March 18, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Tun Hakim, Kevin McCune, EJ Tackett, Andrew Anderson and Mitch Hupé advance to stepladder finals

The brilliance of international players continued on Tuesday afternoon in the PBA Chameleon Championship, the third title event of the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB) XVI.

Malaysia’s Tun Hakim earned the top seed for the PBA Chameleon Championship stepladder finals, placing himself one game away from becoming the third international player to claim their first career title in as many nights.

Hakim will meet one of Kevin McCune, EJ Tackett, Andrew Anderson or Mitch Hupé in the championship match.

The PBA Chameleon Championship finals will air live on FS1 and the FOX Sports app at 4 p.m. Pacific/local (7 p.m. Eastern) time at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. International viewers can watch via BowlTV.

 

Hakim qualified fourth for the elimination match play bracket last week. He defeated Boog Krol and Jesper Svensson — the two finalists in last season’s PBA Playoffs — to earn his first career championship round appearance.

In January, the Malaysian men’s team won gold in the International Bowling Federation (IBF) World Cup. Since then, three members of that team have made PBA Tour championship rounds: Timmy Tan (PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic), Rafiq Ismail (PBA Viper Championship) and Hakim.

With a win, Hakim would become the first Malaysian to win a PBA Tour title.

Kevin McCune seized the No. 2 seed with an impressive striking display, even on the high-scoring, 41-foot Chameleon oil pattern.

McCune defeated Chris Via 3-1 in the best-of-five-games match with games of 278, 257, 267 and 226. Then he overcame an 0-2 deficit to Lanndyn Carnate, firing games of 236, 212, 276, 299 and 258.

McCune will look to win his second career title and first since the 2023 PBA Players Championship.

Tackett advanced to his fifth straight championship round of the season in singles events and third of the WSOB with wins over Peter Fox, Japan’s Yuma Haraguchi and Canada’s Zach Wilkins.

Tackett won his first two championship round appearances of the season in the U.S. Open and PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic. He has finished second, third and second during his current stretch of consecutive shows.

Chameleon is one of just two WSOB animal pattern championships Tackett has yet to win. He finished runner-up in the other, Viper, last night.

EJ Tackett could meet Andrew Anderson, who defeated Tackett in the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic title match.

Anderson ranks second on tour in points this season and earned his fifth top-10 finish of the season in the PBA Chameleon Championship.

The 29-year-old snuck into the match play field as the No. 24 qualifier, eclipsing Sweden’s William Svensson by just four pins. Anderson took down Canada’s Nathan Ruest-Lajoie, Zach Weidman and Hupé to earn the No. 4 seed.

Hupé advanced to the finals as the highest-seeded qualifier to lose in the Round of 8.

The Canadian tied with Haraguchi for the qualifying lead with a 12-game block of 3,083 — three pins shy of the record set by Michael Davidson earlier this season. Hupé defeated Thomas Larsen in the Round of 16 before falling to Anderson in the Round of 8.

The PBA Chameleon Championship stepladder finals will begin at 4 p.m. Pacific/local (7 p.m. Eastern) time, airing live on FS1 and the FOX Sports app. International viewers can watch via BowlTV.

Round of 16 Results

No. 1 Mitch Hupé def. No. 17 Thomas Larsen, 3-1
No. 24 Andrew Anderson def. No. 8 Zach Weidman, 3-2

No. 15 EJ Tackett def. No. 2 Yuma Haraguchi, 3-0
No. 10 Zach Wilkins def. No. 7 Pontus Andersson, 3-1

No. 3 Lanndyn Carnate def. No. 19 AJ Johnson, 3-1
No. 11 Kevin McCune def. No. 6 Chris Via, 3-1

No. 4 Tun Hakim def. No. 13 Boog Krol, 3-1
No. 5 Jesper Svensson def. No. 21 Tomas Käyhkö, 3-0

Round of 8 Results

No. 4 Tun Hakim def. No. 5 Jesper Svensson, 3-0
No. 11 Kevin McCune def. No. 3 Lanndyn Carnate, 3-2
No. 15 EJ Tackett def. No. 10 Zach Wilkins, 3-1
No. 24 Andrew Anderson def. No. 1 Mitch Hupé, 3-2

Championship Round Scores

Match One: No. 4 Andrew Anderson vs. No. 5 Mitch Hupé
Match Two: winner vs. No. 3 EJ Tackett
Match Three: winner vs. No. 2 Kevin McCune
Championship: winner vs. No. 1 Tun Hakim

Full standings and match results are available here.