Andrew Anderson Always Has Something to Prove

The year was 2018.

Andrew Anderson arrived in Hong Kong, where in just a matter of days he would be representing Team USA in the 2018 World Bowling Men's Championships.

Although Anderson described the tournament as the “biggest of his tournament life” to that point in his young career, he had higher priorities as he walked off the plane: He needed Wi-Fi.

Anderson procured an internet connection and pulled up the PBA’s livestream just in time to hear PBA Commissioner Tom Clark announce Kamron Doyle as the 2018 Rookie of the Year. Moments later, Clark spoke again.

“The winner of the 2018 PBA Player of the Year award is,” Clark said, “Andrew Anderson of Michigan.”

Unable to celebrate with family and friends, Anderson sat in stunned silence. In just his second season on tour, the 23-year-old became the second-youngest POY in PBA history.

After 10 or so minutes, Anderson rose to gather his belongings and meet the rest of Team USA, a decorated roster that included three additional PBA Players of the Year at the time in EJ Tackett, Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones.

“Now, they're looking at me as not just another kid, but as the kid who just won Player of the Year,” Anderson said. “The expectations rose overnight.”

The seasons that followed Anderson’s 2018 campaign could be described in many ways. 

Anderson battled injuries in 2019 and 2021 and his father passed away in 2020, but he didn’t miss time on tour. He won multiple doubles titles with Kris Prather, but no singles titles. He was often in the hunt, but never the one being hunted.

“Throughout that entire time, there was good,” Anderson said. “It was not good when you win Player of the Year at 23 years old.”

After being voted POY, consistent dominance became the standard. Anderson doesn’t hide from the fact that he likes to know what people think of him and said he struggled to handle the internal and external expectations that came with an accolade of that magnitude.

“I wasn't exactly prepared for the amount of things (media, travel, etc.) that came with Player of the Year at my age,” Anderson said. “What it felt like for a long time, truthfully, was overwhelming. Between being injured and the expectations on me, bowling didn't feel very fun for a little while.”

His competitors no longer saw him as a scrappy youngster; he was now one of the men to beat.

His sponsors no longer viewed him as a fresh face with potential; he became a prized asset.

His family and friends no longer hoped to see him make match play a few times; they wanted to see him bowl on TV every week.

Overnight, Anderson’s contemporaries shifted from players like AJ Johnson and Marshall Kent — competitors of similar age and previous pedigree — to prime Jason Belmonte and ascending EJ Tackett.

“That's where doubt from myself started,” Anderson said. “I was no longer comparing myself to other 24-year-olds. ‘How am I doing compared to Belmo? How am I doing compared to Tackett?’ Those are going to be some really hard feats year after year for a 24-year-old.”

Early on, there were reasons for his underwhelming performances. But by 2022, those reasons were evolving into excuses.

“He wasn’t learning enough from the defeats. He wasn’t building on them,” said Storm tour rep Rob Gotchall, who also worked with Anderson in 2018 under Ebonite. “He was letting the defeats and the bad results break him down.”

As weeks without winning a singles title turned into months and years, Anderson’s signature bravado faded. The kid who feared no one was nowhere to be found.

His name no longer appeared next to Belmonte and Tackett, but for the worst reason: No one believed Anderson belonged in that class any longer. By 2024, nobody referred to Anderson’s 2018 season as a breakout anymore. Instead, people called it an anomaly.

Or even worse: a fluke.

April 6, 2024 marked the beginning of Anderson’s revival.

At Detroit’s Thunderbowl Lanes, about an hour from his hometown of Holly, Anderson and his Las Vegas High Rollers faced the rival Portland Lumberjacks in a PBA Elite League regular season match. Later that evening, he and Kris Prather bowled for the Roth/Holman Doubles Championship title as the top seed.

His own backyard served as the perfect stage for a 28-year-old teeming with self-doubt, who needed to escape the imposter’s syndrome that had been manifesting for more than five years.

With dozens upon dozens of family and friends in attendance, including his brothers Mike and Matt and Turbo sponsors Chris Sandt and Mike Magolan, Anderson delivered the hometown crowd a performance for the ages.

He struck in a roll-off to clinch the match against Portland. Hours later, he doubled in the 10th frame to win the doubles title, just his second title (both doubles) since 2018. For the first time in a long time, praise permeated throughout the comment sections. 

"The confidence you had on your first ball in the tenth is the Andrew I bowled with at 300 bowl," one comment read, "and all of us in Michigan are glad to see you succeed."

