Action set to get underway at 2026 USBC Masters
March 23, 2026
Gary Haines of Babylon, New York, captured the title at the 2025 USBC Masters, which was contested at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan. Haines is back in suburban Detroit this week and will look to defend his title when action kicks off at the 2026 Masters on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Eastern.
ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2026 United States Bowling Congress Masters will begin Tuesday at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, where a sold-out field of nearly 400 competitors will take to the lanes starting at 8 a.m. Eastern.
Qualifying will consist of 15 games contested over three days. Each player will bowl two five-game blocks on the fresh 2026 USBC Masters lane condition along with one five-game squad on the burn. When qualifying concludes, the top 63 players based on total pinfall will advance to the double-elimination match-play bracket and join defending champion Gary Haines of Babylon, New York. Match play is scheduled to begin Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Haines earned the 2025 Masters title with a 192-186 victory over Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas during the live television finals.
In addition to claiming the $100,000 top prize, the win marked the first Professional Bowlers Association Tour victory and first major championship of Haines’ career.
He will look to defend his title this week, but the task will be challenging with several players entering the tournament in strong form.
Brandon Bonta of Wichita, Kansas, a former standout at Wichita State and medalist for Team USA, opened the PBA season by winning the PBA Players Championship, a major, at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, last month.
During the event, Bonta rolled a 300 game during the championship match to become just the second player in PBA history to shoot 300 during the title match of their first career television finals appearance.
Canada’s Graham Fach followed the next week by capturing the PBA Pete Weber Classic in St. Louis, earning the third PBA Tour title of his career.
Patrick Dombrowski of Parma, Ohio, also broke through this season, collecting his first PBA Tour title – and major – at the 2026 Go Bowling U.S. Open, which took place at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis from March 1-8.
Dombrowski secured the victory with a dramatic 197-195 win over top-seeded Simonsen, who left a pocket 7-10 split on his final delivery, preventing a potential roll-off to extend the title match.
Simonsen rebounded one week later by claiming the top seed and winning the Groupon PBA Illinois Classic in Decatur, