John Janawicz Wins Again at 2024 PBA50 Petraglia Championship
Jackson, Michigan – In less than two full seasons on the PBA50 Tour, John Janawicz has won six titles. He has the same number of titles as Chris Barnes, who won the 2024 PBA50 Ballard Championship on Thursday, Norm Duke and the legendary Dick Weber.
After earning his fourth title of the year Saturday at the World Series of Bowling II PBA50 Petraglia Championship, last year’s PBA50 Rookie of the Year is even closer to being named Player of the Year.
“It is quite surreal, there is no doubt, to be able to get six titles in this short period of time,” Janawicz said. “To actually do it and to have all of those pieces fall into place as they have, I didn’t really envision that to have that good of a winning percentage in the stepladders.”
In the title match, Janawicz faced No. 1 seed Dennis Killough. This was Killough’s second-ever PBA50 Tour stop, and the North Carolina native gave Janawicz everything he had. Standing against the ball return on the right lane on every shot, Killough confidently and consistently threw the ball well. He opened up with a double, spare, double leading Janawicz by 19 pins halfway through the match.
After three single-pin spares and two strikes to that point, Janawicz felt the lane conditions were pretty stable and it was time to start striking. He responded with four straight strikes.
Killough went spare, strike, spare heading into the foundation frame. He stepped up and delivered with four straight strikes, clapping for himself after his impressive stepladder debut.
Janawicz was forced to double for the title, which he did followed by an emphatic fist pump celebration. He went on to earn the 248-238 win.
“I was happy to be able to finish the game off because he made me work for it,” Janawicz said. “That is what you are supposed to do at this level. You have got to come through and finish strong. We both did. Fortunately, I had a little bit of an advantage over him going into the 10th."
Janawicz, who has won two other titles on the 46-foot Petraglia oil pattern, was dominant in the stepladder finals. In his first match against No. 4 seed Tom Adcock, Adcock had two opens in the first three frames and Janawicz put on a clinic. After an opening strike and spare, he rolled 10 straight strikes on the way to a 280-226 win. After his final shot, he immediately started taking notes about what he saw on the lanes inside JAX 60.
In a rematch of the 2024 Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship title match last week, Janawicz faced Mika Koivuniemi, who was making his fourth straight stepladder appearance. Koivuniemi started with a double, spare, and strike, while Janawicz picked up a 10-pin and 7-pin. After that, Janawicz struck six straight times, while Koivuniemi had back-to-back splits for open frames in the fifth and sixth. By that point, the game was out of reach as Janawicz earned the 258-174 victory.
In the opening match, No. 5 seed Mark Clark made his stepladder finals debut against Adcock. He struck in the first and fourth frames to go along with four spares through six frames. Adcock fell behind in the first frame after leaving the 7-10 split, yet he rebounded with a double to retake the lead. Clark struck in frames seven though nine. Adcock went spare, double, spare heading into the 10th frame. He struck on his first two shots then got eight to finish with 222. Clark got a bit fast on his first shot leaving an 8-pin, which he picked up, followed by a strike to come up just short with a 215 game.
Janawicz, Clark and Koivuniemi will all be back on the lanes Sunday for 12 games of round-robin match play in the World Championship. They will get started at 9 a.m. Eastern and Round 2 will start at 2 p.m. Match play will continue on Monday with six more games beginning at 2 p.m. ET before the top five bowlers will advance to the stepladder finals. The overall winner will receive $25,000 and a major title.
“I felt like the last couple of days or so from a timing standpoint a lot of bad shots were creeping in,” Janawicz said. “I think I got something physically to click better today. Hopefully, that will carry over into some good shot making over the next 36 hours or so.”
You can see the remainder of the PBA50 WSOB II only on BowlTV.
PBA50 PETRAGLIA CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS
- John Janawicz, $4,000
- Dennis Killough, $2,500
- Mika Koivuniemi, $2,000
- Tom Adcock, $1,750
- Mark Clark, $1,500
MATCH SCORES
Match 1: Adcock def. Clark 222-216
Match 2: Janawicz def. Adcock 280-226
Match 3: Janawicz def. Koivuniemi 258-174
Championship match: Janawicz def. Killough 248-238
Final standings - PBA50 Petraglia Championship
More information on the PBA50 WSOB II is available here.