2025 PBA Midseason Superlatives

With four title events in the books, a fifth looming — the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship finals air Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m. Eastern on FS1 — and a sixth about to begin, it’s time to doll out some hardware.

Think of the following superlatives like the ones in your high school yearbook: Most of the winners are either super popular or a friend of the editor, one award is made up entirely to celebrate the weird kid, and everyone forgets about them within a month.

Most Outstanding Player: EJ Tackett

Who would’ve thought the early favorite for Player of the Year would be EJ Tackett, who has captured two of the season’s first four titles? Why is everyone raising their hand?

First, Tackett won his second career U.S. Open and sixth career major title in a dramatic comeback, rising from 78th place after the second round of qualifying to the second seed for the stepladder finals.

Then he won his 25th career title in Missouri, becoming one of the youngest players to ever cross that threshold.

Tackett now sits on the precipice of more PBA history: One more title would tie him with Don Johnson for 10th all time.

Honorable mentions: Graham Fach, Chris Via, Andrew Anderson

Most Disappointing Player: Marshall Kent

Kent enjoyed a career-best season in 2024, ranking second in points and winning his first career major.

It has been an entirely different story in 2025: Kent ranks 58th in points and, outside of his 24th-place finish in Delaware, he has yet to make a cut or cash.

There is, of course, plenty of time for Kent to turn this thing around. His early-season results have been underwhelming nonetheless.

Honorable mentions: Anthony Simonsen, Jesper Svensson

Most Surprising Player: Tim Foy Jr.

Here’s how Foy finished in his nine PBA East Region events last season: eighth (yawn), first, second, third, second, first, second, first and first.

So Foy tallying three straight top-five finishes on the PBA Tour isn’t coming out of nowhere, but it’s certainly not what anybody, including Foy himself, expected.

Perhaps it’s time for all parties to recalibrate expectations.

Honorable mentions: Michael Davidson, Graham Fach, Timmy Tan

Best Comeback Player: Santtu Tahvanainen

The former Rookie of the Year missed all of last season with a knee injury. He said he didn’t bowl more than 50 games between the end of the 2023 season and the start of the 2025 season.

And yet, in just his second event since the injury, Tahvanainen won the whole thing. That's the definition of "built different."

Honorable mentions: Jakob Butturff, François Lavoie, Shawn Maldonado

Most Consistent Player: Tom Smallwood

Smallwood is one of just five players to cash in all four singles events. He’s finished 18th, 26th, 26th and 27th in those events.

He ranks — you guessed it — 26th overall in points.

Honorable mentions: Matt Sanders, Nathan Bohr

Most Unbelievable Moment: Kyle Troup’s 5-10 Split

All Troup needed to make the PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic finals was a mark. He made a quality shot and hit the pocket, but the 5-10 withstood his wrath. Troup failed to convert the split, allowing Timmy Tan to make his first career show.

The cruel irony of Timmy Tan later leaving a pocket 5-pin to ultimately lose to Dom Barrett in the stepladder finals is noted.

Honorable mentions: Chris Via’s 3-2 frame, Tim Foy Jr.’s missed 9-pin, Dom Barrett’s 0-3 comeback against Richie Teece

Best Offseason Change: Andrew Anderson

A handful of exempt players changed bowling ball manufacturing brands this season, but none have succeeded with their new equipment quicker than Anderson, who switched from Motiv to 900 Global.

It’s not that Anderson wasn't successful with his previous company — in fact, he won a title and both PBA Elite League MVP awards last season — but leading the U.S. Open nearly wire to wire and adding another top-10 finish is a market improvement.

Thus far in 2025, Anderson has shown signs of returning to Player of the Year form.

Worst Offseason Change: Matt Russo

After finishing seventh in points a year ago, Matt Russo ranks 69th through four events in 2025. He has yet to cash and his best finish thus far is 47th.

Is it because he changed from DV8 to Motiv? Maybe the learning curve is steeper than he would have liked, but there are numerous other factors to consider than equipment.

Some of you may have read the previous two superlatives and want to jump to a broader conclusion. Before you make that leap, consider a Motiv player has won three of the four titles so far this season, and, in the event not won by a Motiv player, a Motiv player set a PBA scoring record.

Best Story: Malotts’ Doubles Run

Wes Malott won two of his 10 career titles at Bowlero Vernon Hills, including the most recent event in 2008. His first win in the Chicago suburb came in 2006. 

His son Jordan, who was only three years old at the time, came down with a nasty viral infection that week. He spent three days in a nearby hospital while Wes competed.

Jordan recovered by the end of the week, just in time to watch his dad compete in the finals. Wes took down Mike Scroggins before taking down, of all people, Chris Barnes in the championship match. Jordan joined Wes on the lanes to help his dad hoist the trophy.

Nineteen years later, the two competed together on the very same lanes in the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship.

Wes has largely stepped away from the tour as injuries have taken their toll and Jordan plays college baseball at Indiana Tech. So when the Malott boys laced up their shoes in Illinois, they were very much the other father-son duo in the field.

It didn’t take long for the Malotts to steal the spotlight, turning a cool story into a legendary one during the third round of qualifying: Wes shot back-to-back 300 games and Jordan shot nearly 800 himself.

The Malotts made match play in the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship and both made the singles cut in the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic. While they came up 80 pins shy of making the championship round in doubles, their performance left few dry eyes and represented an emotional, full-circle moment for their family.

Honorable Mentions: Hall of Fame surprises, Landin Jordan makes U.S. Open prelims show

Biggest Butterfly Effect: Nick Pate’s Big Break

In the final frame of the PBA Delaware Classic pre-tournament qualifier, Pate almost left a 7-10. Instead only the 10-pin remained, he made the spare and made the cut by a single pin.

If that split stood, Pate would have missed the cut to the main field, never made the PBA Delaware Classic finals, and lost 2,300 of his 2,865 points. He’d plummet from 24th in points to the mid-70s.

That could have been career-changing pin action when we look back at the end of the season.

Honorable mentions: François Lavoie almost shows up late to U.S. Open match play, Sean Rash makes the 2-8-10 against Kris Prather in PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic match play, the entire tour doesn’t get the flu in early February

The 2025 PBA Tour continues with the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrim's on Tuesday, Feb. 25.