By JILL WINTERS
PBA Communications
JACKSON, Mich. —Less than a month ago, Chris Barnes enjoyed a victory more than he has in a long time at the 2025 PBA50 South Shore Classic.
This week, he has earned three No. 1 seeds in the 2025 PBA50 World Series of Bowling III.
During qualifying Wednesday in the Holman Championship, Barnes bowled 298, 212, 222, 232, 233, 269, 258 and 231 for +355. With his big block, he was able to pass A-squad leader Bryan Goebel by 91 pins for the top seed.
He also was able to climb from fifth place in the World Championship standings to first place. He is ahead of John Janawicz by 12 pins. Barnes’ other top seed came in the first event of the WSOB III in the Ballard Championship.
“I didn’t think catching J.J. (Janawicz) today was on the agenda but I am happy to be a lot closer. He has bowled fantastic since Day 1,” Barnes said. “I watched the morning squad and was going to use a game plan as close to J.J.’s as I could come up with. Having competed and roomed with (J.J.) and everything else, we have some of the same ways of trying to get to the same places. The last four games played to my advantage down the stretch.”
Barnes felt he was very fortunate to start his block with 298, leaving a 2-8 on his final shot. He admits he missed in the right places at the right times toward the end of the game as the lanes were getting tighter.
“The 12th shot was really good, and I thought I was running that one out, but it backed up at the end. The next two games I was scrambling the whole time and threw some late strikes to get 212 and 222,” he said. “Today, I got to the right balls faster and survived the bad games early, so when it started going right, it got good pretty quick.”
Goebel led after A-squad took to the lanes first. He had games of 227, 257, 279, 215, 252, 216, 226 and 192 for +264. He felt like he had enough oil to help him out on the lanes Wednesday, which allowed him to throw the ball just how he likes. He also capitalized on some good carry.
Goebel has spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks competing inside JAX 60. He earned an eighth-place finish in the PBA60 Webb Championship and ninth place in the PBA60 World Championship.
The PBA50 World Series of Bowling III has not been as successful for Goebel, which made this block a relief.
“Today felt good. I am still stunned that I am sitting here as the leader of this squad. I am really happy I bowled as well as I did and I’m surprised,” Goebel said. “Last week and this week were the first two tournaments I have gotten to bowl this season. I was sure glad everybody was 60-and-over last week.”
Goebel is battling some pain in his right hip, which flared up in his final game of the day. Yet, he loves competing on tour when he can.
“I just hope tomorrow I have something similar to what I had today. I am excited to be bowling another day,” Goebel said. “I know I have limitations, so I try as hard as I can. Bowling out here is a big challenge.”
Behind Goebel is Jon Rakoski in third at +257. Tom Hess is in fourth at +251 and Dan Knowlton is fifth at +249. The final player to make the Holman Championship cut was James Krafft at +165.
The top 16 players advanced to bracket match play best-of-five matches in the Round of 16 on Thursday then the Round of 8 will start at 2 p.m. 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.
Qualifying for the World Championship also now is complete. After 32 games in the Ballard, Monacelli, Petraglia and Holman Championships, the top 18 bowlers have been determined. The top five are Chris Barnes, John Janawicz, Mark Clark, Tom Daugherty and Brian LeClair. The final player in was Tom Adcock at +537.
“Mika (Koivuniemi) got in and Brad (Angelo) got in today. It is the who’s-who out there in the top 18. But I want to make a show here first,” Barnes said. “Let’s see if we can win that first match, get that part out of the way and then see if I can win the second one and be the top seed for the Holman.”
For the World Championship, they will bowl two six game blocks of round-robin match play, with bonus pins, starting at 9 a.m. then at 2 p.m. Friday.
The final six games will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday to determine the top five bowlers who will make the stepladder finals at 3 p.m. Saturday. The winner will earn a major championship title and the $25,000 first-place check.
Follow all of the action onBowlTV.
See complete Holman qualifying results here: https://www.leaguepals.com/league-info?id=686e93f86695c4435c7b1215