Justin Knowles Leads High-Scoring PBA Cheetah Championship
The opening two rounds of qualifying of the PBA Cheetah Championship saw the 108-player field strike seemingly at will at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.
Through 10 games of qualifying, Michigan native Justin Knowles leads the first singles title event of the World Series of Bowling XV. Marshall Kent, Eric Jones, BJ Moore (who led the 2023 PBA Cheetah Championship) and Matt Russo round out the top five.
“It's always cool when you go to historic centers,” Knowles said. “But competing at a historic center this close to my house where I've won basically all the big events in Michigan there is to win, I’d say this is better than I could have dreamed it up to start this week.
Knowles averaged more than 256 to shoot 2,567 (+567) for his 10 games today in Allen Park, Mich. Knowles said he made the one-hour drive from his home of Okemos this morning with a ton of confidence.
“I felt it when I woke up this morning, and it stayed with me all day,” Knowles said. “I stayed focused one shot at a time and after hearing about how crazy the scores were, it kind of hit me that we're still competing for a major here and every pin counts.”
Fifteen qualifying games for the PBA Cheetah, Scorpion and Shark Championships combine to make up 45 games of PBA World Championship qualifying. The scoring pace on Monday was, indeed, high:
- 5th place: 247.70 average
- 10th place: 242.90 average
- 20th place: 239.20 average
- 30th place: 235.30 average
- 40th place: 231.40 average
- 50th place: 228.50 average
- 75th place: 222.20 average
- 100th place: 213.30 average
After Tuesday’s third round of qualifying, which begins at 11 a.m. Eastern, the top 16 players will advance to elimination match play.
“You want to have the easiest path to a TV show, that's the No. 1 seed and one win,” Knowles said. “I’d be lying if I wasn't already thinking about it, but come tomorrow morning, I’ve just got to put that away and throw my best shots. If I get passed up. I get passed up. We’re all definitely gunning for that No. 1 seed.”
Zac Tackett (+410) shot 297 his final game on Monday night to rise into 16th place. In that game, Tackett had the second-lowest game on his pair as Cody Shoemaker and François Lavoie both shot 300, two of the 12 perfect games on the day.
Tackett said the idea of shooting the third 300 on the same pair was on his mind a little bit — but he was more concerned about 1) making a good shot and 2) beating his brother, who shot 298 on the pair in the previous game.
EJ Tackett, who is also the defending champion, sits in 53rd place at +276.
Qualifying resumes at 11 a.m. ET and elimination match play for the 16 advancing players begins at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Cheetah Championship Leaders After 10 Games
- Justin Knowles, 2,567 (+576)
- Marshall Kent, 2,531 (+531)
- Eric Jones, 2,526 (+526)
- BJ Moore, 2,514 (+514)
- Matt Russo, 2,477 (+477)
- Dick Allen, 2,472 (+472)
- Michael Schlabach, 2,469 (+469)
- Cody Shoemaker, 2,453 (+453)
- William Svensson, 2,447( +447)
- Graham Fach, 2,429 (+429)
- Richard McCormick, 2,425 (+425)
- Jason Belmonte, 2,424 (+424)
- Nick Pate, 2,417 (+417)
- Jesper Svensson, 2,416 (+416)
- Darren Tang, 2,413 (+413)
- Zac Tackett, 2,410 (+410)
Full standings are available here.
Tickets are available for the televised championship rounds here.
The full PBA Tour TV schedule is available here.
WSOB Schedule
Thunderbowl Lanes | Allen Park, Mich.
All times Eastern
Tuesday, April 9
11am — Cheetah Championship Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
- Top 16 players advance to elimination match play
6pm — Cheetah Championship Match Play Round of 16 (best of five games)
8:30pm — Cheetah Championship Match Play Round of 8 (best of five games)
- Four winners and highest-defeated qualifier in Round of 8 advance to Cheetah Championship stepladder finals, airing live April 15 at 7pm on FS1
Wednesday, April 10
11am — Scorpion Championship Qualifying Round 1 (five games)
6pm — Scorpion Championship Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
Thursday, April 11
11am — Scorpion Championship Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
- Top 16 players advance to elimination match play
6pm — Scorpion Championship Match Play Round of 16 (best of five games)
8:30pm — Scorpion Championship Match Play Round of 8 (best of five games)
- Four winners and highest-defeated qualifier in Round of 8 advance to Scorpion Championship stepladder finals, airing live April 16 at 7pm on FS1
Friday, April 12
11am — Shark Championship Qualifying Round 1 (five games)
6pm — Shark Championship Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
Saturday, April 13
11am — Shark Championship Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
- Top 16 players advance to elimination match play
- Top 16 players through 45 games of Cheetah, Scorpion and Shark Championship qualifying advance to World Championship round-robin match play
6pm — Shark Championship Match Play Round of 16 (best of five games)
8:30pm — Shark Championship Match Play Round of 8 (best of five games)
- Four winners and highest-defeated qualifier in Round of 8 advance to Shark Championship stepladder finals, airing live April 17 at 7pm on FS1
Sunday, April 14
Noon— Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship finals on FS1
1pm — Pro-am
Monday, April 15
7pm — PBA Cheetah Championship finals on FS1
Tuesday, April 16
7pm — PBA Scorpion Championship finals on FS1
Wednesday, April 17
7pm — PBA Shark Championship finals on FS1
Thursday, April 18
10am — World Championship Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
5pm — World Championship Match Play Round 2 (eight games)
- Top nine players advance to PBA World Championship stepladder finals
Saturday, April 20
7pm — PBA World Championship semifinals on FS1 (seeds 5-9)
Sunday, April 21
Noon — PBA World Championship finals on FOX