BATON ROUGE - When Jason Belmonte was winning multiple Player of the Year honors a decade ago, everyone thought the two-hander from Australia was the best to ever play the game.

Now they are saying the same thing about EJ Tackett in 2025.

Tackett claimed his fourth career and third consecutive Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year honor in dominant fashion, receiving 86.5% of the vote among PBA members and media, announced on Friday.

Andrew Anderson and Ethan Fiore each received 6% of the vote. Belmonte, Graham Fach, Jesper Svensson and Chris Via were also nominated.

Tackett joins Earl Anthony (1974-76, 1981-83), Mark Roth (1977-79), Walter Ray Williams Jr. (1996-98) and Belmonte (2013-15) as the fifth player to win three consecutive Player of the Year honors.

Tackett’s 2025 season, by many statistical measures, was one of the greatest campaigns in PBA history. He led the tour in points (34,690 — more than the second and third players combined), earnings ($438,540), average (228.60), top-five finishes (11), top-10 finishes (12), top-25 finishes (13) and cashes (15) in his 17 title events.

Tackett set new PBA records by advancing to the championship round in six consecutive title events and seven consecutive singles title events. He became the bowler everyone wanted to see and, in the process, wonder if there was someone that could take him down in the final round.

His 228.60 average ranked fourth all time and he entered the season’s final event with a chance to break the record of 229.39 set by Jason Belmonte in 2017.

ANDERSON TAKES THE CLASH

We had the chance to see the stellar performance of Andrew Anderson at the USBC Open in Baton Rouge earlier in the year when he won the top division all-events and in all captured over $10,800 in prize money.

Saturday, he won another $25,000 and the “Duke” trophy, a 35-pound likeness of namesake Norm Duke, by winning the LBC Championship clash at Strobl Arena at Thunderbowl Lanes outside Detroit.

First of all, let me say the presentation by the PBA on You Tube was pretty well done and one thing the streaming telecast presented was no commercials so it moved along pretty quickly. The eight champions in the various divisions took part including league bowlers, juniors, seniors and a PBA and PWBA member.

The Clash is a one-ball elimination in which a bowler is eliminated each frame with the low score. If two or more tie for low score, the bowlers have a one ball rolloff to determine the elimination.

Anderson, who grew up and lives less than an hour away in Holly, Mich., also won the 2024 PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship at Strobl Arena. 

It came down to Anderson and Westyn Griffin, who advanced in the Open Classic division, in the final rolloff. Earlier in the round, Anderson was in a little trouble but would advance in a rolloff with a seven count and would ultimately later get the strike in the final frame to win.

It was great to see Chris Barnes, the senior division champ, on the lanes just days after his son Ryan was named the Rookie of the Year for 2025.

At the end of the show, host Mike Jakubowski said keep watching PBA.com for the announcement soon of the 2026 PBA schedule. With new TV contracts all over for the pro tour, the wait is more interesting then usual. 

Until next Monday, good luck and good bowling,

                                                Kent Lowe