February 28, 2025 Nolan Hughes

The name atop the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrim’s is the same name of the player who has claimed two of the season’s four titles and has been the PBA Player of the Year each of the past two seasons.

EJ Tackett has averaged 238 to tally a 5,712 (+912) total pinfall through 24 games at Coconut Bowl at Wild Island in Sparks, Nev. He holds a 68-pin lead entering the final round before the cut to the finals.

Andrew Anderson (+912), Jesper Svensson (+836), Jason Belmonte (+816) and Alec Keplinger (+799) round out the top five.

Tackett led the 18-game qualifying round on the 39-foot Mike Aulby oil pattern, then added to his lead after Thursday night’s first elimination round. With the top 16 players advancing to Friday’s final elimination round, Tackett will look to maintain pole position and earn the top seed for the stepladder finals.

“I feel like this is the truest form of bowling,” Tackett said of the elimination round format. “There's no luck of the draw. The best player is going to prevail, at least to the TV show. I prefer it this way, because I think there's less bad luck that happens. You bowl your score and you see where you fall at the end of the week.

“I had a 100-pin lead going into Game 3 tonight and I bowled 167, so anything can happen very quickly,” Tackett continued. “I’ve got to come in and put some good games down and try to extend my lead, so once we get down to the fifth and sixth games, I don't have to press so much to try to stay in the lead. The ultimate goal is just to get on the show — if you get on the show, you have a chance to win — but the No. 1 seed is always nice.”

Kris Prather, Tom Smallwood, Ethan Fiore, Sean Lavery-Spahr, Thomas Larsen, Graham Fach, Matt Ogle, Jakob Butturff, AJ Chapman, Darren Tang and Kyle Troup also advanced to Friday’s final elimination round.

Tang switched to bowling two-handed after the U.S. Open earlier this year. Tang has an exemplary résumé as a one-hander, including the 2021 PBA FloBowling Bowlerstore.com Classic title and two Team USA Trials victories, but felt he needed a change in order to compete to win again.

Troup (+613) seized the last berth in the final elimination round, eclipsing Sean Rash by eight pins to advance. Troup missed the finals of the PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic after leaving a pocket 5-10 to lose to Timmy Tan in the Round of 8.

“It was probably one of the worst breaks of my career,” Troup said. “I fought hard and bowled a good match. I just had to take the positives from it and apply it to this week. I remember what (my dad) Guppy said ‘If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.’”

All advancing players will bowl six more games in Friday’s second and final elimination round. The top five players following that round will qualify for the stepladder finals.

The PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrim’s finals will air Saturday, March 15 at 3 p.m. Pacific/local (6 p.m. Eastern) on FS1. Tickets for the championship round, which includes the PBA Jr. National Championship Finals taping, are free.

All rounds of qualifying and match play will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

Elimination Round 2 Advancers | 24 Games
  1. EJ Tackett, 5,712 (+912)
  2. Andrew Anderson, 5,644 (+844)
  3. Jesper Svensson, 5,636 (+836)
  4. Jason Belmonte, 5,616 (+816)
  5. Alec Keplinger, 5,599 (+799)
  6. Kris Prather, 5,579 (+779)
  7. Tom Smallwood, 5,569 (+769)
  8. Ethan Fiore, 5,561 (+761)
  9. Sean Lavery-Spahr, 5,556 (+756)
  10. Thomas Larsen, 5,542 (+742)
  11. Graham Fach, 5,539 (+739)
  12. Matt Ogle, 5,477 (+677)
  13. Jakob Butturff, 5,461 (+661)
  14. AJ Chapman, 5,457 (+657)
  15. Darren Tang, 5,418 (+618)
  16. Kyle Troup, 5,413 (+613)

Full standings are available here.

Tournament Schedule

Qualifying: Coconut Bowl at Wild Island | Reno, Nev.
Championship: National Bowling Stadium | Reno, Nev.

All times Pacific/local

Friday, Feb. 28 | BowlTV
11 a.m. — Elimination Round 2 (six games)
Top five qualifiers advance to championship round

Saturday, March 15 | FS1
3 p.m. — Championship Round (stepladder finals)
Tickets

More information on the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrim’s is available here.