NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Shannon Buchan put himself into an ideal position to advance to the stepladder finals of the 65th annual Denny's U.S. Open, but then the pitfalls of the toughest tournament on the PBA tour caught up with him.

Through three of four match play rounds Saturday, Buchan stood in second place, with only eight games remaining to secure one of the four spots in the televised finals. He began the final round with four straight head-to-head losses, though, and finished the round 2-5-1 to slip into eighth place, still the top U.S. Open finish of the Waterloo bowler's career.

Buchan bowled brilliantly throughout the week on the Open's notoriously unforgiving oil pattern, and after he strung together ten straight wins over the first and second rounds of match play, he trailed only overall leader Mika Koivuniemi. Just as quickly, though, the Brunswick Zone Carolier lanes turned fickle, and Buchan dropped his next six matches in a row.

Buchan finished with a match-play record of 13-10-1 and had a tournament average of 207.96. His match play wins included victories over tournament finalists Norm Duke and Doug Kent.

STANDINGS - 1. Mika Koivuniemi (Hartland, Mich.) 17-7-0, 11,308; 2. Chris Loschetter (Avon, Ohio) 17-7-0, 11,210; 3. Norm Duke (Clermont, Fla.) 13-11-0, 11,195; 4. Doug Kent (Newark, N.Y.) 14-10-0, 11,156;

5. Wes Malott (Argyle, Texas) 14-10,-0, 11,119; 6. Brad Angelo (Lockport, N.Y.) 12-12-0, 11,056; 7. Parker Bohn III (Jackson, N.J.) 11,022; 8. Shannon Buchan (Waterloo) 13-10-1, 11,011;

9. Brian Valenta (Lockport, Ill.) 14-10-0, 10,983; 10. Tommy Jones (Simpsonville, S.C.) 14-10-0, 10,966; 11. Jason Belmonte (Orange, NSW, Aus.) 14-10-0, 10,920; 12. Eugene McCune (Munster, Ind.) 10-13-1, 10,912.