July 30 Brian Skidmore ran away from the field Sunday at a qualifier

* Brian Skidmore ran away from the field Sunday at a qualifier for the August 18-20 New Mexico Open bowling tournament at Tenpins & More.

The nephew of Gary Skidmore, a successful touring professional, Skidmore opened his account with 300 and followed with 201, 254, 254, 279 and 236 for 1,524 at an average of 254 per game.

He beat house pro, Paul Yoder by 100 pins with Chris Trujillo third with 1,403.

Yoder also bowled 300, then 223, 207, 254, 225 and 215, while Trujillo shot 231, 276, 202, 243, 222 and 231 in a high-scoring affair.

Fourth went to Espanola’s Darren Calvert, eight pins behind on 1,395, then Sam Pinge ten pins further back.

* Entries climbed to 155 as at July 30, with the addition of bowlers from Iowa, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico this past week, including such luminaries as former US Open champion Robert Lawrence, former ABC Masters winner, Brett Wolfe, last year’s fourth place finisher, Morgan Moore and metro area female “Bowler-of-the-Year”, Robin Prioleau.

Pro-Am entries took a spike too with more than 110 local league bowlers signed to bowl alongside the stars on August 15, 16 and 18 in a 9-pin No-Tap event.