Tackett leads PBA World Championship field into final match play rounds

05 December, 2016

PBA National Tour

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After leading the GEICO Professional Bowlers Association World Series of Bowling VIII field into the World Championship cashers’ round Friday, EJ Tackett of Huntington, Ind., continued to dominate the field through 14 more games Sunday at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.

Tackett (pictured above), a four-time PBA Tour title winner, also led the field a year ago before losing the PBA World Championship title match to Gary Faulkner Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., 215-202. After topping the qualifying list Friday, he admitted he has “unfinished business” to take care of this year.

The 2013 PBA Rookie of the Year averaged 229.5 for 32 games during four different PBA animal pattern (Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark) qualifying stages to lead the WSOB field into the World Championship qualifying round, and increased his scoring pace slightly to 230.2 during the cashers round earlier Sunday when he expanded his lead from seven to 151 pins.

Tackett was the only player to make the match play finals in all five PBA Tour events being contested as part of WSOB VIII.

During Sunday night’s first round of head-to-head match play, Tackett split his eight matches, 4-4, but he finished with a 266 game for a 46-game total of 10,682 pins and a 135-pin lead over PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber (left) of St. Ann, Mo., into Monday’s final two rounds of match play.

Weber, who is battling chronic hip pain, won six of his eight matches Sunday night to advance from 12th to second in his bid for a record 11th PBA major title. He currently is tied with the late Earl Anthony for the PBA record with 10 majors.

Behind Weber were 19-year-old two-handed player Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, a two-time winner this season, and 2013 World Champion Dom Barrett of England, tied with 10,499 pins, and Canadian rookie and U.S. Open winner Francois Lavoie in fifth place with 10,472 pins.

The international contingent is well represented among the match play finalists.

Along with Barrett and Lavoie are Jason Belmonte, Australia (left; 10th, 10,352), Thomas Larsen, Denmark (14th, 10,295), Sam Cooley, Australia (15th, 10,261), Patrick Girard, Canada (16th, 10,239), Arturo Quintero, Mexico (right; 17th, 10,216), Martin Larsen, Sweden (21st, 10,139) and Jesper Svensson, Sweden (24th, 10,074).

PBA World Championship qualifying concludes Monday with the eight-game match play rounds at 2 and 8:30 p.m. ET. After a total of 62 games, the top five players advance to the live ESPN stepladder finals Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

All qualifying and match play elimination rounds in the World Series are being covered live, exclusively by PBA’s online live-streaming service, Xtra Frame. For more information, click here.

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PBA World Championship – Round Five Standings

Players with position, hometown, match play record and 46-game total, including match play bonus pins

1, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 4-4, 10,682
2, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 6-2, 10,547
3, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 7-1, 10,499
3, Dom Barrett, England, 6-2, 10,499
5, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 5-3, 10,472
6, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 4-4, 10,471
7, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 5-3, 10,463
8, B.J. Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., 5-3, 10,453
9, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 2-6, 10,444
10, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 3-4-1, 10,352
11, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 6-2, 10,318
12, Matthew McNiel, Minneapolis, Minn,., 4-4, 10,317
13, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 3-5, 10,313
14, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 4-4, 10,295
15, Sam Cooley, Australia, 3-5, 10,261
16, Patrick Girard, Canada, 4-4, 10,239
17, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 2-5-1, 10,216
18, Matthew O’Grady, South Amboy, N.J., 3-5, 10,204
19, Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 4-4, 10,164
20, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 3-5, 10,157
21, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 3-5, 10,139
22, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 3-5 10,119
23, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 3-5, 10,097
24, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 3-5, 10,074

PBA World Championship – Cashers’ Round

Players with position, hometown and 38-game total, ; top 24 advance to round robin match play; places 25-42 show earnings

1, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., 8,749
2, B.J. Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., 8,598
3, Dick Allen, Columbia, S.C., 8,582
4, Mitch Beasley, Clarksville, Tenn., 8,571
5, Dom Barrett, England, 8,542
6, Sam Cooley, Australia, 8,538
7, Brandon Novak, Chillicothe, Ohio, 8,523
8, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 8,508
9, Matthew O’Grady, South Amboy, N.J., 8,484
10, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 8,475
11, Martin Larsen, Sweden, 8,460
12, Pete Weber, St. Ann, Mo., 8,424
13, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 8,389
14, Anthony Simonsen, Princeton, Texas, 8,386
15, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 8,358
16, Patrick Girard, Canada, 8,356
17, Tom Daugherty, Riverview, Fla., 8,346
17, Patrick Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 8,346
19, Matthew McNiel, Minneapolis, Minn., 8,335
20, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., 8,332
21, Kristopher Prather, Milton, Fla., 8,328
22, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 8,312
23, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 8,311
24, Thomas Larsen, Denmark, 8,307

Failed to advance:
25, Francois Louw, South Africa, 8,301, $3,500
26, Greg Ostrander, Freehold, N.J., 8,297, $3,400
27, Jason Sterner, Cocoa, Fla., 8,286, $3,300
28, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 8,272, $3,200
29, Mik Stampe, Denmark, 8,253, $3,100
30, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 8,247, $3,000
31, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Oxford, Fla., 8,233, $2,900
32, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 8,226, $2,800
33, Andrew Graff, Las Vegas, 8,224, $2,700
34, Richie Teece, England, 8,220, $2,600
35, Rhino Page, Orlando, Fla., 8,219, $2,500
36, Chris Warren, Grants Pass, Ore., 8,208, $2,400
37, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 8,206, $2,300
38, Markus Jansson, Sweden, 8,204, $2,200
39, Nicholas Kruml, Downers Grove, Ill., 8,174, $2,150
40, Kevin Donovan, Painted Post, N.Y., 8,156, $2,100
41, Brad Angelo, Lockport, N.Y., 8,155, $2,050
42, Carsten Warming Hansen, Denmark, 8,148, $2,000