“I told Kris something special was going to happen,” Anderson said after the doubles title. "It’s been a long time for me to win. My win is coming back home in Detroit. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better scenario.”

His dominance in the PBA Elite League Playoffs later that year — an vengeance-fueled MVP effort highlighted by a game-winning 10th frame in Portland’s home house — marked another step in the direction toward stardom.

The kid from Holly who always believed he was the best player in the building was starting to believe he could be the best player in the world. But Anderson still needed to prove that he could win on his own again.

Anderson came into the 2025 season with an emphasis on process over results, a cliché that is repeated by athletes ad nauseam because it works. The attitude adjustment paid immediate dividends as Anderson led February's U.S. Open, the second event of the season.

Despite leading the tour’s most challenging tournament nearly wire-to-wire, chatter from the peanut gallery still crept into his mind. Anderson was the only finalist who had yet to win the U.S. Open. He emphatically dismissed that characterization, citing his USBC Masters major title as evidence of his prowess in major championships.

Nonetheless, the top-seeded Anderson was going to have to face a former U.S. Open champion to win the U.S. Open. His opponent, ultimately, was EJ Tackett.

Tackett finished runner-up to Anderson in the 2018 Player of the Year voting. Those who dismissed Anderson’s election often believed Tackett was the rightful winner. That’s why Anderson, sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously, feels more motivated for each match against Tackett specifically.

“It almost felt like (he felt) he had to validate himself,” Gotchall said of Anderson post-2018. “To me, you validated yourself by winning two titles, leading the tour in points and winning Player of the Year. You have nothing left to prove. You are going to get the respect and everything from your peers by letting your bowling ball do the talking.”

Before the Michigander threw a practice shot, Indianapolis’ Royal Pin Woodland crowd let him know this show wouldn’t be like the ones in Detroit. Indiana was Tackett country.

“I’ve been the best all week,” Anderson said moments before the championship match. “I’ve just got to prove it one more game. The last time I was on TV, I heard ‘Portland Lumberjacks’ chants as I had to throw strikes to win for Las Vegas. This is no different. I’m just going to do my thing and see what happens.”

For four frames he looked like the indomitable dragon-slayer who eviscerated the Lumberjacks on their home turf.

“How ‘bout it? C’mon!” belted Anderson, beating his chest, after taking the lead with strikes in the third and fourth frame.

His next shot, in the 5th frame, blew past the head-pin. He missed the spare. He failed to strike on his next four shots, too. Anderson later admitted he bowled like “a scared little kid."

Tackett, conversely, never blinked. He shut out the noise and shut out Anderson with five consecutive strikes. The game, the U.S. Open and the moment belonged to Tackett.

“This is my house, baby! My house!” Tackett declared after his ninth-frame dagger, a reference to capturing his second green jacket title in his home state, but also a message to any player (and perhaps specifically Anderson) threatening his throne:

This is my city. This is my tournament. This is my tour.

Later that month, Tackett led Anderson by 68 pins entering the final qualifying round of PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic. Jesper Svensson and Jason Belmonte also lingered within 100 pins of the lead, but they were irrelevant. Like crunch time of an NBA playoff game, this was a one-on-one affair.

In the first game, Anderson shot 300 while Tackett mustered 161. Two games later, Anderson fired 289 to Tackett’s 204. Anderson ultimately secured the top seed for the stepladder finals by 97 pins.

“Beating EJ is hard, but if you want to be one of the best in the world, you’ve got to be able to beat the best in the world on a normal basis,” Anderson said. “I think people tend to forget what I'm capable of when I'm healthy, in the right state of mind and bowling well. I've led tournaments before, led majors before. It's no surprise to me. It just kind of feels like a surprise to everybody else. I'm trying to send a reminder that I'm capable of some really cool things.”

Anderson’s tone was assertive and his message was clear; his audience was not. Who was this reminder for: the world or himself?

Two weeks later, Tackett won his semifinal match to meet Anderson in the championship. Not long before their match, Anderson convened with his detractors and Tackett’s supporters in the comment section.

Rather than let the pervasive pessimism he encountered consume him, Anderson let it fuel him. Just like he did in 2018.

“I noticed some nasty (comments) there, and I kind of liked it,” he said. “Keep being a non-believer — I believe in myself. That's what matters. I think that the biggest change in my life over the last couple years is that I'm starting to believe in myself again.”

