By GENE J. KANAK
USBC Communications
ARLINGTON, Texas – Team USA’s Julian Salinas leads the 26-player field, and teammate AJ Johnson sits third after Tuesday’s opening round of Men’s Singles competition at the 2026 PANAM Bowling Champion of Champions in Costa Rica.
Salinas, a 24-year-old two-handed righty, recorded scores of 248, 243, 257, 223, 156, 267, 257 and 244 at the Bowling Center of the Costa Rica Country Club in San Jose to finish with an eight-game total of 1,895 (a 236.9 average).
That effort put Salinas 39 pins ahead of Peru’s Alejandro Ishikawa, who sits second with 1,856, and 50 pins ahead of Johnson, who totaled 1,845 thanks to games of 228, 197, 218, 203, 300, 202, 218 and 279.
Tuesday’s perfect game was the second in as many days for Johnson as the 34-year-old right-hander also strung together 12 consecutive strikes during Monday’s run to the Men’s Doubles silver medal with Salinas.
Salinas and Johnson will look to turn their strong starts into medals during Wednesday’s final eight-game block of Men’s Singles competition in San Jose.
One of Salinas’ keys will be continuing to get off to a strong start. The American two-hander has had no trouble doing so during the first two days of competition, starting with 738 during Games 1-3 (267, 244, 227) of doubles on Day 1 and following that up with 748 for his first three games (248, 243, 257) of singles on Tuesday.
According to Salinas, quick starts have occurred due to how well his style and equipment have been matching up to the fresh version of the 41-foot Champion of Champions oil pattern.
“There’s some miss room built into the pattern on the fresh before the lanes get super cliffed and wet/dry,” Salinas said. “As long as AJ (Johnson) and I have the right surface on our urethane balls, we’re able to take advantage of the fresh, play in the track area and just let the ball do the work.”
But that path to the pocket only lasts so long, and once it’s gone, the athletes have to dig deep into their bags of tricks to figure out how to keep the strikes coming and the scores going up.
One of Salinas’ go-to adjustments for fighting transition is to throw a back-up ball, which involves hooking the ball from left to right on the lane as a left-handed bowler would instead of hooking it from right to left as righties typically do.
At first glance, it may seem like an unorthodox tactic, but it’s one Salinas has worked on for many years and has proven himself quite capable of employing at any point during competition.
“I first started working on the back-up ball in 2019, so I’ve been doing it for quite a few years,” Salinas said. “Two days in a row now, I’ve tried switching to reactive on the right side. It was decent the first day, but it really didn’t look good at all today. Having that extra option to treat the lanes as fresh on the left side and go back to urethane by throwing the back-up ball has been super valuable.”
Salinas was stellar on both sides of the lane on Tuesday, and that is why he’ll begin the final eight-game block of Men’s Singles as the man to beat.
“It’s a really great feeling to be the leader today,” Salinas said. “We were really able to take what we learned yesterday and apply it to today, and there’s even more we learned today that we can take into tomorrow. We’re learning a lot with every frame, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
What Johnson is looking forward to is some better pin carry.
“The execution was great. I think I only missed the pocket twice in eight games today,” Johnson said. “We had a much clearer picture, so the decisions and game plan were very straightforward today. It was just trying to find a solution to get the ball to go through the pins the right way.”
Through 16 games at this year’s Champion of Champions, Johnson has two 300 games, a 279 and a 268, proving that when his ball goes through the pins like he wants it to, he can strike as much as anyone. That fact has Team USA veteran feeling good heading into the final eight games of singles.
“I feel like I’m in a really good position,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take another solid day of execution and even more patience to reach our ultimate goal, so we’re going to get after it and do everything we can to put ourselves where we want to be.”
Wednesday will mark the final day of men’s competition at the 2026 Pan American Champion of Champions as the event features a split schedule that has the men competing first with the women to follow.
In addition to the second round of Men’s Singles competition and that event’s medal presentations, Wednesday’s schedule also will feature the final women’s practice session.
Women’s Doubles competition will commence on Thursday with Crystal Elliott and Jordan Snodgrass teaming up for Team USA.
Elliott and Snodgrass will compete as individuals one day later as Round 1 of Women’s Singles will occur on Friday along with the Women’s Doubles medal presentations.
Saturday will be the final day of competition at the 2026 Pan American Champion of Champions and will see Round 2 of Women’s Singles take place and that event’s medals conferred.
See complete results here: https://bowl.com/team-usa/2026_panam_champion_of_champions