March 27, 2025 Nolan Hughes

Sixteen players remain in the winner’s bracket of USBC Masters. Among them are three-time Masters champion Anthony Simonsen, three-time and two-time reigning PBA Player of the Year EJ Tackett, and 2025 PBA Hall of Fame-electee Bill O’Neill.

O’Neill, who earned the top seed for double-elimination match play, defeated defending champion DeeRonn Booker and Jake Peters on Thursday afternoon. The three-time major champion is looking to make his first championship round appearance in the Masters.

“I'm feeling great. This is the best I felt all season, physically,” O’Neill said. “I’ve got to keep doing exactly what I'm doing, go through my routine, my visualization process, and let it take care of itself.”

Simonsen set the USBC Masters match play average record during his 2023 Masters title run, which was also held at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich. He earned the No. 2 seed for match play before defeating Chad Roberts and Matt Ogle.

Tackett arrived in Allen Park after a 30-hour drive following his PBA World Championship victory in Reno, which caused him to miss the practice session. He still qualified 11th before dispatching Nate Purches and Luukas Väänänen in his Thursday afternoon matches.

“The first round (of qualifying) was interesting to say the least since I didn't have any practice,” Tackett said. “I put myself in a great position where on Day 3, I didn't really have to press, just come out and not do anything stupid. That's the name of the game. It doesn't have to be pretty. I just have to win.”

Tackett has made six consecutive championship rounds entering this event, a new PBA record. He can further etch his name in the PBA record books by making the championship round and winning this event, but he is only focused on one mission.

“I want to win another championship,” he said. “(The other accolades) are not something that I sit and think about or dwell on. I'm here to win a championship and all the other stuff that comes with it will take care of itself,” he said. “I'm sure (the intimidation factor) probably plays a little bit, but I don't ever bank on that. I have to go and beat my opponent, whether it's a seasoned veteran or a new face. Anybody can beat anyone at any given time.”

The 390-player Masters field was trimmed to the top 63 players and the defending champion, DeeRonn Booker, after 15 games of qualifying on the 44-foot oil pattern. All players bowled 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.

Sixteen players remain in title contention through the contender’s bracket, including last year’s finalists Booker and Patrick Dombrowski.

Booker, who automatically qualified for match play as the defending champion, wanted to earn his spot in the 64-player field through qualifying. He came up short, though he did qualify in a cashing spot tied for 96th place, and entered the bracket as the No. 64 seed. He lost his first match to O’Neill.

“I'm feeling a lot better being here, than the process of getting here,” Booker said. “It's really tough when you're not having a good season to try to come back and defend one of the hardest tournaments in the world to win. I had to just tell myself, ‘remember who you are and remember what you've done.’ Because a lot of times, we forget that we can still do great things, even though we're not having the greatest time right now.”

Booker said last year’s motivation was to earn a spot out of the pre-tournament qualifiers. While this season has been a struggle to find a new one, he rediscovered the feeling with wins over Brent Boho and Brad Miller on Thursday evening in the contender’s bracket.

“To see people, sign autographs, and take pictures with fans, I was able to find my reason again,” Booker said. “That gave me a boost and a little bit more confidence to trust in my ability. There's still a lot of bowling, so I'm not going to sit here and say, what-ifs. I'm just going to keep going one match, one frame, one ball at a time.”

Competition continues at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday. The full match play schedule is available here.

All rounds of 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.

More information on the 2025 USBC Masters is available here.

USBC Masters Schedule

Thunderbowl Lanes | Allen Park, MI

All times Eastern

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.