JUPITER, Fla. – As qualifying came to a close Wednesday night, Tom Smallwood stayed at the top of the standings but his lead on the field was nearly cut in half at the 2021 Kia PBA Tournament of Champions.

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Smallwood finished the 24 games of qualifying at Bowlero Jupiter with a total of 5,864, a 244.33 average. At the completion of yesterday’s rounds, Smallwood led by 211 pins, a number that dropped to 118 pins after Wednesday.

There are still 24 games of round robin match play remaining, however, as the top 24 players advanced through the first cut. The players will bowl four six-game blocks of match play throughout Thursday and Friday live on FloBowling.

Jason Belmonte was able to narrow the gap on Smallwood during the day Wednesday and sits in second place with 5,746, a 239.42 average.

Defending champion Kris Prather entered the day in 10^th place and climbed up to third place with 5,724, a 238.50 average.

Anthony Simonsen is in fourth place with 5,700, while Jesper Svensson is the top lefty in the field in fifth place at 5,676.

Trevor Roberts was the last player inside the cut number with a 24-game total of 5,316, a 221.50 average.

Shawn Maldonado, who was in 34^th place and 68 pins outside the number going into the last game, shot a 300 to close out qualifying and advanced in 23^rd place with 5,321.

Other players advancing into match play include Sean Rash, Kyle Troup, Tom Daugherty, Wes Malott, Jake Peters, BJ Moore, Francois Lavoie, Brandon Novak, Nicholas Pate, Cristian Azcona, Jakob Butturff, Bill O’Neill, Richard Teece, Tommy Jones, Dick Allen, Michael Davidson and Andrew Anderson.