– The first tournament at the 2025 PBA50 World Series of Bowling III features Chris Barnes in the lead. He is the defending champion in the PBA50 Ballard Championship, and he is coming off a win at the previous PBA50 Tour stop in the South Shore Classic.
Barnes rolled games of 221, 187, 254, 264, 238, 266, 268 and 226 for 1,924. He has already won three times at JAX 60, so clearly this is a center he loves to bowl in. He hopes to carry his positive momentum forward and feels like he is headed in the right direction.
“Feeling better than I was a month ago that is for sure. For whatever reason, my ball reads this place pretty good,” Barnes said.
Barnes keeps detailed notes on his phone about each center he bowls in. This includes what year it was, the oil pattern, lane characteristics, and what equipment worked and didn’t work. Those valuable notes have helped him repeat some winning history. As soon as he finished his block, he was already thinking about a new gameplan heading into bracket match play on Friday. As the No. 1 seed he will face left-hander and No. 16 Michael Hartter.
“I ended up getting a lot of score, but I didn’t get any of it the first two games, which is going to be super important in those matches. I need a different strategy for the fresh,” he said. “Once I got enough carry down with urethane my ball reaction got better. I will have to create some of that myself.”
Behind Barnes in second is lefty Jason Couch, who finished in fourth place in last year’s Ballard Championship. He is at +282. Brian LeClair is continuing his great bowling. After finishing second in Wayne Webb's PBA60 World Championship just a few days ago, LeClair is in third place at +279.
Local bowler Larry Verble led A-squad. He is enjoying the comforts of being able to sleep in his own bed and compete in his home bowling center at JAX 60. He shot 245, 206, 233, 223, 289, 259, 227 and 186 for 1,868. He is in fourth place at +268. Just three pins behind him is Todd Kjell in fifth place.
“It feels fantastic. We were able to practice on all of the patterns here with the staff helping me out. Having a little bit of hometown knowledge really helped me out going across the house,” Verble said. “I love this format. It is tough on the guys from out of town but for myself, it makes life so much easier being able to bowl five tournaments, possibly, within driving distance of my house within 10 days.”
He lives just 25 minutes away. He was able to use just one ball on Thursday and only had to move about 10 boards while going from one end of the center to the other on the 36-foot Ballard oil pattern. Verble is coming off a successful PBA60 World Series of Bowling, where he finished 10th in the first-ever World Championship. That was his first tour event of the season as he still works full-time. He also finished second in last year’s Monacelli Championship.
“Being in tournament mode and ready helps out tremendously on repeating shots and making the right decisions with bowling balls,” he said. “I enjoy all of the patterns. I like the constant competition and trying to qualify for the World Championship. The other tournaments are important, but we are all vying for the World Championship.”
The final player to make the cut was Michael Hartter at +190. Tom Adcock shot the only 300 game of the day in Game 7 on B-squad.
The top 16 players will advance to bracket match play with best-of-five matches in the Round of 16 scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday, then the Round of 8 will start at 2 p.m. ET. The four undefeated winners and the highest-seeded losing bowler in the Round of 8 will be in the stepladder finals set to begin at 6 p.m.
Looking ahead, qualifying for the PBA50 Monacelli Championship will begin with B-squad then A-squad on Saturday. Bracket match play and the finals will all be on Sunday.
Qualifying pins from the Ballard, Monacelli, Petraglia and Holman Championships will carry over to determine which bowlers will compete in the PBA50 World Championship match play, scheduled to begin next Fri., July 18.
Overall, five PBA50 titles are available. You can watch the entire PBA50 WSOB III only on
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