Brad Angelo Leads 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic
Hammond, Indiana – Some timely ball changes helped Brad Angelo average 246.43 over seven games during the first day of qualifying at the 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic.
The New York native rolled 250, 247, 222, 233, 236, 300 and 237 for 1,725 inside Olympia Lanes. Despite having a split in all but his perfect game, he felt like everything went pretty well.
“In Game 5, I was still controlling the pocket, but I knew I had to make a change. I struck the last five or six shots in Game 5 then I shot 300,” he said. “The last game it was hooking more, so halfway through the game, I switched to a fresher version of the same ball and threw the last seven for 237.”
Last year at this tournament, he missed the cut, so making his way to the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday made him happy. He feels like he usually gets out of the gates quickly in tournaments, yet when he reaches the middle games, he sometimes struggles to keep up with the scoring pace. He is thrilled to have a few new balls that so far this season have filled up a gap in his arsenal.
“When you put a ball in your hand and you feel like if you just throw it good it is going to hook correctly and it is going to strike, that’s how I feel. I think it has freed me up,” he said. “I don't feel like I am bowling in a phone booth anymore trying to make something strike versus just being able to let it go. That has really helped out a lot.”
He uses the same types of balls every week and his biggest adjustments are how fast or slow he needs to throw it and how he releases the ball. He then watches those on his pair and around him to gather information on how to adapt to the lanes. Angelo has a 41-pin lead over Stephen Krywy at +284. He is followed by Dan Knowlton at +274 and Chris Barnes at +265. Defending champion John Janawicz led B-squad at +258 and he is sitting in fifth place.
Janawicz and B-squad will get the final seven games of qualifying starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday followed by A-squad at 3 p.m. ET. At the end of the night, the field will be cut to the top 36 bowlers.
They will move into the Advancers Round on Thursday, where all pins will carry over. After four games, the top 24 will advance to bracket match play. All pins at that time will be dropped. Watch all the action only on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 South Shore Classic standings:
- Brad Angelo, 1,725 (+325)
- Stephen Krywy 1,684 (+284)
- Dan Knowlton 1,674 (+274)
- Chris Barnes, 1,665 (+265)
- John Janawicz, 1,658 (+258)
- Clint Dacy, 1,657 (+257)
- Gary Alstott, 1,642 (+242)
- Mitch Beasley, 1,626 (+226)
- Rudy Kasimakis, 1,608 (+208)
- Tom Adcock, 1,607 (+207)