Chris Barnes Wins 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic
Hammond, Indiana – After one of the roughest starts to Chris Barnes’ PBA50 career, he has returned to the winner circle. On Thursday night, he was the top seed in the stepladder finals at the 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic and he earned his seventh PBA50 title. That ties him with the legendary Earl Anthony and his good friend, John Janawicz, who finished in third place.
“I am pretty lucky. I have had a good run for a long time, and I never really struggled. Of my five worst tournaments on the PBA50, the first four weeks (of this season) were four of them,” Barnes said. “Trying to keep up with the kids (on the PBA Tour), I went down a path that was kind of dark and desolate. I got a chance to reset and go back to some old habits. The (Senior) U.S. Open was closer. I got home and got to practice with Lynda, Troy and Ryan (his wife and twin sons) a little bit. She has a great eye, and she really helped me. I felt way better coming into this week. Things kind of fell together.”
In the championship match, Barnes faced Clint Dacy, who was making his first-ever PBA50 stepladder finals appearance. The two have known each other for years and that showed as they both were smiling and having fun throughout the game. Barnes started with three straight strikes before an errant shot took off to the left leaving the 1-3-6-8-10. Barnes stared at the remaining pins for awhile and admitted he told Dacy he didn’t know how to shoot at the spare. He picked up his spare ball and covered only the 3-6-10.
“I had not thrown a shot as bad as that in a minute. Let’s be honest, I have been on a lot of TV shows, and I have had some bad, bad moments. That might have been the worst one of all of them,” Barnes joked. “I don’t practice this spare. I haven’t since I was like 6 years old, I don’t think. I am still zero percent at that spare.”
Barnes then picked up a 7-pin on the tricky left lane. Dacy stayed cleaned with strike, spare, strike, spare, spare halfway through. In the sixth, Dacy rolled his first strike on the left lane and clenched his fist. Barnes responded with a messenger on the 10-pin and struck for the third time on the left lane. He walked that shot out to the right, raised up his right leg and slapped his hands together emphatically.
Dacy picked up two more single pins then Barnes struck for the third straight time followed by a spare. Dacy finished first and he calmly delivered a strike on the right lane. He took back-to-back re-racks on the left lane, crossed his fingers for a rack he liked and stepped up big. He ran out the first shot, adding a hop to his step and slapped his hands together. He again stepped up and struck out for 218 to put some pressure on Barnes.
Barnes released his shot and crouched down at the foul line as his ball hit high-flush for a strike. His next shot was a bit wide right, yet it came back enough just leaving the 3-pin, which he converted for 220.
“He bowled like he has been on 25 of these things (stepladder finals). He bowled like a true pro and took out the hottest guy on the PBA50 Tour in John Janawicz pushing him to the limits,” Barnes said of Dacy. “I was pretty fortunate to get by today.”
After the win, Barnes also took time to thank the large, supportive crowd inside Olympia Lanes that was truly into every shot being thrown. He said that made it so much fun.
In the opening match, Janawicz relied on urethane. He picked up a 10-pin in the first frame followed by six straight strikes against fellow Florida resident Jon Rakoski. Rakoski doubled in the first and second then again in the sixth and seventh. He finished strong with four straight strikes to lose 268-225. Rakoski was the No. 21 seed after the morning’s Advancers Round. He bowled his way to a fifth-place finish.
Janawicz was committed to urethane against 2024 PBA50 Rookie of the Year Randy Weiss. Janawicz again started with a single-pin spare and six straight strikes then a split for an open frame in the eighth. After three spares and two strikes through the first five frames, Weiss rolled three straight strikes to get back in the match yet a pocket 7-10 in the ninth ended his run. Janawicz got the win 238-215.
Janawicz and Dacy met in the semifinal match. Dacy got started with five straight strikes as Janawicz delivered five out of six strikes. Janawicz picked up the difficult 3-6-9-10 in the seventh and Dacy missed a 10-pin. Dacy stepped up first with a strike in the ninth and two more in the 10th along with a 3-pin for 246. Working on a double in the eighth and ninth frame, Janawicz left the dreaded pocket 7-10 split to end his run up the stepladder with 221.
Next up for the senior tour is Wayne Webb’s PBA60 World Series of Bowling, which begins on Tuesday in Ohio. The PBA50 World Series of Bowling III will begin July 10 in Michigan.
Championship Round Scores
Match 1: Janawicz def. Rakoski 268-225
Match 2: Janawicz def. Weiss 238-215
Match 3: Dacy def. Janawicz 246-221
Championship match: Barnes def. Dacy 220-218