John Janawicz earns No. 1 seed at 2023 USBC Senior Masters

Las Vegas, Nevada – John Janawicz is loving life on the PBA50 Tour. He’s already won a regional title in his rookie season and now he is the top seed at the first major of the year at the 2023 USBC Senior Masters.

“It is like a dream come true to be able to bowl with and against the people you have looked up to for so many years,” the 50-year-old said. “It’s been a fantastic experience and I look forward to more events.”

The only three-game match of his day Saturday that was close was his first one against Andy Neuer, 708-702, but from there the right-hander rolled a 300 with a 790 series in his second match. He won his next two matches each by more than 100 pins to get the No. 1 seed. He will have to be defeated twice in the $20,000 championship match.

The Florida native known as “JJ” went with urethane on the fresh to allow him more mistake room so he could control the pocket. He felt it was a safe play more than anything else. He averaged 237 over 12 games of match play.

“You have to draw the right people at the right time and today was one of those really good days,” he said.

The knowledgeable Kegel technician/technical support employee came out on the PBA50 Tour with the plan to bowl the major tournaments and time will tell how many more events he will bowl. But for now, he plans to watch every stepladder match before he takes the lanes at Sam’s Town Bowling Center Sunday afternoon.

“The key is trying to watch what the players in the previous matches do,” he said about his strategy. “I want to see which angle will be best and make a game-time decision.”

Lennie Boresch Jr., who was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame earlier this year, will be the No. 2 seed. His only match play loss of the tournament came to Janawicz for seeding.

“His urethane definitely caused some issues,” he said. “But I made some bad shots and some bad choices. I threw everything at it, and I still couldn’t figure it out.”

He admits he was a little late to make changes throughout the week, and his mindset moving forward is to make good shots and to not be afraid to make a change when needed.

Joining Janawicz and Boresch are No. 3 Troy Lint, No. 4 Brad Angelo, and No. 5 Brian LeClair.

Lint and LeClair earned their way into the stepladder after falling into the contenders bracket early Saturday and battling back bowling 18 games on the day. Lint averaged 239.39.

The stepladder finals will be at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, airing on BowlTV.

More information, including standings, on the USBC Senior Masters are available here.