FAIRLAWN — EJ Tackett is where he wants to be heading into Sunday’s final — of four — stepladder finals in the Professional Bowlers Association Tournament of Champions.
But the 30-year-old Bluffton, Ind., right-hander, who won the 2017 TOC among is three majors to complete pro bowling’s Triple Crown, admitted the final Thursday round of match play “was absolutely brutal” at AMF Riviera Lanes.
Tackett, who led the event from start to finish through 18 qualifying and 24 match-play games, finished with 9,977 total pinfall and a 16-7-1 match-play record to secure the No. 1 seed for Sunday’s championship stepladder finals.
Anthony Simonsen, who has one title this season to Tackett’s three, is second with 9,849, followed by Matt Ogle (9,834) and surprise finalist Jason Sterner (9,717).
But before that final event, 13 other bowlers will be competing to get to Sunday during three other stepladder final events, which commence at 6 p.m. Friday.
Seeds 17 through 13 (Patrick Hanrahan, Francois Lavoie, Tim Gruendler, Wes Mallet, Kris Prather) will battle in the opening stepladder round, with Hanrahan vs. Lavoie (a repeat of Thursday’s final position-round match) leading it off.
That winner survives to the second stepladder and will join Tom Smallwood, Chris Via, Stuart Williams and Jake Peters in a race to the top nine at 7 p.m. Saturday. That winner will have to bowl another shift at 9:30, which includes Marshall Kent, Andrew Anderson, Jason Belmonte and Kyle Troup, for the right to advance to Sunday.
Tackett, who tied No. 3 seed Matt Ogle at 221 in his final position-round match, made up most of his big lead during Thursday’s morning shift, when he averaged 236 over his eight match-play games and compiled a 7-1 record.
“I bowled pretty well this morning. Out of the three match-play blocks it was definitely my best,” Tackett said. “But tonight was absolutely brutal. That high end, there were not very many good scores up there at all and I fell victim to it. I had three games in a row down there.”
Tackett averaged just 208 on the evening shift, with a 3-4-1 match-play mark. He pointed to his final match prior to the position round against Richard Teece — which he won 188-183 — as a key to retaining his lead.
“I had three seven-count spares. It was rough winning that game. I just knew that I had to fill frames that last game (against Ogle),” Tackett said. “After I had a four-bagger, I felt pretty comfortable. Then Matt missed a couple of times.
“I knew Simo (Simonsen) was bowling a great game. But I knew if I could just fill frames, whether I won or lost, I would still be No. 1.”
STERNER’S DAY
The surprise crasher to the top four was Sterner, a 39-year-old Rochester, N.Y., right-hander who owns five career titles and was the 2021 King of the Lanes champion.
Heading into the final position-round match, Sterner stood seventh with an 11-12 match-play mark, 66 pins behind Troup for the final Sunday stepladder spot. But while Sterner defeated Williams 246-200, Troup lost to Simonsen (258-200) and Belmonte topped Anderson (both were ahead of Sterner in fifth and sixth, respectively) by only 214-195.
Sterner earned the final spot by just 10 pins over Troup and 23 over Belmonte.
Troup made a big leap in the final round of match play. He won his first five matches while averaging 248 to climb from 12th to third. Belmonte sat in 51st place after the second round of qualifying before putting up 1,446 during the night block to sneak inside the match play cut. The 14-time major champion won 13 of his final 14 matches to climb from 22nd to sixth.
“I’m shocked to be honest. I did not see that coming. I didn’t even see pin-wise how I could get there,” Sterner said. “The guys in front of me bowled a lot lower than I expected.”
Sterner was 12th after the first round of match play, and moved up to sixth for the night session by averaging 226 Thursday morning.
“I was staying ahead of the moves and committed to moving less sooner,” Sterner said. “Usually, I get stuck out to the right and do what I do. I just realized it wasn’t there tonight, and I would have to get in with the rest of the field and try to do it that way.
“It made it easier from pair to pair to manage what was going on. I didn’t feel like I was in those cliffs and valleys where if I’m too far right it would be one shot on line and the the next shot I’d be having to use speed to hold it.
“It just let me use more of the oil to hold it rather than jam it in there.”
After starting 8-0 in the first round of match play, Simonsen expected to fall off a bit on Day 2 of match play.
“Overall, things went all right. I got to second so there are no real complaints,” said Simonsen, whose win over Troup moved him ahead of Ogle. “There were a few ups and downs, but that’s to be expected after going 8-0. We were going to have a little bit more of a roller-coaster day.”
Ogle, a 38-year-old two-handed righty from Louisville, Ky., also had an “up and down” week.
“It was a roller-coaster kind of week,” Ogle said. “I just had to stay patient and do what I do.”
Each will deal with the down time before Sunday’s final in their own ways.
Tackett is participating in the PBA Junior event Friday while Simonsen, Ogle and Sterner have the day off.
“I’d like to have the day off, but it’s good to be bowling on the championship pair and kind of get acclimated pre-show,” Tackett said. “We’re also going to have some practice time Saturday so it gives me a couple of days.
“It’s not going to be as bad as it could be. I’m going to take full advantage of what I have and just be prepared the best that I can.”
For Sterner, it’s back to the gym for a workout “and doing the things that got me here .. being in the best physical shape come Sunday.”
Simonsen will use Friday for rest “find a nice steak somewhere” and watch the shows. “I want to get some practice in Saturday to be back in action,” he added.
Tackett is just happy to be in his position: one win to gain his fourth major title and second this season. It also would be his 20th career PBA title.
“The goal wasn’t to lead by a bunch, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter whether you lead by one or a million,” Tackett said. “There’s really no difference.”
He’s still No. 1. It’s up to 17 other players to have the opportunity to knock him off that pedestal — and that road begins Friday.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, March 17 | 10 p.m. on FS1
No. 16 François Lavoie vs. No. 17 Packy Hanrahan
Winner vs. No. 15 Tim Gruendler
Winner vs. No. 14 Wes Malott
Winner vs. No. 13 Kris Prather
Tickets for the 6 p.m. taping are available here.
Saturday, March 18 | 7:30 p.m. on FS1
Advancer vs. No. 12 Tom Smallwood
Winner vs. No. 11 Chris Via
Winner vs. No. 10 Stu Williams
Winner vs. No. 9 Jake Peters
Saturday, March 18 | 9:30 p.m. on FS1
Advancer vs. No. 8 Marshall Kent
Winner vs. No. 7 Andrew Anderson
Winner vs. No. 6 Jason Belmonte
Winner vs. No. 5 Kyle Troup
Tickets are available for Saturday’s shows here.
Sunday, March 19 | Noon on FOX
Advancer vs. No. 4 Jason Sterner
Winner vs. No. 3 Matt Ogle
Winner vs. No. 2 Anthony Simonsen
Winner vs. No. 1 EJ Tackett
Tickets are Sold out.
See complete tournament scores here: