October 8, 2026 Jill Winters

The PBA ELITE Regional Tour is stepping it up even more as six champions will be named on Sunday. This will be the second round of regionals in the Central, East and Southwest happening in Michigan, New York, and Texas.

CENTRAL

After EJ and Zac Tackett hosted and competed last weekend at the Central Regional 1, they are back on the lanes as Central Regional 2 heads to David Small’s JAX 60 in Jackson, MI. After earning their titles at the Tackett’s’ EZ Bowl, Michael Davidson and Mika Koivuniemi are going to try to win back-to-back.

Also in the standard division are this year’s Go Bowling U.S. Open champion Patrick Dombrowski, Jason Sterner, Bailey Mavrick and Jean Perez. They will shoe up against rising stars in Hayden Hale, Trae Henrichsmeyer, Brett Lloyd, Dylan Jablonski, Connor Rogus and Bryce Oliver.

Joining Koivuniemi in the senior division are several players that were behind him last week. Jason Lundquist, who finished second, Dan Higgins Jr. who was third and is first in points for seniors in the Central Region, Ron Hurt who was fourth, Carleton Chambers who was sixth and Bill Watson who was seventh. Add in Bill Fabian, Bo Goergen, Michael Haggitt and Larry Verble.

Seven games of qualifying begin at 9 a.m. Eastern on Saturday. The top third in each division return at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday for four games in the advancers round. The top 8 from each group will move into round-robin match play scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET leading to a winner in each division. Click here for more on the Central Region and follow the action on BowlTV.

EAST

PBA50 bowler Jeff Ripic is ready to host and compete as the East Regional 2 rolls into his Ripic’s Carousel Lanes in Binghamton, NY. This event will feature Phil Drumm, who kicked off the ELITE Regional Tour with a win at East Regional 1. He will be joined by 2025 USBC Masters champion Gary Haines, Anthony Neuer, Hayden Stippich and Nate Purches. Additional players to keep a look out for are Ethan Crouse, Aaron Major, the East Region points leader, and Christian Liquori, who is currently fifth in points for the East.

There are several big names in the senior division, including PBA and USBC Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III, Brad Angelo, Brian LeClair, Ryan Shafer, Sammy Ventura and Troy Lint, who is the leading East Region points leader for seniors. Father-son duos of Bruce and Andrew Hall, along with Bohn III and Justin Bohn, make this a family affair.  

There are two squads with qualifying at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The top third in each division return at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday for four games in the advancers round. The top 8 from each group will move into round-robin match play scheduled to start at noon ET leading to a winner in each division. Follow the East action on BowlTV.

SOUTHWEST

At Emerald Bowl in Houston, Shawn Maldonado will look to add to his first-place regional points total. However, he is going to have to hold off Zachary Leshikar, Nathan Bohr, AJ Chapman, Dallas Leong, Spencer Robarge, TJ Rock, Stu Williams, Trey Brand and Josh Hammons, among others. A few father-son duos in this region are Paul and Connor Fleming and Chris and Chris Warren II.

The 2026 PBA50 Player of the Year Chris Barnes will compete in the senior division, in addition to Mike Bailey, Tom Daugherty, Tony Franklin, Rudy Kasimakis, Robert Lawrence, Tony Lanning and Dino Castillo, who is the first-ever PBA ELITE Regional Tour senior champion in the Southwest Region.

Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday. After seven games, there will be a cut to the top third of the field in the standard and senior divisions. Those bowlers will return to the lanes at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday for four games in the advancers round. From there, the top 8 in each division bowl round-robin match play, scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET.

Overall, the bowler with the highest pinfall total will win their division. There is no stepladder final. You can watch it play out on Bowling TV, a free, ad-supported fast channel. More information on the Southwest Regional 2 is available here.

The top 5 non-PBA Tour priority finishers in every PBA ELITE Regional Tour event earn an automatic berth into the PBA Regional Players Invitations held in December. At that prestigious tournament, three priority status positions on the 2027 PBA Tour will be rewarded.

To follow the continuous coverage of the PBA ELITE Regional Tour, click here.