Anderson won the rematch in dominant fashion, marking his first singles title in 2,478 days.

“It really took shape in the U.S. Open, the fact that he was able to lead the event and lead a major,” Gotchall said. “Ultimately, he lost to the best player in the world in the final, but I think that moment was the big step to eventually winning later in the season. This was the time where he learned from the loss, rather than let it beat him down. He came back hungrier.

"When they bowled each other for the title in Reno, Andrew wasn’t going to lose.”

Since the PBA Tour Finals began in 2017, Tackett leads all players with 22 titles, followed by Belmonte (20), Simonsen (14) and Troup (11).

Those four players, the defining players of the last decade of professional bowling, fittingly each won the event twice in its first eight iterations.

So if a fifth were to join their club in 2025, the last year of the event utilizing the two-year-rolling-points qualifying format, who would be worthy? If you were to chronicle the last nine years of professional bowling, who is the fifth name you would bring up?

How about the only Player of the Year of the Tour Finals-era not to have won the Tour Finals?

Anderson qualified sixth for the 2025 Tour Finals. After leading his group’s positioning round, Anderson only needed to win two matches to claim the title. His opponents would be the same titans who had tormented his mind for the past seven years: Jason Belmonte and EJ Tackett.

Despite fighting the demons inside his head as much as his opponents on the lanes, Anderson prevailed. He fired three strikes in a row to defeat Belmonte in a roll-off, then swept Tackett in the championship.

“YES! Who thought I was done?!” Anderson yelled after clinching his second win of the season over Tackett.

His first words after his greatest triumph in seven years, the defining moment of a career resurgence, were directed at internet trolls and the little voice whispering in his head for the past seven years.

In 2025, Anderson finished second on tour in points and ranked third in average following the Tour Finals. Anderson would be in prime position for a second career POY award if it weren’t for Tackett’s historic campaign.

“To take down Jason Belmonte and EJ Tackett for a title, the little kid in me just accomplished a dream,” Anderson said on the broadcast. “Two of the best in the world, I had to go through ‘em both. I’m proud of myself.

“It’s a comeback season, and hopefully we stay here this time.”

Anderson said there’s a process, a cycle of expectations and goals, that most bowlers go through when they start bowling tournaments:

1. I just want to bowl
2. I want to make the cut
3. I want to give myself a chance to win
4. I want to win the tournament
5. I want to be the best bowler for an extended period of time

“When Belmo, EJ, Simo and that class of bowler got over the last step on the PBA Tour, they never really regressed,” Anderson said. “For me, I’ve now gone through those steps five or six times. I’ve had enough time to get over the hump and get back to what I call the pinnacle of bowling. Now, the goal is to work hard enough to stay here.”

Anderson doesn’t have any otherworldly physical traits; his success is reliant on consistent shot-making and a conviction that borders on a healthy arrogance when his mind is right.

“What really makes him tick is his self-confidence,” Gotchall said.

Riding the emotional waves as Anderson does makes his standing in the elite tier all the more precarious. During his singles-title drought, he learned to accept that his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness.

“I really do wear my heart on my sleeve, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad,” he said. “I think that I'm more susceptible to doubt. If I have a few bad months of bowling, I think that it takes me a little longer to get out of it because I care what others think, I care what my family thinks of me, and I want to do good for not just myself.”

Anderson, for better or worse, is going to embrace the emotional roller coaster. He accepts the highs and lows that come with the ride because it wouldn’t be truly his without them.

Along the way, he wants to celebrate his successes more. He said he envies the unbridled joy expressed by Tackett after wins. He wants to give less credence to the opinions of strangers. He’s still going to read their comments, of course, but he will let the negativity fuel him instead of consume him.

“Ten to 15 years from now, those people's comments won't be on that trophy," he said. "It'll be my name."

This is all easy for Anderson to say at this moment because there are no legitimate doubters. What he achieved in 2025 is undeniable.

The difference between Anderson in 2019 and today is that he knows where he wants to go and he knows what he needs to do to get there. His journey back to stardom has prepared him for the next journey, one he hopes ultimately ends in immortality.

“When you look at somebody's career, there are three things people talk about the most,” Anderson said. “Major titles, Player of the Year awards, and Hall of Fame. Thankfully, I have two of the three so far.” 

Now 30 years old with six titles, one major and a POY under his belt, Anderson has nothing left to prove — not to himself, nor anyone else.

Well, at least until the next tournament.