former teammate Perry Crowell (who made the US Open show last week) and here I am, my first show.”

Jumping up into the fifth and final spot for Saturday’s show was Smallwood, a two-time PBA major champion, who made a near perfect run in the position round that electrified the Indianapolis crowd. He started with the front 10 and shot 287 to close out the night.

That game jumped Smallwood ahead of names such as Jason Belmonte, EJ Tackett, Greg Ostrander, Matt Russo and Anthony Lavery-Spahr as he went from 10th to fifth to get on the show.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said Smallwood, who finished with a 7,192 total and 8-8 record. “I was 65 pins back, and I had no idea what was going on in the building. I told myself to get one more strike each frame. The whole family is here this week so it’s extra special than normal.”

Smallwood’s last television appearance was two years ago at his last major win at the 2018 PBA Players Championship.