John Janawicz Leading 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic
Hammond, Indiana – Defending PBA50 South Shore Classic champion, John Janawicz is in the lead after qualifying. On Thursday, the Florida native averaged 245 to get to +573. He had games of 257, 216, 217, 255, 247, 255 and 268 for 1,715 to go along with his 1,658 on Wednesday.
His lowest game of qualifying was a 207. He started with urethane before making a change in game four then he said the picture became a lot clearer. In addition to his win last year, Janawicz finished second in 2023. He enjoys bowling at Olympia Lanes.
“I took some pretty good notes the last couple of years. I am definitely a firm believer that certain lane surfaces from a front-to-back standpoint with their age tend to match up pretty well to certain people’s ball roll and rev rate,” he said. “Three different patterns but I am still bowling well all three times. There is obviously something about this place that I really like.”
In last week's Senior U.S. Open, he felt like there were a couple of windows where his set up and push away got away from him a little bit, despite finishing in fifth place. He feels it’s getting a lot better, so now he just needs to continue to be smart, make good decisions and keep up his good shot making. Looking at Thursday’s final day of the tournament, he knows the importance of getting lined up fast.
“You have to focus more on the fresh because if you don’t see the picture right in two games, you are done. It is a different mindset for sure,” he said.
Day 1 qualifying leader Brad Angelo started his day with a 279 but a 156 in game three forced him to play catch-up. He was able to do just that, rebounding with 235, 238, 279 and 239 to get to +549, which puts him in second. He is followed closely by Chris Barnes at +540. He consistently shot 1,665 and 1,675.
Iowa’s Tom Hess also had a strong final block. He bowled 168 pins higher on Wednesday over Tuesday. He started with back-to-back-to-back 258 games then added 246, 236, 237 and 226 to get to +470 overall. Clint Dacy moved into fifth place at +435.
A feel-good story at this tournament is the return of 2023 PBA50 Player of the Year Troy Lint. This was his first national senior tournament since rehabbing from knee replacement and hernia surgery. He has yet to bowl a game under 200 through qualifying posting back-to-back blocks of 1,591. He is currently in 10th place at +382.
“It’s cloud-nine. I am amped up, but I will settle down here soon,” he said. “I have been working hard and it’s a phenomenal feeling. I had a pretty good two days and there are a lot of great bowlers behind me.”
At the end of Wednesday, the field was cut to the top 36 bowlers. Last year’s third place finisher Brian Link was the final player inside the number at +218. The pins will carry over going into four games in the Advancers Round, which will start at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. The top 24 will then advance to best-of-three bracket match play with all pins dropping. The Round of 24 will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET with qualifiers 9 through 24, as the top 8 receive an opening round bye.
The winners of those matches and the top 8 will bowl in the Round of 16 scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Round of 8 at 6 p.m. The four remaining undefeated players and the highest-seeded Round of 8 losing player will make it to the stepladder finals set to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. You can watch all the action only on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 South Shore Classic standings:
- John Janawicz, 3,373 (+573)
- Brad Angelo, 3,349 (+549)
- Chris Barnes, 3,340 (+540)
- Tom Hess, 3,270 (+470)
- Clint Dacy, 3,235 (+435)
- Ron Hurt, 3,233 (+433)
- John Verbich, 3,229 (+429)
- Tom Adcock, 3,215 (+415)
- Dan Knowlton, 3,186 (+386)
- Troy Lint, 3,182 (+382)