Ronnie Russell Leads PBA Shark Championship, EJ Tackett Leads AMF PBA World Championship
The 12-player finals field is set in the PBA Shark Championship, the fourth title event and final animal pattern championship of the PBA World Series of Bowling XVII.
Ronnie Russell led the field on the 48-foot Shark oil pattern, averaging more than 236 for his 10 games.
Russell, along with Chris Via, Patrick Dombrowski and Brandon Bonta, earned a one-round bye in the single-elimination bracket finals, which will air Tuesday, May 12 on CBS Sports Network.
EJ Tackett, Hayden Stippich, Tobias Börding, Packy Hanrahan, Tommy Jones, Alex Horton, Kyle Sherman and Mitch Hupé also advanced in the PBA Shark Championship.
Complete standings in the Shark Championship are available here.
The AMF PBA World Championship factors in qualifying from the Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark Championships.
Tackett, the three-time defending champion, led the field after the first 40 games. Via, Bonta, Jason Sterner and Bill O’Neill round out the top five in the major championship.
Complete standings in the World Championship are available here.
Four-time PBA Tour champion Russell has struggled in recent years since his heyday in the mid-2010s. He ranks 71st in points this season, after finishing 71st, 66th, and 59th in the previous three seasons.
Russell will be the top seed for the bracket finals and four wins away from his first title since 2016.
“It's pretty awesome,” Russell said. “It’s been such a long road of struggling mentally and physically. I could not figure it out. That's why I announced my retirement today, because it's getting rough to be out here. Kids like Alex (Horton), they're hard to beat. There's no learning curve anymore. They come out and start beating everybody.”
The 46-year-old said he began to tell close friends today that this would be his final season as a full-time touring professional, leaving the door open to bowl a few majors but largely stepping away from the weekly competition.
Coming to terms with that decision, Russell said, was a large reason for his strong performance.
“I came in today with no expectations,” Russell said. “I didn't put too much pressure on myself. I felt really relaxed. I didn't know how I was going to be coming into the last game, knowing I needed a good game to stay in the top four and for the World Championship cut. I felt really calm, though. Bowling with Jake Peters, Richie Teece and Cristian Azcona, they're all good friends, and they really helped me stay in the moment.”
Russell also advanced in the World Championship, qualifying in 35th place.
Chris Via is one of 10 players to advance to the finals in multiple animal pattern championships, but he is the lone player to finish top four seed in two events. He also qualified second in Sunday’s Scorpion Championship.
“I felt pretty good about the last two patterns going through the practice session,” Via said. “Scorpion kind of resembled the Columbus pattern [in which Via finished fourth] so I felt comfortable there. On Shark, it was a little bit of the same thing playing a similar part of the lane. I’ve talked a few different times this year about my understanding of my equipment. It’s pretty common out here for guys to drill (new bowling balls) frequently, but I haven’t really drilled that many. It’s just been going through my progressions and making fast moves. Luckily, they’ve been working out pretty well.”
One player who did drill a new bowling ball and utilized that to his advantage was the two-time defending champion in the Shark Championship: EJ Tackett.
“(Today) was about controlling the pocket and making good shots,” Tackett said. “I felt like I bowled really, really well the first block today and I just couldn't get more than nine. I bowled well enough to put myself in a position going into this night's block, but I felt like I’d bowled a little bit better than my score. I drilled a new ball at the break and used it for most of the night. I came up a bit short of getting a bye, but shoutout to Brandon Bonta for throwing the back-five (strikes) on me.”
Tackett’s fifth-place finish nearly set up a dream match in the first round of the bracket. His little brother Zac — not to be confused with the unrelated Zach Tackett, who advanced in the Cheetah Championship — finished in 13th place and 16 pins outside the cut.
“I would have wanted (Zac) to make it for himself, but it would have been a lot of fun being able to bowl against each other,” EJ said. “That would have been pretty epic. I would have loved nothing more than to be able to bowl my brother on on national television. My brother is a little bit younger than me, and I'm not old yet, so there’s still time. I think, at some point, it will happen.”
Tackett is not only defending his Shark Championship title, of course. He is looking to become the first player to win the World Championship — or any PBA Tour event — in four consecutive years.
Tackett led all players with a 226.05 average through the opening 40 games across four different oil patterns.
A fifth pattern, named after a six-time champion in this event, awaits for all remaining games in the World Championship.
“I'm in the position that I want to be in,” Tackett said. “Hopefully I can find some good ball reaction on the Earl Anthony pattern. I need to continue to keep executing good shots. I've done a really good job at that the last three days. The first day on Cheetah, it was marginal, and I feel like I've gotten a little bit better each day at my shot making. My scores may not reflect that completely, but the shot making is there.”
The first player outside the World Championship cut was Alex Horton, the 22-year-old who won the Tournament of Champions last Sunday.
Horton advanced in the Shark Championship to make another show, qualifying in 10th place, but finished 10 pins behind Boog Krol for the final berth in the advancing major championship field.
“The goal was to make the major championship and to miss by 10, it really sucks to be honest,” Horton said. “I missed so many makeable spares this week, so that's obviously where it's at. But to be on TV again, I'm truly blessed to be here competing. I'm going to give it a run, focus on myself and truly enjoy the experience of being on TV once again. It's amazing to be there and I'm going to give it my all.”
The 40 advancing players will practice on the 42-foot Anthony pattern at 9 a.m. CT (10 a.m. ET) before beginning competition.
Players will bowl 10 games at 12 p.m. CT (1 p.m ET) and 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) to determine the 16-player field for round-robin match play.
