John Janawicz Leads PBA50 The Villages Classic
The Villages, Florida – The 2026 PBA50 Tour season began on Tuesday and the reigning Player of the Year, John Janawicz is back to impressing everyone with the countless tricks he delivers.
This time, he learned something from watching the PBA Tour that inspired him. After following the Go Bowling U.S. Open last month, he picked up a Hammer Axe as his new spare ball. To his surprise, it helped him average 252 during the first day of qualifying at the 2026 PBA50 The Villages Classic. He rolled games of 252, 280, 257, 223, 245 and 255 for a total pinfall of 1,512.
“The first couple of frames I tried a few balls and they looked awful. So, I thought, ‘Well, let me just try this to see how it (Hammer Axe) looks’ and the next thing I knew I threw the next 15 strikes, then I just went from there,” Janawicz said. “I felt like this ball was in the mix, but of the balls that I thought I was probably going to throw on the fresh, this was probably like number five. I had to find some way to keep it more direct and that was the one that stayed in that little slot on the lanes. Low and behold, here we are 312 over. That is hard to explain.”
He was even more amazed by the slight adjustments he made from pair to pair.
“I am surprised about how little I moved all night. That was the biggest surprise. The total range that I moved was about a board and a half,” he said. “I don’t think I have done that since I was 14. It was kind of bizarre.”
Ninety-four pins behind Janawicz is fellow B squad bowler Brian Leclair with a total pinfall of 1,418. As for Mark Clark, he felt like he took a step back in time. He also relied on just one ball for all six games – a Black Pearl Urethane Hammer - to lead the A squad. He averaged 232.
“That doesn’t happen very often. It was the old school bowling moves that we did when urethane was the only bowling balls that we had and they still work; it was awesome,” Clark said. “It started off as creep a little left then it was give it a little air on the lane. Then, get it into the lane a little quicker but we are going to hit it and give it the business. The last three games, I moved one board.”
Clark had just one open on the day. He was thrilled to get his season off to a strong start.
“Man, I hope this is a trend that will continue for me,” he said. “This is one of the few tournaments where you can get some byes, so I am going to try to hold on for one.”
Behind Clark is Tom Hess at +188 and Troy Lint is in fifth place at +178. The 144-player field will bowl on the fresh 38-foot Marshall Holman oil pattern for their final six games of qualifying on Wednesday.
Janawicz and the B squad will get the day started at 9 a.m. Eastern followed by the A squad at 3:30 p.m. After qualifying, the top 48 players will move into the Advancers Round on Thursday. You can watch day two of qualifying on BowlTV.
Top 10 PBA50 The Villages Classic standings:
- John Janawicz, 1,512 total pins
- Brian Leclair, 1,418
- Mark Clark, 1,396
- Tom Hess, 1,388
- Troy Lint, 1,378
- Jeff Beasley, 1,361
- James Campbell, 1,359
- Tom Daugherty, 1,355
- Bo Goergen, 1,343
- Danny Wiseman, 1,343