March 24, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Through the opening round of the 2025 USBC Masters, Sean Lavery-Spahr sits atop the 390-player field.

Lavery-Spahr averaged nearly 240, totalling 1,196 (+196) for his first five games of qualifying in the season’s third major championship.

Brad Miller (+183), Mikey Schlabach (+182), Michigan native Tom Smallwood (+173) and Bill O’Neill (+173) round out the top five at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.

All players will bowl 15 games of qualifying on the 44-foot oil pattern. Players will bowl two five-game rounds on fresh lane conditions and one round on “burn” conditions, meaning the lanes are not re-oiled after the previous squad.

After qualifying, the field will be trimmed to the top 63 players and the defending champion.

DeeRonn Booker, who dominated the 2024 event in Las Vegas, is guaranteed a berth in the 64-player match play bracket. Booker (-9) sits in 151st place after the first round of qualifying.

EJ Tackett (+96), seeking to extend his new record of six consecutive championship round appearances, placed 27th.

Qualifying continues on Tuesday. Booker and B-squad take the lanes at 8 a.m. Eastern time, followed by C-squad on the burn at 12:30 p.m. and A-squad at 6:30 p.m.

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

The elimination bracket will continue in Saturday’s preliminary round, airing at 12 p.m. ET on FS1, to complete the field for Sunday’s four-player stepladder finals.

The top seed, who will have gone 6-0 in bracket match play, will need to be defeated twice in the championship match.

The USBC Masters finals will air live at 12 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX.

Round 1 Leaders | Five Games
  1. Sean Lavery-Spahr, 1,196 (+196)
  2. Brad Miller, 1,183 (+183)
  3. Mikey Schlabach, 1,182 (+182)
  4. Tom Smallwood, 1,173 (+173)
  5. Bill O’Neill, 1,173 (+173)
  6. Jake Peters, 1,165 (+165)
  7. Matt Russo, 1,160 (+160)
  8. Zach Cook, 1,147 (+147)
  9. Anthony Simonsen, 1,145 (+145)
  10. Vincent Bellar, 1,138 (+138)

More information on the 2025 USBC Masters is available here.

USBC Masters Schedule

Thunderbowl Lanes | Allen Park, MI

All times Eastern

Tuesday, March 25
8 a.m. — B-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
12:30 p.m. — C-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games)
6:30 p.m — A-squad Qualifying Round 2 (five games)

Wednesday, March 26
8 a.m. — C-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
12:30pm — A-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games)
6:30pm — B-squad Qualifying Round 3 (five games)

Top 64 players (or top 63 players and defending champion, DeeRonn Booker) advance to double-elimination match play

Thursday, March 27
10 a.m. — First round (left side of bracket)
12:30 p.m. — First round (right side of bracket)
2:30pm — All first round winners
5 p.m. — Match play continues

Friday, March 28
10 a.m. — Match play continues
2 p.m. — Match play continues

Saturday, March 39
12:00 p.m. (FS1) — Preliminary Round

Sunday, March 30
12:00 p.m. (FOX) — USBC Masters stepladder finals

More information on the 2025 USBC Masters is available here.