Chris Barnes Wins PBA50 Ballard Championship
Jackson, Michigan – A couple of solid 8-pins and it might have been a different outcome Thursday during the title match at the 2024 PBA50 Ballard Championship. Those bad breaks belonged to Wisconsin native Tony Oliva, who was competing in his first-ever PBA50 tournament at the World Series of Bowling II against PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Chris Barnes.
Oliva began the match with his first solid 8-pin on the left lane, picked it up and added another spare in frame two. He followed that up with a double before his second 8-pin in the fifth frame.
With Barnes throwing the front five at him, Oliva responded with three strikes and multiple fist pumps. Barnes continued to send the new synthetic pins inside JAX 60 all over the lanes filling up his first eight frames with strikes. In the ninth frame, Oliva’s shot was a bit wide leaving the 2-8 sleeper, which he converted.
After a re-rack in the ninth frame, Barnes watched another messenger dart across the deck, but this time it ended up in front of the 10-pin. All he could do was smile as he walked back, converted the spare and finished off with a 267 to Oliva’s 225.
“Tony was really unlucky. Two stone-8’s. He threw it great and really did plenty to win,” Barnes. “If my scouts miss a couple of those 10-pins and he carries the two 8-pins the match is basically flipped. He shoots 260 and wins.”
This was the sixth PBA50 title for Barnes, his last win came just over a year ago, during the 2023 PBA50 World Championship at this same location.
“I don’t even know what it is necessarily about this place, but my ball likes to strike here at least more than other people. It is fun to get back in the winner circle,” he said. “I had made some shows (a fifth place and three third place finishes this season) but didn’t take advantage of them very well. It is nice to make the right choice and it worked out.”
When Barnes’s wife, Lynda, won the 1998 USBC Queens, Oliva was the tournament director, and he has been a family friend ever since. Barnes and Oliva crossed together this week, and Barnes was beyond impressed.
In the opening match, Ballard Championship qualifying leader Jason Couch defeated Bo Goergen, 232-185.
Couch then faced No. 3 seed Mika Koivuniemi, who had beat him in the Round of 8. Couch started with three strikes to Koivuniemi’s four-bagger. In the sixth frame, Couch’s delivery resulted in his first open frame leaving the 4-10 split. Koivuniemi stayed clean the entire match finishing strong with five straight strikes for the 259-221 win.
In the semifinal match, Oliva’s first opponent in the stepladder was Koivuniemi. Oliva started with three spares. Koivuniemi struck on his first three shots on the left lane yet failed to strike on the right lane until the eighth frame. Oliva made a slight adjustment in his fourth frame putting together a string of eight strikes to earn the 263-207 victory.
Barnes can’t enjoy his victory lap long as now he has to regroup for the PBA50 Monacelli Championship. He is the top seed going into Friday’s bracket match play best-of-five games scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Eastern in the Round of 16. If Barnes wins his first match against No. 16 Troy Stus, he is guaranteed to make his third consecutive stepladder finals. He knows they both had good looks on the fresh oil pattern, so it will be a tough match.
“It is not really the No. 1 vs. No. 16 draw that you might hope for,” Barnes said. “Hopefully the same balls work that worked in qualifying, but I will be ready with a couple of options in case those don’t.”
Round of 8 best-of-five matches will start at 3 p.m. ET. The four winners and the highest seeded losing bowler in the Round of 8 will be in the stepladder finals set to start at 6 p.m.
You can watch all rounds of match play and the stepladder finals of the Monacelli Championship on BowlTV.
PBA50 BALLARD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS
- Chris Barnes, $4,000
- Tony Oliva, $2,500
- Mika Koivuniemi, $2,000
- Jason Couch, $1,750
- Bo Goergen, $1,500
MATCH SCORES
Match 1: Couch def. Goergen 232-185
Match 2: Koivuniemi def. Couch 259-221
Match 3: Oliva def. Koivuniemi 263-207
Championship match: Barnes def. Oliva 267-225
Final standings - PBA50 Ballard Championship
More information on the PBA50 WSOB II is available here.