Chris Warren Leads PBA50 South Shore Classic
Hammond, Ind. – Chris Warren’s family insisted he have some fun and bowl as much of the 2026 PBA50 Tour season as possible. He is having a great time competing alongside his friends and golfing, too. This week at the South Shore Classic, he was excited to cross with his long-time friend Amleto Monacelli.
“We went to PBA school together,” Warren said. “I just love bowling against him because we are pretty similar in the way we bowl and the way we read the lanes.”
After Monacelli struggled to carry on Tuesday, it was a different story for him on Wednesday. He bowled more than 200 pins higher on the final day of qualifying, which included a 299 game. He went from 64th place to 25th.
“He bowled so good yesterday. He got the most unbelievably bad breaks at bad times. It was hard to watch somebody bowl that good and not knock them down,” Warren said of Monacelli. “Today, it started off that way. I told him to get it to the right and a couple big games, you are right there. Next thing you know, he shoots 299. It was a lot of fun.”
As for Warren, he felt the lanes played the same as he experienced on day one. So, he decided to try a few different things on his way to shooting 1,659. His 14-game total is 3,371.
“You get it to the right, it hooks. You miss a little left, it hooks. So, get it to the right,” Warren said, laughing. “I’m having so much fun. It’s like a vacation.”
He is followed by Liz Johnson, who shot the highest block of the day at 1,676. She had games of 277, 264, 186, 238, 237, 226 and 248. She is 83 pins behind Warren. Don Hogue is in third place with 3,233 followed by Brian LeClair in fourth at 3,225 and Mika Koivuniemi is fifth with 3,221.
At the end of qualifying, the field was cut to the top 32. Bill Watson was the final player in with 2,982. They will bowl four games in the Advancers Round starting at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. The top 24 will then move into best-of-three bracket match play starting with qualifiers 9-24 at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The winners will join the top 8 qualifiers in the Round of 16. Following that, is the Round of 8. The four undefeated bowlers and the highest seeded eliminated player will be in the stepladder finals scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET. Follow the final day of action on BowlTV.
Top 10 2026 PBA50 South Shore Classic standings:
- Chris Warren 3,371 total pins (+571)
- Liz Johnson, 3,288 (+488)
- Don Hogue, 3,233 (+433)
- Brian LeClair, 3,225 (+425)
- Mika Koivuniemi, 3,221 (+421)
- Tony Johnson, 3,218 (+418)
- Rolando Sebelen, 3,179 (+379)
- Chris Barnes, 3,161 (+361)
- Michael Haggitt, 3,140 (+340)
- Brad Angelo, 3,131 (+331)