Pete Weber Expands Lead at 2025 PBA50 Senior U.S. Open
Greeley, Colorado – Pete Weber’s hot streak of bowling this week continued Saturday during the final day of qualifying in the 2025 PBA50 Senior U.S. Open.
He started off with 11 straight strikes in his first game for 298 at Highland Park Lanes and closed out Game 2 with eight consecutive strikes for 247. He added 224, 245, 213 and 192. He averaged 237.89 in qualifying to increase his lead to 161 pins.
“I bowled pretty good again today and I still feel confident,” Weber said. “I am going to be tough to beat.”
Weber, who has won the U.S. Open on the PBA Tour five times and twice on the PBA50, Norm Duke and Mika Koivuniemi are the only three bowlers to win this event on both tours. Weber has only missed one spare over his 18 qualifying games to go along with lots of strikes.
“It is a major and I like the major tournaments. It’s not just get up there and throw the ball anywhere you want. You have got to keep the ball in the play area, and you have got to make your spares,” he said. “Take advantage of the pairs you can strike on and the pairs you can’t, make sure you bowl a clean game. That has been my strategy the whole time.”
Chris Barnes held the lead after A-squad was on the lanes. He posted games of 215, 268, 267, 218, 222 and 202 for 1,392. That improved his three-day qualifying total to 4,121, putting him in second place overall.
“They are tricky pair to pair, and it keeps you on your toes; 220 ends up being a good game,” Barnes said. “It is nice to be in the hunt and not chasing the number, which is all that I have been doing this year.”
Georgia’s Brian Dennis took over the lead after C-squad was the first group on the lanes on Saturday. He averaged 241.5 on the fresh with games of 248, 268, 238, 258, 223 and 214 for 1,449. He finished qualifying at +513 in third place. He has improved each block going from 1,261 on the double burn to 1,403 on the burn. He’s had a solid start to the season with recent finishes of eighth and 12th place in the last two major championships.
“Making the right ball choice and seeing the lanes the right way has been huge the last two weeks,” Dennis said. “I think the scoring pace is higher than we thought it would be here at the beginning of the week, especially in practice. It is not easy, but if you can match everything up right and repeat shots, you can score.”
Bowling on the fresh oil during the practice session earlier in the week, Dennis said he and others didn’t think they were very playable, yet after multiple re-oils he felt the fresh was more favorable.
“They allowed us to get a little farther left to start and we were able to create a little hook to the right. They opened up and several guys had a pretty good block,” Dennis said. “I was fortunate my first four games that I threw the ball pretty well. If I needed a break, I got it, and it worked out.”
Behind Dennis is Greg Thomas at +424 and defending champion John Janawicz at +423. At the end of qualifying, the final player to make the top 24 was Clay Rees at +269.
All pins now carry over into 24 games of round-robin match play Sunday and Monday. The first six-game block each day will begin at noon Eastern on the fresh then at 4:30 p.m. ET on the burn. The top five bowlers will be in the stepladder finals scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday. The winner will earn a major title and $15,000, so don’t miss a minute of the action all on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 Senior U.S. Open standings:
- Pete Weber, 4,282 (+682)
- Chris Barnes, 4,121 (+521)
- Brian Dennis, 4,113 (+513)
- Greg Thomas, 4,024 (+424)
- John Janawicz, 4,023 (+423)
- Steve Kloempken, 4,014 (+414)
- Stephen Krywy, 3,998 (+398)
- Dan Knowlton, 3,991 (+391)
- Ricky Schissler, 3,988 (+388)
- Jon Rakoski, 3,975 (+375)