As Highland Park Lanes prepares to host its fourth PBA50 event, the local bowling community has made it crystal clear.
Greeley, Colorado, isn’t just merely on the map as far as highly competitive professional and amateur bowling are concerned: it’s a hotbed.
For the third consecutive year, Highland will be the site of the PBA50 Senior U.S. Open — one of the premiere annual events on the PBA50 tour, which features many of the world’s best bowlers 50 years and older.
In recent years, droves of local bowling fans flocked to Highland to see, up close, the large roster of legendary bowlers.
Tournament host and Highland Park Lanes general manager Zach Endres expects much of the same this year, as the U.S. Open kicks off Wednesday with practice sessions and a pro-am event, followed by five days of competitive bowling on a challenging oil pattern.
Professional bowler Pete Weber works to get a strike during the Professional Bowlers Association Senior U.S. Open held at Highland Park Lanes in Greeley on Thursday June 13, 2024.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)As more and more bowling centers are bought out by large, national corporations, a shrinking number of those centers foster serious, competitive environments, Endres said.
No doubt, Highland attracts plenty of the more casual weekend evening bowlers.
But being an increasingly rare “mom-and-pop shop” in bowling, Endres and his bowling savvy staff are happy to host highly competitive affairs like the one that will be at Highland over the next six days.
“The word starts spreading throughout Colorado that, hey, there’s more competitive bowling going on up north,” Endres said Tuesday. “If you’re a competitive bowler trying to feed your bowling athletic aura, you’re going to make your way north. And because of that, a lot of the pros have said they love coming here.”
Professional bowler John Johnson reacts after making a strike while playing in the PBA Senior U.S. Open at Highland Park Lanes in Greeley Thursday June 13, 2024.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Qualifying rounds take place Thursday-Saturday with the field broken up into three squads.
The top 24 bowlers advance to match play Sunday and Monday.
Five bowlers from match play advance to a stepladder final taking place, slated to begin around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
For a full schedule and more information about this stop on the PBA50 tour, go to pba.com.
Spectators can watch the action, including Monday night’s finals, for free.
The only thing Endres asks if for spectators to consider checking out one of the offerings from the vast menu of Highland’s inhouse restaurant, the 59th Avenue Grill.
“The only admission I’m asking of everybody is to buy a meal or a drink,” Endres said.
Here is a look at Endres’s picks of bowlers to keep an eye on, as well as other items of note:
Professional bowler Chris Barnes works for the strike while competing in the PBA Senior U.S. Open held at Highland Park Lanes in Greeley Thursday June 13, 2024.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Chris Barnes
One of the most well-known names in professional bowling history, Barnes, 55, is from Denton, Texas.
He joined the PBA Tour in 1998 and still competes in the PBA, in addition to the PBA50.
He has three PBA career major titles: the U.S. Open (2005), the Tournament of Champions (2006) and the World Championship (2011).
He also has two PBA50 major titles: the PBA50 Cup (2021) and the World Championship (2023).
Barnes is one of just five players to win Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards.
He has 25 total titles and more than $2.5 million in career earnings, according to PBA.com.
Barnes belongs to Squad A in the U.S. Open. He is scheduled to bowl in qualifying rounds at 9 a.m. Thursday, 4 p.m. Friday and 12:30 pm. Saturday.
OMAHA, NE - NOVEMBER 2: Brad Angelo competes in the championship match of the Pepsi Viper Championship on November 2, 2008 at Thunder Alley in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Craig Hacker/Getty Images for PBA)Brad Angelo
Angelo, 55, is a two-time Team USA member.
He is from Lockport, New York.
He has won two PBA Tour Championships and one regional title.
He joined the PBA in 2002 and was the 2002-03 PBA Rookie of the Year.
He recently claimed first place in the PBA50 The Villages Classic in The Villages, Florida.
Angelo belongs to Squad C. He will bowl in qualifying rounds at 4 p.m. Thursday, 12:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
John Janawicz
The returning champ should be in firm contention for another Senior U.S. Open title.
From Winter Haven, Florida, Janawicz, 52, has four PBA50 major titles to his name.
He was the PBA50 Rookie of the Year in 2023. He joined the PBA in 1972.
As a part of Squad C, Janawicz will bowl at 4 p.m. Thursday, 12:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
Tom Hess
Hess, 55, from Granger, Iowa, has 19 total titles and around a quarter-million in career earnings, according to PBA.com.
He won the USBC Masters in Reno, Nevada, during the 2010-11 season, which is his only major PBA title.
He has won 11 total titles in the PBA50, including four major titles. He recently won the Bud Moore PBA50 Players Championship in Woodbridge, Virginia
In 2022, he won the PBA50 Highland Park Lanes Open in Greeley, the first PBA50 event Highland hosted.
He was named the PBA50 Player of the Year in 2021 and was also the PBA50 Rookie of the Year that same year.
He was a member of the 2021 Senior Team USA.
As a part of Squad B, Hess will bowl at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.
Can’t forget the locals
In naming bowlers for spectators to keep an eye on, Endres was quick to highlight a pair of local bowlers: Chris Martinez of Fort Collins and Ricky Schissler of Brighton.
Schissler and Martinez both bowl out of Highland and recently made the finals in the USBC Senior Masters in Las Vegas, tying for 17th overall.
Schissler and Martinez will bowl with Squad C and will compete at 4 p.m. Thursday, 12:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
Notes and tidbits
Barnes and Angelo have made the stepladder finals every year Highland has held a PBA50 event. The oil pattern, designed specifically for the Senior U.S. Open will be 41 feet in length and will feature 27.83 milliliters of oil with a 3:1 ratio, meaning there will be heavy oil in the middle and a little less on the edges, near the gutters. Endres said he expects scores to be in the medium to medium-low range, and he would attack such an oil pattern by aiming around the, “10, 11, 12 arrows out to about the eight or nine boards, especially when the lanes are tight and fresh. As things start to open up and the lanes break down, these guys will have to move five more boards, so they’ll be playing at the fourth arrow-plus and trying to swing the ball at that point.’ The field will consists of 135 bowlers. The prize fund, which is based on the number of entries, will award $15,000 for first place. Read More Details
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