The 2026 PBA50 season opened with a win for PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Danny Wiseman, who claimed his first PBA50 title at the PBA50 Villages Classic in Florida.
12-time PBA Tour champion secured the victory through the stepladder finals, defeating Randy Weiss, Tom Hess, and the No. 1 seed John Janawicz to take the first title of the season.
In the opening stepladder match, Randy Weiss defeated Brian LeClair 226-213 to move on. In the second match, Wiseman defeated Weiss 255-225. Wiseman started strong with a long string of strikes to build an early lead. Weiss stayed clean early but was unable to keep pace as Wiseman continued to strike.
In the semifinal, Wiseman faced No. 2 seed Tom Hess and secured a tight 258-247 victory.
Hess opened the match with a split but recovered with multiple strikes to stay in contention. Wiseman responded with key strikes in the later frames to maintain his advantage and move into the final.
In the title match, Wiseman again posted a score over 250 to defeat John Janawicz, 255-248. Wiseman opened with a spare before putting together a series of strikes, building an early lead. Janawicz responded with multiple strikes of his own and stayed within range, but a 4-7 spare in the ninth frame proved costly. Even though Janawicz closed the tenth frame with strikes, Wiseman’s earlier run was enough to secure the win.
Before the stepladder finals, Janawicz had been the top performer throughout qualifying and match play, leading the field into the final stage of the tournament.
PBA50 The Villages Classic Stepladder Finals
The event featured a total of 144 players, marking the start of the 2026 PBA50 season.
The PBA50 Tour will continue later this month with the PBA50 World Series of Bowling IV, taking place from April 30 to May 12.
The season will feature 17 events. The full PBA50 schedule can be found here.
