Brad Angelo Leading Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship
Woodbridge, Virginia – Brad Angelo did something in competition on Saturday that he has never really done before. During the first six games of qualifying at the 2026 Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship, Angelo felt he needed to loft the ball. He had immediate results and stuck to his game plan shooting 257, 239, 246, 266, 243 and 236 for 1,487.
“I have never really attempted loft in competition because I have never been that good at it. During the practice session, I bowled for about 15 or 20 minutes then I sat and watched for about half an hour or 45 minutes,” Angelo said. “I bowled for the last 45 minutes lofting it and I felt I could do it. I came right out of the gate and I started striking.”
He admits a couple of his shots hung up on his thumb yet still struck. He also missed a few to the right but thanks to the loft it provided a little bit more axis rotation, he said. He was quick to point out his version of lofting is nowhere close to how far out on the lane Mika Koivuniemi lofts his ball. Overall, he gave himself a score of seven out of 10 in terms of his execution.
“I feel very fortunate to be leading. I don’t think it was my best executed block,” Angelo said. “It is always nice to have a really good scoring block early in these types of tournaments. You feel like it takes a lot of pressure off. I did my job, now I just have to bowl great the next couple of days and get to match play. That is when the tournaments starts.”
There are 12 more games of qualifying with a six-game block on Sunday and Monday. All pins will carry forward when the field is cut to the top 24 players for round-robin match-play, which begins Tuesday.
Left-hander John Marsala led the B squad with 1,451, sitting in second place. Marsala won the PBA50 Bud Moore Classic in 2021. He is followed by Ricky Schissler in third at 1,437. Chris Barnes is fourth at 1,435 followed by Mika Koivuniemi in fifth at 1,422. After six games, the cut line is Michael Zarnick at 1,332 (+132) in 24th place.
The B squad will be on the lanes starting at 9 a.m. Eastern on Sunday followed by the C squad at 12:30 p.m. and finally the A squad at 4 p.m. You can watch day two of qualifying on BowlTV.
- Brad Angelo, 1,487 (+287)
- John Marsala, 1,451(+251)
- Ricky Schissler, 1,437 (+237)
- Chris Barnes, 1,435 (+235)
- Mika Koivuniemi, 1,422 (+222)
- Brian LeClair, 1,420 (+220)
- Jason Couch,1,414 (+214)
- Michael Hartter, 1,405 (+205)
- Ken Foy, 1,394 (+194)
- Jon Rakoski, 1,389 (+189)
