TACKETT LEADS 16 PLAYERS INTO CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH PLAY

Tampa, Fla.—Thirteen-time PBA Tour champion EJ Tackett earned the top seed for PBA Cheetah Championship match play, averaging 243 to pace the field. By leading the first of three animal-pattern events, Tackett also sits atop the standings in the PBA Guaranteed Rate World Championship through the first day of World Series of Bowling XII action.

Tackett, the 2016 PBA World Champion, led defending Cheetah champion and No. 2 qualifier Sean Rash by 45 pins through 10 games of qualifying. Tackett will face 16th seed Chris Via in the opening round of Cheetah Championship best-of-five match play Monday, Mar. 15.

Marshall Kent, Tackett’s doubles partner, qualified third for Cheetah Championship match play with a 236 average, putting the duo on top of the Mark Roth Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship standings through 20 doubles games.

The PBA Chameleon Championship starts tomorrow at noon ET on FloBowling, with the qualifying scores also counting toward the Guaranteed Rate PBA World Championship and PBA Roth/Holman Doubles. PBA Scorpion Championship qualifying will be held on Tuesday.

After 30 games of qualifying—10 each on the Cheetah, Chameleon and Scorpion oil patterns—the top 30 players advance to the PBA World Championship cashers rounds on Wednesday and the top 16 teams advance to Roth/Holman Doubles match play on Friday. To subscribe, visit FloBowling.com.

PBA CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH PLAY QUALIFIERS

AMF University Lanes – Tampa, Fla.

1. EJ Tackett +434
2. Sean Rash +389
3. Marshall Kent +360
4. Nick Pate +346
5. Anthony Simonsen +330
6. Michael Tang +327
7. Kris Prather +326
8. Sam Cooley +317
9. Brad Miller +305
10. Mykel Holliman +302
11. AJ Johnson +299
12. Patrick Dombrowski +297
13. Christopher Sloan +295
14. Kris Koeltzow +277
15. Scott Newell +274
16. Chris Via +270

Best-of-five PBA Cheetah Championship match play begins Monday, Mar. 15 at noon ET on FloBowling. The Cheetah Championship finals air live Mar. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

View the full PBA Cheetah Championship standings

ABOUT THE PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.