Zach Wilkins Leads, EJ Tackett Advances in PBA Scorpion Championship
After winning his first career PBA Tour title two weeks ago and finishing runner-up in last week’s PBA Tournament of Champions, Zach Wilkins continued the best stretch of his career on Sunday.
Wilkins led the 10-game qualifying round in the PBA Scorpion Championship, the third title event of the PBA World Series of Bowling XVII, to earn the top seed for the 12-player finals.
Wilkins, along with Chris Via, EJ Tackett and Zach Weidman, each earned a one-round bye in the single-elimination bracket finals, which will air Monday, May 11 on CBS Sports Network.
Graham Fach, Jesper Svensson, Sean Rash, Thomas Larsen, Kris Prather, Santtu Tahvanainen, Nate Stubler and Darren Tang also advanced in the PBA Scorpion Championship.
Prather, Tahvanainen and Tang are the only players to have made multiple finals appearances thus far in the WSOB. Prather advanced in the Cheetah Championship, while Tahvanainen and Tang moved on in the Chameleon Championship.
Complete standings are available here.
Wilkins' first three games of the Scorpion Championship were 212, 172 and 184. He averaged more than 252 during his next seven games to surge into the qualifying lead.
“It's so easy at times to just throw in the white flag and walk away from it, or accept that this may never happen,” Wilkins said. “I'm not one to ever give up. I'm always finding new ways to learn, whether it's watching people bowl or talking to the Hall of Famers. I got to cross with Bill (O’Neill) today, and I learned a lot of different information on how he thinks of bowling and his thought process.”
“After being minus those three games,” Wilkins continued, “I grabbed the cleanest bowling ball cover that we have, and (decided) I'm just going to trust my rev rate that I can get it back from almost anywhere on the lane right now.”
On the 43-foot Scorpion oil pattern, Tackett advanced to his first finals of this year’s WSOB.
Tackett reached the five-player stepladder finals of all five WSOB tournaments last year, becoming just the second player to accomplish that feat.
While Tackett didn’t reach the finals in the Cheetah and Chameleon Championships, he finished in a cashing spot of 22nd and 24th in those events, respectively.
His performance on Scorpion elevated himself into first place in the AMF PBA World Championship, which factors in qualifying games across all four animal pattern championships.
As the three-time defending PBA World Champion, Tackett’s greater focus is the major championship.
“The World Series has always been one of my favorite events,” Tackett said. “Typically, it showcases the guys that can get their ball to do the right thing across multiple different patterns in the same building. It showcases the best players, because they are really, really good at manipulating their ball roll and finding the right part of the lane on all the different patterns. It's a bunch of games, which I really like, because I feel like the more games you give me, the better my chances are at being towards the top and on a TV show.”
Tackett leads the World Championship with a pinfall of 6,743 for his 30 games, an average of 224.76.
His World Championship title defense continues with another title defense in the PBA Shark Championship, which he has won each of the past two years.
Qualifying in the PBA Shark Championship (and the continuation of World Championship qualifying) continues on Monday.
Each five-game round will begin at 11 a.m. CT (12 p.m. ET) and 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET).
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 Scorpion Championship Standings | 10 Games
- Zach Wilkins, 2,334 pinfall, 233.4 average
- Chris Via, 2,332, 233.2
- EJ Tackett, 2,331, 233.1
- Zach Weidman, 2,319, 231.9
- Graham Fach, 2,309, 230.9
- Jesper Svensson, 2,309, 230.9
- Sean Rash, 2,271, 227.1
- Thomas Larsen, 2,244, 224.4
- Kris Prather, 2,231, 223.1
- Santtu Tahvanainen, 2,230, 223.0
- Nate Stubler, 2,230, 223.0
- Darren Tang, 2,215, 221.5
- Ryan Barnes, 2,213, 221.3
- David Northouse, 2,210, 221
- Mihai Dragnia, 2,206, 220.6
- Tom Smallwood, 2,203, 220.3
- Bailey Mavrick, 2,201, 220.1
- François Lavoie, 2,196, 219.6
- AJ Chapman, 2,193, 219.3
- Patrick Dombrowski, 2,191, 219.1
Complete standings are available here.
AMF PBA World Championship Standings | 30 Games
- EJ Tackett, 6,743 pinfall, 224.77
- Darren Tang, 6,735, 224.50
- Jason Sterner, 6,696, 223.20
- Bill O'Neill, 6,682, 222.73
- Kris Prather, 6,670, 222.33
- Ryan Barnes, 6,658, 221.93
- Chris Via, 6,654, 221.80
- Spencer Robarge, 6,644, 221.47
- Thomas Larsen, 6,643, 221.43
- Zach Weidman, 6,618, 220.60
- Jason Belmonte, 6,601, 220.03
- Cam Crowe, 6,597, 219.90
- Brandon Bonta, 6,588, 219.60
- Zach Wilkins, 6,568, 218.93
- Deo Benard, 6,541, 218.03
- Sean Lavery-Spahr, 6,539, 217.97
- Boog Krol, 6,535, 217.83
- Tomas Käyhkö, 6,533, 217.77
- Jakob Butturff, 6,527, 217.57
- Tom Smallwood, 6,519, 217.30
Complete standings are available here.
PBA Scorpion Championship Matches
Matches will air live Monday, May 11 at 7/9 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
- Game 1: Thomas Larsen vs. Kris Prather + Graham Fach vs. Darren Tang
- Game 2: Sean Rash vs. Santtu Tahvanainen + Jesper Svensson vs. Nate Stubler
- Game 3: Zach Wilkins vs. Larsen/Prather + Zach Weidman vs. Fach/Tang
- Game 4: Chris Via vs. Rash/Tahvanainen + No. 3 seed vs. Svensson/Stubler
PBA World Series of Bowling XVII Schedule
Monday, May 4 — Bowlero Brooklyn Park — BowlTV
11 a.m. (12 p.m. ET) — Shark Championship Qualifying Round 1 (5 games)
6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) — Shark Championship Qualifying Round 2 (5 games)
Top 12 players advance to televised rounds on May 12
Top 1:3 of field advance in World Championship
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