By JILL WINTERS
PBA Communications
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The first tournament at the 2026 PBA50 World Series of Bowling IV got underway Sunday with a field of 119 bowlers.
Jason Couch came in as the defending champion of the Ballard Championship, and he opened his defense of the title by throwing the lone 300 of the day.
The Hall of Fame left-hander averaged 240 over 10 games of qualifying to climb to the second seed behind Mika Koivuniemi. They were two of the six players who advanced to bracket match play best-of-five matches.
Couch continued his striking ways against No. 5 seed Bill Fabian. Couch shot 800 in his three games series for the sweep, 268-237, 254-186 and 278-257.
“It feels good. I have been working on my timing so hard, and it fell into place. I just have to keep that momentum going,” Couch said. “It helps me to start on a pattern that I really like. That can go a long way. I think it is very fortunate for me that we started on the short pattern.”
As the top overall qualifier, Koivuniemi faced No. 6 seed John Janawicz. Janawicz, the two-time defending PBA50 Player of the Year who is dealing with an A4 pulley injury on his bowling hand, defeated Koivuniemi 290-247, 248-236, 213-257 and 238-226.
With a swollen middle finger, Janawicz relied on throwing his ball slower.
“My only thing is I don’t want to do anymore damage than what already is there. That is more my thinking behind it,” Janawicz said. “We will see how I feel in the morning and go from there. Get ice, lidocaine and hope for the best.”
The other match included No. 3 seed Brad Angelo against No. 4 Bill Rowe. Rowe, a decorated Team Canada bowler, defeated Angelo in the first two games 299-259 and 267-196. Angelo responded with a win in Game 3, 244-233. But Rowe took Game 4, 242-231, to advance.
Couch is the top seed followed by Rowe then Janawicz in the PBA50 Ballard Championship, which will air live at 3 p.m. May 9 on CBS Sports Network.
Lewis Center’s Dan Higgins, who claimed his first regional title recently at Ballerz Sports Club in Wooster, missed the cut to the top six by just 20 pins.
On Monday, the field will return to AMF Southtown Lanes to bowl 10 games of qualifying at the PBA50 Monacelli Championship, starting at 10 a.m. ET then 5 p.m.
After qualifying, the top six bowlers will move into bracket match play best-of-five matches to determine the top three for the live Monacelli Championship finals scheduled to air at 3 p.m. May 10 on CBS Sports Network. Janawicz is the defending champion.
Day 3 of the WSOB IV on Tuesday will be the Petraglia Championship. After 10 games of qualifying, six bowlers will compete in bracket match play best-of-five matches to determine the top three for the Petraglia Championship. That final will air at 6 p.m. May 11 on CBS Sports Network.
All qualifying rounds pinfall from the Ballard, Monacelli and Petraglia Championships will carry over to determine which bowlers will compete in the PBA50 World Championship. The top 40 will qualify for the Advancers Rounds. That will begin with six games at 6 p.m. May 6.
The field will then be cut to the top 16 for round-robin match play, scheduled to begin on May 7. After 16 games of match play, that will 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 titles are available. You can watch the entire PBA50 WSOB IV only on BowlTV.
PBA50 Ballard Championship Finalists:
- Jason Couch
- Bill Rowe
- John Janawicz
See complete Ballard standings here: https://www.leaguepals.com/league-info?id=69a8c69a9279358a567c2dad