By NOLAN HUGHES
PBA Communications
SINKING SPRINGS, Pa. — Twelve games of qualifying are complete in The Magnum Ice Cream Company PBA Norm Duke Open, held at Lucky Strike Sinking Spring.
Deo Benard and EJ Tackett lead their respective squad in the unique two-squad tournament, which divides the field until the championship match.
Benard tallied a pinfall of 2,679 (+279) to lead A-squad. Zach Wilkins, Brandon Bonta, Jason Sterner and Alex Horton round out the top five on the squad.
Cam Crowe (+2) earned the final berth in A-squad’s advancing field, staving off Tim Gruendler and a furious rally from Jason Belmonte.
Belmonte was in 66th place after the first round and 163 pins outside the cut. He moved into the cut through five games on Wednesday night, but shot 157 the final game to slip five pins below the cut.
Benard, a 22-year-old Texas native, said he enjoyed the challenge that the 39-foot Duke oil pattern has posed to the field.
“I’m throwing the strongest urethane I have and trying to keep (the ball) in front of me,” Benard said. “Honestly, scores are a lot lower than I thought. I like lower scores. This feels like a U.S. Open kind of tournament. It’s cool to see. I’m trying to make every single spare and hit the pocket. I haven’t missed a makeable spare yet, so I’m really proud of that. I think as long as I can just keep it calm and not get ahead of myself, I should be good.”
Duke remains the youngest player to win a PBA Tour title at the age of 18, but it took an additional eight years for him to win his second. Benard looks to capture his second title just two years after winning at the age of 20 in 2024.
“(Duke) and Belmonte were my two favorite bowlers growing up,” Benard said. “It’s so cool that there’s finally a tournament named after him and to be in the hunt for it is the coolest thing ever.”
Tackett extended his B-squad lead to 165 pins on Wednesday. Brett Lloyd, Chase Nadeau, Joshua McCandless, and Eric Jones round out the top five.
Andrew Hall, celebrating his 28th birthday on Wednesday, held on to the final berth in the squad’s cut.
Tackett’s strong second round of qualifying pushed his tournament average north of 230, aiding his attempt to break the PBA Tour single-season average record. He has threatened the record in each of the past two seasons, but come up just shy of Jason Belmonte’s 229.39 mark set in 2017.
Two of three elimination rounds will be held on Thursday. Both squads will compete at the same time for the remainder of qualifying.
Six games beginning at 11 a.m. ET will narrow the field down from 32 players to 16 in each squad, then six more games at 6 p.m ET will whittle each squad down to eight players.
A final four-game elimination round at 10 a.m. ET on Friday will determine the four players advancing to the televised stepladder finals. The winner of each squad’s stepladder will meet in the championship match.
All televised rounds will take place Sunday, June 21 from 12-5 p.m. on CBS Sports Network, rounding out the televised portion of the 2026 PBA Tour powered by Go Bowling.
Additionally, the PBA Elite League: Battle of the Brands presented by Beatbox season wraps up with four hours of CBS Sports Network coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
The Tackett-led Motiv squad earned the top seed for the six-team stepladder finals and will bowl for the Commissioner’s Cup against either Hammer, Storm, 900 Global, Brunswick or Roto Grip.
All televised rounds will be held at Steel City Bowl and Brews in Bethlehem, Pa.
A-Squad Leaders
- Deo Benard, 2,679 (+279)
- Zach Wilkins, 2,659 (+259)
- Brandon Bonta, 2,617 (+217)
- Jason Sterner, 2,616 (+216)
- Alex Horton, 2,607 (+207)
- Tomas Käyhkö, 2,602 (+202)
- TJ Rock, 2,585 (+185)
- Bill O’Neill, 2,579 (+179)
- Kyle Troup, 2,578 (+178)
- Boog Krol, 2,548 (+148)
B-Squad Leaders
- EJ Tackett, 2,765 (+365)
- Brett Lloyd, 2,600 (+200)
- Chase Nadeau, 2,585 (+185)
- Joshua McCandless, 2,583 (+183)
- Eric Jones, 2,582 (+182)
- AJ Johnson, 2,570 (+170)
- Ryan Burton, 2,569 (+169)
- Anthony Simonsen, 2,555 (+155)
- Andrew Anderson, 2,524 (+124)
- Santtu Tahvanainen, 2,519 (+119)
Complete standings are available here.
Schedule
Thursday, June 18
11 a.m. — Elimination Round 1 (six games)
Top 16 players on each squad advance
6 p.m. — Elimination Round 2 (six games)
Top eight players on each squad advance
Friday, June 19
11 a.m. — Elimination Round 3 (four games)
Top four players on each squad advance to group stepladder finals
Saturday, June 20
1 p.m. — PBA Elite League: Battle of the Brands play-in stepladder
3 p.m. — PBA Elite League: Battle of the Brands stepladder finals
Sunday, June 21
12 p.m. — A-Squad Stepladder
2 p.m. — B-Squad Stepladder
4 p.m. — Championship Match
See complete standings here: https://www.leaguepals.com/league-info?id=69a76a569279358a567c222f