Eight Finalists Emerge in BowlTV PBA and PBA50 Regional Players Invitational Tournaments

After 18 games of qualifying and a few rounds of match play, just eight players remain in title contention for the 2025 BowlTV PBA and PBA50 Regional Players Invitational tournaments, respectively.

Among them is Deo Benard, who is looking to win his 15th career PBA Regional Tour title mere days ahead of his 22nd birthday on Christmas Eve.

Despite his young age, Benard boasts more than six years of experience on the PBA Regional Tour. He has twice been named the Southwest Region Player of the Year, including this year, and also has a PBA Tour title under his belt, winning the 2024 PBA Cheetah Championship.

Benard qualified 21st in the PBA division, advancing to the 24-player elimination match play field. He won his best-of-five-games matches on Saturday evening over Ryan Speer and Kris Koeltzow to advance to Sunday’s final day of competition.

“Scores are a little higher than I expected, so it's cool to keep up,” Benard said. “I didn't feel like I had that good of a look. Every block I've figured something out and gotten a little closer.”

Benard will face DeeRonn Booker, the 2024 USBC Masters champion, in Sunday’s Round of 8, which begins at 10 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. and on BowlTV.

Jeff Mann, Cam Crowe, Matt Taylor, Kevin Bienko, Andrew Hall and Christopher Tuholski each also advanced to the Round of 8 in the PBA division.

During qualifying, players who finished top five in their region’s points list were eligible to compete for 2026 PBA Tour priority entry status. Indiana’s Jeff Mann and Ryan Speer, along with North Carolina’s Matt Taylor earned that distinction as the top three qualifiers among the eligible field.

PBA Division Match Play

Round of 24
No. 24 Christopher Tuholski def. No. 9 Gabe Alvarez, 3-0
No. 10 CJ Petrin def. No. 23 Eric Jones, 3-0
No. 11 Mike Ruben def. No. 22 Mathew Woodall, 3-2
No. 21 Deo Benard def. No. 12 Ryan Speer, 3-2
No. 13 DeeRonn Booker def. No. 20 Colin Champion, 3-2
No. 14 Cam Crowe def. No. 19 Aaron Major, 3-0
No. 15 Kevin Bienko def. No. 18 Ryan Lopano, 3-2
No. 16 Andrew Hall def. No. 17 Yuta Saito, 3-1

Round of 16
No. 16 Andrew Hall def. No. 1 Tim Ursillo, 3-1
No. 24 Christopher Tuholski def. No. 8 Michael Davidson, 3-2
No. 13 DeeRonn Booker def. No. 4 Dallas Leong, 3-1
No. 21 Deo Benard def. No. 5 Kris Koeltzow, 3-1
No. 15 Kevin Bienko def. No. 2 Riley Woodard, 3-1
No. 7 Matt Taylor vs. No. 10 CJ Petrin, 3-1
No. 14 Cam Crowe def. No. 3 Michael Fitzgerald, 3-1
No. 6 Jeff Mann def. No. 11 Mike Ruben, 3-2

Round of 8
No. 6 Jeff Mann vs. No. 14 Cam Crowe
No. 7 Matt Taylor vs. No. 15 Kevin Bienko
No. 13 DeeRonn Booker vs. No. 21 Deo Benard
No. 16 Andrew Hall vs. No. 24 Christopher Tuholski

Full standings for the PBA division are available here.

Michael Haggitt averaged more than 227 to lead the PBA50 division through 18 games of qualifying, totaling 4,101 (+501). Haggitt, Kyle Bigelow, Michael Clark Jr., and Eric Adolphson each earned Saturday evening off with a one-round bye in match play.

Those four will meet Dan Knowlton, Blaine Weninger, Michael McHugh and Randy Weiss in Sunday’s Round of 8.

Weiss, the defending champion, has taken a different route to the Round of 8 in 2025. Last year, he led multiple qualifying rounds and earned a bye. This year, he snuck into match play as the No. 11 seed and survived a five-game thriller against Robert Lawrence in the first round of match play.

“It’s a difficult way to bowl, because you put this high expectation on yourself,” Weiss said. “You have to remember that none of that matters; that was last year with a whole different field. You can't come in here thinking it’s going to be easy because you won last year. You’ve got to really clear your mind and remember everybody is equal starting fresh. There's no telling what's going to happen.”

“It definitely takes more of a mental toll,” Weiss added, comparing this year’s route to the Round of 8 to last year. “But I’m still here, so now I get time to break and reset for another tough match tomorrow.”

PBA50 Division Match Play

Round of 12
No. 12 Michael McHugh def. No. 5 Paul Fleming, 3-0
No. 11 Randy Weiss (defending champion) def. No. 6 Robert Lawrence, 3-2
No. 7 Dan Knowlton def. No. 10 Dennis Killough, 3-2
No. 8 Blaine Weninger def. No. 9 Michael Hartter, 3-0

Round of 8
No. 1 Michael Haggitt vs. No. 8 Blaine Weninger
No. 4 Eric Adolphson vs. No. 12 Michael McHugh
No. 2 Kyle Bigelow vs. No. 7 Dan Knowlton
No. 3 Michael Clark Jr vs. No. 11 Randy Weiss

Full standings for the PBA50 division are available here.

The PBA RPI trophies are named in honor of Chris Warren, who is tied with Pete Weber for the record with 47 career PBA Regional Tour titles. Add in his 13 PBA50 Regional Tour titles and Warren trails only Walter Ray Williams Jr. in total regional titles.

All players are competing on a 40-foot oil pattern.

The Round of 8 will begin at 10 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET), followed by the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. ET) and the championship matches at 1 p.m. (4 p.m. ET)

All qualifying and match play rounds will be livestreamed on BowlTV.