May 5, 2026 Jill Winters

Bloomington, Minnesota – The 2026 PBA50 Petraglia Championship saw a mix of players advancing to bracket match play on Tuesday, during the continuation of the PBA50 World Series of Bowling IV.

For the second straight day, Tom Hess was able to do some extra bowling. After averaging nearly 250 for his final five games of qualifying on the 46-foot Petraglia oil pattern, he moved from 16th place to first. That top seed earned him the chance to face No. 6 seed Randy Weiss in the best-of-five bracket match play. 

Hess took the first game 258-228, while Weiss evened the match winning 214-182. Hess fought back winning 220-211 and 232-226 to earn the overall No. 1 seed at the Petraglia Championship. He is seeking his 12th PBA50 Tour title.  

“Only having three spots for each of the shows in this absolutely star-studded talented field to get to the top six, just to have the opportunity to win a match to get to the show, is incredibly hard,” Hess said. “To get that done, I now have to bowl one game for title No. 12. Words cannot describe it. But the bigger thing, the World Championship completes the career PBA50 grand slam, so that is what I am going after.”

Michael Machuga, the second seed, is making his PBA50 debut at the World Series. He matched up against No. 5 seed Andres Gomez, who had a hot hand coming in. Gomez was able to climb from 34th place to fifth in qualifying to make match play. Gomez then went on to defeat Machuga winning 194-190, 218-181 and 196-185.  

There was another sweep between No. 3 seed Ron Hurt and No. 4 John Burkett. Hurt was on fire striking 27 times during the match as he defeated Burkett 248-194, 239-238 and 279-201. 

In the opening match of the PBA50 Petraglia Championship, Hurt will face Gomez with the winner taking on Hess. That live show will air at 6 p.m. Eastern May 11 on CBS Sports Network. 

All qualifying round pinfall from the Ballard, Monacelli and Petraglia Championship determined the top 40 bowlers who will now compete in the PBA50 World Championship. Jason Couch is in first followed by Michael Machuga, Mika Koivuniemi, Bill Rowe and Tom Hess to round out the top five. The final bowler to make the cut was Donald Hogue with a total pinfall of 6,334 (+334). 

“Two days ago, if you had told me I was going to be in fifth going into the Advancers Round, I would have told you that you were nuts. I came out and tried to win the World Championship from the first ball of this tournament. You just can’t do that. You have to relax and let it happen,” Hess said. “The first day I was not able to do that when the scores were high, and you don’t quite see it. All of a sudden, you start pressing and things go bad. On Monday, I made some good lane play choices, bowled much better and have been able to turn it around.”

Next up for the top 40 is six games in the Advancers Rounds, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The field will then be cut to the top 16. They will bowl two eight game blocks of round-robin match play starting at noon then 6 p.m. ET on Thursday to determine the top three for the World Championship stepladder. The finals for that major championship show will begin at 6 p.m. ET on May 12, again on CBS Sports Network. 

Overall, four PBA50 Tour titles are available. You can watch the entire PBA50 WSOB IV only on BowlTV.

PBA50 Petraglia Championship Advancers

  1. Tom Hess
  2. Ron Hurt
  3. Andres Gomez

Full standings - PBA50 Petraglia Championship

PBA50 World Championship top 10 (through 30 games of qualifying)

  1. Jason Couch, 6,847 (+847)
  2. Michael Machuga, 6,793 (+793)
  3. Mika Koivuniemi, 6,754 (+754)
  4. Bill Rowe, 6,724 (+724)
  5. Tom Hess, 6,693 (+693)
  6. Chris Barnes, 6,630 (+630)
  7. Brad Angelo, 6,625 (+625)
  8. John Burkett, 6,619 (+619)
  9. Brian Leclair, 6,601 (+601)
  10. Peter Dohan Jr., 6,595 (+595)

Full standings - PBA50 World Championship

More information on the WSOB IV is available here.

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