March 8, 2021 Jef Goodger

 

EJ Tackett retains Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship lead

 

Tampa, Fla.—Thirteen-time PBA Tour champion Bill O’Neill averaged 238 to lead all qualifiers in the PBA Chameleon Championship, earning the No. 1 seed for next week’s best-of-five match play. EJ Tackett, who led yesterday’s PBA Cheetah Championship, sits in first place in the Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship entering the final day of qualifying.

O’Neill, a two-time major champion, led second seed Tom Daugherty by 73 pins through 10 games of Chameleon Championship qualifying and will face Zach Weidman in the opening round of match play. O’Neill also moved into second place in the World Championship, trailing Tackett by 78 pins.

Tackett, AJ Johnson and Marshall Kent are the only players to have made match play in both the Cheetah Championship and Chameleon Championship.

Jason Belmonte, who won the PBA Chameleon Championship each of the past two seasons, missed the cut, averaging 198 to finish 70th. Belmonte sits 56th in PBA World Championship qualifying as he attempts to become the first player ever to win the event on four consecutive occasions.

The PBA Scorpion Championship begins tomorrow at noon ET on FloBowling. Scores will also count as the final 10 games of qualifying for the PBA Guaranteed Rate World Championship and Roth/Holman Doubles Championship.

After 30 games of qualifying—10 each on the Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion oil patterns—the top 30 players advance to the PBA World Championship cashers rounds on Wednesday and the top 16 teams advance to PBA Roth/Holman Doubles match play on Friday. To subscribe, visit FloBowling.com.

PBA Chameleon Championship Match Play Qualifiers

AMF University Lanes – Tampa, Fla.

  1. Bill O’Neill +383
  2. Tom Daugherty +310
  3. Cristian Azcona +286
  4. EJ Tackett +276
  5. Jakob Butturff +271
  6. AJ Johnson +266
  7. Sean Lavery-Spahr +261
  8. Tommy Jones +260
  9. Kyle Troup +232
  10. Shawn Maldonado +217
  11. Brandon Novak +209
  12. Matt Russo +195
  13. Ronnie Russell +184
  14. Jason Sterner +170
  15. Marshall Kent +165
  16. Zach Weidman +163

Best-of-five Chameleon Championship match play begins Tuesday, Mar. 16 at noon ET on FloBowling. The Chameleon Championship finals air live Mar. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

View the full PBA Chameleon Championship standings

Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship Top 10 Through 20 Games

AMF University Lanes – Tampa, Fla.

  1. EJ Tackett +710
  2. Bill O’Neill +632
  3. Tom Daugherty +578
  4. AJ Johnson +565
  5. Marshall Kent +525
  6. Tommy Jones +494
  7. Kyle Troup +446
  8. Chris Via +425
  9. Dino Castillo +421
  10. Sean Rash +412

World Championship cashers round begins Wednesday at noon ET on FloBowling. The stepladder finals air live on FOX Broadcast Channel Saturday, Mar. 13 at 2 p.m. ET.

View the full PBA Guaranteed Rate World Championship standings

About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.

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