February 2, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Tackett completes monumental comeback for sixth career major

After two rounds of qualifying in the 2025 U.S. Open presented by Go Bowling, EJ Tackett found himself in 78th place and almost 200 pins outside the cut.

Four days later, Tackett left Indianapolis’ Royal Pin Woodland with his second U.S. Open title, green jacket and the $100,000 top prize.

Tackett, who climbed all the way to the No. 2 seed after 48 games of qualifying and match play, defeated top seed Andrew Anderson in the title match 238-184, claiming the season’s first major championship and his second U.S. Open crown in three years.

“It's just as emotional for different reasons,” Tackett said, reflecting on his 2023 win. “Two years ago, I came back after losing (in 2022) and was able to win. This time, I won the U.S. Open as a dad. I know I won the PBA World Championship last year and Tripp was there, but this is the U.S. Open, man.”

 

Tackett has always revered Royal Pin Woodland, the only venue to have hosted all five PBA major championships.

The Huntington county native grew up less than two hours north of the iconic bowling center, dreaming of winning a PBA Tour title on its hallowed grounds and joining the PBA legends whose championship banners forever hang from its rafters.

“Woodland is synonymous with major championships, especially this one,” Tackett said. “It's hard to put it into words. I’m so grateful and lucky to have such a great bowling center, and so much history in my backyard. To be fortunate enough to win here twice, it’s just special.”

Tackett bowled his first U.S. Open at Woodland when he was only 16. This year, he became the 13th player to win multiple U.S. Open titles.

Over the past two seasons and change, in which Tackett has won four of 11 major championships, he has silenced any doubters who questioned whether or not he can consistently succeed at the highest level.

“I've never, ever questioned my ability,” Tackett said. “It was just a matter of being able to perform on television where I lacked for a lot of my career. The last couple years, I have been really, really good at building on that and using everything that I've learned to perform well in these situations, whether I win or not. All I have control over is me performing well. If I can go out and do that, I can always hang my head high and know that I did everything that I could. That's the mindset I have going into TV shows now, to bowl the best that I possibly can, and everything else will take care of itself.”

Tackett left back-to-back stone 9-pins to start the championship match. After that, he thoroughly dominated Anderson, who led the tournament nearly wire to wire. A few errant shots from Anderson would be all the margin Tackett needed to clinch the win before the 10th frame.

In the semifinal, Tackett fired seven straight strikes to build a lead Chris Via stood no chance of overcoming. Via lost all control of the match, low-lighted by his sixth frame in which he knocked over five total pins.

Via, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, disbarred two-time U.S. Open champion François Lavoie in the second match, firing eight strikes in his first nine frames.

Lavoie spared three consecutive 10-pins early in the opening match against Anthony Simonsen, who advanced to the championship round by winning the preliminary stepladder on Saturday afternoon. The tide turned when Simonsen left back-to-back splits in the sixth and seventh frames.

Tackett, the three-time and two-time reigning PBA Player of the Year, is off to another strong start to the 2025 season.

The PBA Tour continues on Tuesday with PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic qualifying.

Championship Round Scores

Match 1: No. 4 François Lavoie def. No. 5 Anthony Simonsen, 246-206
Match 2: No. 3 Chris Via def. No. 4 François Lavoie, 238-226
Match 3: No. 2 EJ Tackett def. No. 3 Chris Via, 245-152
Championship: No. 2 EJ Tackett def. No. 1 Andrew Anderson, 238-184

Final Standings

  1. EJ Tackett, $100,000
  2. Andrew Anderson, $50,000
  3. Chris Via, $25,000
  4. François Lavoie, $16,000
  5. Anthony Simonsen, $10,000

More information on the U.S. Open presented by Go Bowling is available here.