16
- December 2016
Indiana’s E.J. Tackett Wins PBA
World Championship
By Bill Vint
RENO, Nev. –
E.J. Tackett of Huntington, Ind., one of the
Professional Bowlers Association’s rising young stars, de-
feated veteran Tom Smallwood of Saginaw, Mich., 246-180,
to win the PBA World Championship Sunday at the National
Bowling Stadium.
Tackett, PBA’s 2013 Rookie of the Year, won his first major championship and his
fourth title of the 2016 season with a closing string of six strikes after Smallwood lost
his strike line on the left lane and suffered two open frames late in the match.
Tackett, the top qualifier for the World Championship for the second year in a row,
earned $60,000 along with his fifth career title.
“It was the greatest feeling in the world to have my dad
here to watch,” Tackett said after a tearful embrace with his
father, Ed Tackett.
“It was great to bowl a good game to win,” Tackett said.
“Tom gave me some breaks, which you’d never expect
from him, but to throw the last six strikes, to be able to per-
form like that on a stage like this is what you dream about.
It’s been a huge breakout year for me. I just hope I can
keep riding the wave. I don’t expect to win every time, but I
just want to bowl well.”
With his win, the 5-foot-7, 130-pound right hander, put
himself into the thick of the PBA Player of the Year race.
“Player of the Year is one of those things you strive for,”
the 24-year-old Tackett said. “Now it’s a matter of what my
peers think. With the kind of year I’ve had, I’d put myself in
the top five in the world. Where, I’m not sure, but I grew up
watching Tiger Woods, and I want to be the Tiger Woods of bowling.”
Smallwood earned his berth in the title match with three consecutive wins, includ-
ing a 266-235 victory over England’s Dom Barrett in the semifinal match.
Smallwood, who became a hero among America’s working class in early 2010,
started the match against Barrett with eight strikes before leaving the 3-6-10 in the
ninth frame.
Smallwood’s legacy began during the recession of 2009 when he lost his job with
GMC and decided to pursue his dream of bowling professionally. He earned an ex-
emption to bowl on the PBA Tour during the 2009-10 season, but more importantly,
won the 2010 PBA World Championship for his first title and a $50,000 prize.
Smallwood, with key strikes when he needed them, eliminated 19-year-old Anthony
Simonsen, who failed to carry strikes at critical opportunities, in the first match, 204-
193. Simonsen, a two-handed player from Austin, Texas, was trying to become the
youngest player to win two major titles in the same season after winning the United
States Bowling Congress Masters in February.
In the second match, Smallwood rebounded from an open second frame with a
string of five strikes, building a lead Australia’s Jason Belmonte couldn’t overcome.
Belmonte, the three-time reigning PBA Player of the Year, saw his hopes for his first
title in 2016 die when he left the 3-4-6-7 split in the ninth frame and failed to convert,
losing to Smallwood, 224-185.
The PBA World Championship was the final event of the 2016 PBA Tour season.
PBA competition resumes January 10-14 when a field of 16 PBA stars will join 16
Japanese players in the DHC PBA Japan Invitational in Osaka.
PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
National Bowling Stadium, Reno, Nev., Sunday
Final Standings:
1, E.J. Tackett, Huntington, Ind., $60,000.
2, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., $30,000.
3, Dom Barrett, England, $25,000.
4, Jason Belmonte, Australia, $20,000.
5, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, $15,000.
Stepladder Results:
Match One – Smallwood def. Simonsen, 204-193.
Match Two – Smallwood def. Belmonte, 224-185.
Semifinal Match – Smallwood def. Barrett, 266-235.
Championship – Tackett def. Smallwood, 246-180.
Indiana’s Mike Wolfe Uses Timeworn Skills to Win
PBA Cheetah Championship for Fifth Career Title
by Bill Vint
RENO, Nev. –
Using skills developed as a teenager nearly a quarter century ago,
40-year-old Mike Wolfe of New Albany, Ind., upstaged the Professional Bowlers
Association’s youth movement when he routed 23-year-old rookie Darren Tang of
San Francisco, 279-143, to win the PBA Cheetah Championship presented by PBA
Bowling Challenge Mobile Game.
The Cheetah Championship, the first of four PBA animal pattern championships
conducted during the GEICO PBA World Series of Bowling VIII at Reno’s National
Bowling Stadium, aired Sunday on ESPN.
Wolfe, playing a treacherous outside angle to the pocket, delivered clutch strikes
throughout the game, to win his fifth career PBA Tour title and first in four years.
While the final score makes it look like Wolfe had an easy time, it was only because
he was able to control a thin line between throwing a strike and throwing the ball into
the gutter.
“I grew up playing that shot on short oil back in the urethane days,” Wolfe said of
his formative years. “People always told me Pete Weber was one of the best gutter
players ever and I was a fan of his growing up, so I thought it was cool to play out
there.”
In the title match, Wolfe was seen smiling nervously after throwing a couple of
early strikes.
“I thought I threw them in the gutter,” he confessed. “The very first shot out of the
(commercial) break, I threw it too hard, but it got back to the pocket. There were two
shots, at least, that I thought I threw them into the gutter.”
Living on the edge of the lane, however, almost resulted in a perfect game. Wolfe’s
only flaw was leaving a 10 pin in the seventh frame, which he converted for a spare.
Wolfe used the same approach during the four-player match to open the telecast,
where he had a more difficult time. In the elimination match, the two players with the
highest scores advanced to the championship match. Tang, in his ESPN-television
debut, doubled in the 10th frame for a 237 to lead the four finalists.
Wolfe also doubled in the 10th frame, but fired a rocket shot down the middle of
the lane for a seven-count fill ball to finish with 223. That almost opened the door for
19-year-old Anthony Simonsen of Austin, Texas, who then needed three strikes in
his 10th frame to force a roll-off with Wolfe. Simonsen got the first strike, but missed
on his second to finish with a 210. Also eliminated was 28-year-old B.J. Moore III of
Greensburg, Pa., who posted a 192 in his ESPN debut in singles competition.
“Over the past few years, Belmo (Australian two-handed star and three-time PBA
Player of the Year Jason Belmonte) and some of the other young guys have made
winning look easy,” Wolfe said. “Bowling a first-timer on TV helped, I think. They
look at it differently, like I did when I was their age.
“Darren bowled amazingly for his first show, but you just have to use your experi-
ence to make good shots. When the little guys (like me) can sneak one out, it’s spe-
cial.”
The PBA’s World Series animal pattern championships continue with a busy holi-
day weekend on ESPN including the finals of the Chameleon Championship pre-
sented by HotelPlanner.com on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET followed by a Christmas Day
doubleheader – the Scorpion Championship presented by Reno Tahoe USA and the
Shark Championship – at 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET, respectively. In all three events, a
PBA veteran will take on a field of youthful challengers.
For fans who may have missed ESPN’s live coverage of the PBA World Champi-
onship on Dec. 11, ESPN will present an encore telecast of the PBA’s final major
championship of 2016 on New Year’s Day at 1 p.m. ET.
PBA CHEETAH CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by PBA Bowling Challenge Mobile Game
National Bowling Stadium, Reno, Nev. (aired on ESPN on Sunday, Dec. 18)
Final Standings:
1, Mike Wolfe, New Albany, Ind., $20,000.
2, Darren Tang, San Francisco, $10,000.
3, Anthony Simonson, Austin, Texas, $5,000.
4, B.J. Moore III, Greensburg, Pa., $5,000.
Stepladder Results:
Elimination Match (top two scores advanced): Tang 237, Wolfe 223, Simonsen 210,
Moore 192.
Championship: Wolfe def. Tang, 279-143.