Match play rounds will be held at 11 a.m. CT (12 p.m. ET) and 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) on Wednesday.
The top nine players after all 66 games will advance to the stepladder finals, which will be held Saturday, June 13 at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.
All qualifying rounds will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
During each animal pattern finals, the semifinal round will feature two concurrent matches each game.
- Game 1: No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed + No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed
- Game 2: No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed + No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 seed
- Game 3: No. 1 seed vs. No. 8/9 seed + No. 4 seed vs. No. 5/12 seed
- Game 4: No. 2 seed vs. No. 7/10 seed + No. 3 seed vs. No. 6/11 seed
The four winners of each match will advance to the championship round, beginning on May 9 at 6 p.m ET, which will be a continuation of the bracket. The title match will be a Race-to-Two format.
The World Championship represents the culmination of each animal pattern.
The top third of the entire field across all 40 qualifying games will advance. Ten more games will determine the 16-player match play field for the World Championship.
After 66 games in the World Championship, the top nine players will advance to the televised championship rounds on June 13.
The June 13 semifinal and championship round will be a continuous nine-player stepladder finals.
PBA Shark Championship Standings | 10 Games
- Ronnie Russell, 2,366 pinfall, 236.6 average
- Chris Via, 2,337, 233.7
- Patrick Dombrowski, 2,318, 231.8
- Brandon Bonta, 2,310, 231
- EJ Tackett, 2,299, 229.9
- Hayden Stippich, 2,290, 229
- Tobias Börding, 2,282, 228.2
- Packy Hanrahan, 2,281, 228.1
- Tommy Jones, 2,265, 226.5
- Alex Horton, 2,259, 225.9
- Kyle Sherman, 2,254, 225.4
- Mitch Hupé, 2,253, 225.3
- Zac Tackett, 2,237, 223.7
- Kevin McCune, 2,233, 223.3
- Sean Rash, 2,231, 223.1
- Brandon Runk, 2,231, 223.1
- Jason Belmonte, 2,224, 222.4
- AJ Chapman, 2,209, 220.9
- Arturo Quintero, 2,208, 220.8
- Graham Fach, 2,208, 220.8
Complete standings are available here.
AMF PBA World Championship Standings | 40 Games
- EJ Tackett, 9,042 pinfall, 226.05 average
- Chris Via, 8,991, 224.78
- Brandon Bonta, 8,898, 222.45
- Jason Sterner, 8,884, 222.10
- Bill O'Neill, 8,864, 221.60
- Kris Prather, 8,851, 221.28
- Darren Tang, 8,832, 220.80
- Jason Belmonte, 8,825, 220.63
- Thomas Larsen, 8,804, 220.10
- Ryan Barnes, 8,800, 220.00
- Tommy Jones, 8,779, 219.48
- Packy Hanrahan, 8,764, 219.10
- Cam Crowe, 8,751, 218.78
- Zach Weidman, 8,746, 218.65
- Mitch Hupé, 8,736, 218.40
- Tomas Käyhkö, 8,732, 218.30
- Kyle Sherman, 8,719, 217.98
- Spencer Robarge, 8,715, 217.88
- Santtu Tahvanainen, 8,697, 217.43
- Zach Wilkins, 8,693, 217.33
Complete standings are available here.
PBA Shark Championship Matches
Matches will air live Tuesday, May 12 at 7/9 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
- Game 1: Packy Hanrahan vs. Tommy Jones + EJ Tackett vs. Mitch Hupé
- Game 2: Tobias Börding vs. Alex Horton + Hayden Stippich vs. Kyle Sherman
- Game 3: Ronnie Russell vs. Hanrahan/Jones + Brandon Bonta vs. Tackett/Hupé
- Game 4: Chris Via vs. Börding/Horton + Patrick Dombrowski vs. Stippich/Sherman
PBA World Series of Bowling XVII Schedule
Tuesday, May 5 — Bowlero Brooklyn Park — BowlTV
9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET) — World Championship practice session
12 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) — World Championship Advancers Round 1 (5 games)
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — World Championship Advancers Round 1 (5 games)
Top 16 players advance to World Championship round-robin match play
Wednesday, May 6 — Bowlero Brooklyn Park — BowlTV
11 a.m. (12 p.m. ET) — World Championship Match Play Round 1 (8 games)
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — World Championship Match Play Round 2 (8 games)
Top nine players advance to World Championship televised rounds on June 13
Saturday, May 9 — Lucky Strike Lakeville — CBS Sports Network
2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) — PBA50 Ballard Championship finals
3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) — PBA Cheetah Championship semifinals
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — PBA Cheetah Championship finals
Sunday, May 10 — Lucky Strike Lakeville — CBS Sports Network
2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) — PBA50 Monacelli Championship finals
3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) — PBA Chameleon Championship semifinals
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — PBA Chameleon Championship finals
Monday, May 11 — Lucky Strike Lakeville — CBS Sports Network
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — PBA50 Petraglia Championship finals
6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) — PBA Scorpion Championship semifinals
8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) — PBA Scorpion Championship finals
Tuesday, May 12 — Lucky Strike Lakeville — CBS Sports Network
5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) — PBA50 World Championship finals
6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) — PBA Shark Championship semifinals
8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) — PBA Shark Championship finals
Saturday, June 13 — Thunderbowl Lanes — CBS and Paramount+
11 a.m. ET — AMF PBA World Championship semifinals
1 p.m. ET — AMF PBA World Championship finals