EJ Tackett Defends PBA Shark Championship Title

EJ Tackett has made the championship round of every PBA Tour event so far in Reno, including the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrims and the four animal pattern championships as part of the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB) XVI.

Tackett went winless in his first four stepladder final attempts at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.

He would not be denied any longer, defeating Tom Smallwood, 265-206, to win his third title of the season in the PBA Shark Championship and the $20,000 top prize.

“It is really nice to finally get that win after being so close so many times this week,” Tackett said. “It's been some grueling days, but I feel like one of my best attributes is being able to let go of whatever happened the day before and wake up like it never happened. I’ve been able to do that really well this week and it's definitely paid off.”

With the win, Tackett earned his 26th career PBA Tour title. He is now tied with Don Johnson for 10th all-time.

“It’s unbelievable. I never, ever in my life thought, ‘One day I'm going to be tied with Don Johnson.’” Tackett said. “After I won a title, I thought maybe I could win four or five, and then I went on a run and thought maybe I could win 10. As I keep performing and winning, it just doesn't feel real. I wake up every day and it's like ‘I have this many and I'm tied with who?’

“I've reached a point where every single time I’m able to win and reach a milestone it’s an icon of our sport,” Tackett continued. “These are the guys that built this to allow me to be here. If I could thank them, I would. I'm very grateful for what they did, what they did for the game, and what they did as professionals.”

Tackett qualified second behind Malaysia’s Ahmad Muaz during the 12-game qualifying round last week. On Wednesday, he defeated Jean Perez in the Round of 16 of the elimination bracket, featuring best-of-five-games matches, before overcoming an 0-2 deficit to 18-year-old Landin Jordan in the Round of 8 to earn the top seed for the stepladder finals.

Smallwood earned the fourth seed, then defeated Jesper Svensson, Tim Foy Jr. and Packy Hanrahan to meet his Motiv teammate in the championship match.

The Michigan native cruised past Svensson in the opening match, firing eight of nine strikes while the two-handed lefty totaled just five in the game.

Smallwood needed just nine pins to shut out Foy in the second match, but left the 3-4-6-7-10 and only got one pin on the spare attempt. The gaffe gifted Foy an opportunity to double for the win; Foy struck on the first attempt, but left a 10-pin on the second.

Hanrahan made two errors of his own in the semifinal match, missing a 7-pin in the third frame and missing the head-pin left in the sixth. That proved to be all the margin Smallwood needed to skirt past another two-handed southpaw as Smallwood took the game, 222-212.

The title match seemed to be the bowling gods’ way of repaying Tackett’s untimely splits in previous championship rounds.

While Smallwood left three consecutive 10-pins in the third through fifth frames, Tackett benefited from three fortuitous messengers and compiled seven straight strikes to start the match.

Tackett stayed clean down the stretch to secure his long-awaited first win of this year’s WSOB. He will follow up defending his PBA Shark Championship title by defending his PBA World Championship title over the next three days.

Tackett leads the major championship event through 64 games, holding a 65-pin advantage over Jason Belmonte entering the final day of match play.

The top 16 players, who prevailed across 48 games of PBA Scorpion, Viper, Chameleon and Shark Championship qualifying and a 16-game advancer round on the 43-foot Earl Anthony oil pattern, begin round-robin match play on Thursday morning.

Tackett and Belmonte have won a combined six of the past eight PBA World Championship titles. Tackett has won the last two, including a 2023 title match victory over Belmonte.

"I think Jason is very hungry to win a title,” Tackett said. “Obviously, he's been close all week as well. I think he's going to come in tomorrow and be very locked in. It's going to be very, very difficult for me to hold him off, so I have to mentally prepare for that. I expect it and I’m going to have to come in and go toe-to-toe and match whatever he does.”

Players will bowl two eight game rounds, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific/local (1 p.m. Eastern) time and 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) on BowlTV.

The top five players after Thursday’s match play rounds will advance to Saturday’s stepladder finals, airing at 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET) on FOX and the FOX Sports app.

The full upcoming PBA television schedule is available here.

Round of 16 Results

No. 17 Tim Foy Jr. def. No. 1 Ahmad Muaz, 3-1
No. 9 Jason Belmonte def. No. 8 Ben Robinson, 3-2

No. 2 EJ Tackett def. No. 18 Jean Perez, 3-0
No. 23 Landin Jordan def. No. 7 Jakob Butturff, 3-0

No. 3 Packy Hanrahan def. No. 19 Ryan Barnes, 3-2
No. 6 Justin Knowles def. No. 11 Chris Via, 3-1

No. 4 Jesper Svensson def. No. 13 Kyle Troup, 3-2
No. 21 Tom Smallwood def. No. 5 Matt Ogle, 3-2

Round of 8 Results

No. 2 EJ Tackett def. No. 23 Landin Jordan, 3-2
No. 3 Packy Hanrahan def. No. 6 Justin Knowles, 3-1
No. 17 Tim Foy Jr. def. No. No. 9 Jason Belmonte, 3-1
No. 21 Tom Smallwood def. No. 4 Jesper Svensson, 3-1

Championship Round Scores

Match One: No. 4 Tom Smallwood def. No. 5 Jesper Svensson, 247-192
Match Two: No. 4 Tom Smallwood def. No. 3 Tim Foy Jr., 189-182
Match Three: No. 4 Tom Smallwood def. No. 2 Packy Hanrahan, 222-212
Championship: No. 1 EJ Tackett def. No. 4 Tom Smallwood, 265-206

Full standings and match results are available here.

Final Standings

1. EJ Tackett, $20,000
2. Tom Smallwood, $13,500
3. Packy Hanrahan, $10,000
4. Tim Foy Jr., $7,500
5. Jesper Svensson, $6,000

More information on the PBA Shark Championship is available here.

Tournament Schedule

National Bowling Stadium | Reno, NV

All times Pacific/local

Thursday, March 20
10 a.m. — PBA World Championship - Round-Robin Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
5 p.m. — PBA World Championship - Round-Robin Match Play Round 2 (eight games)

Top five players advance to PBA World Championship stepladder finals

Saturday, March 22
12 p.m. on FOX — PBA World Championship Finals
Free Tickets

More information on the PBA World Series of Bowling XVI is available here.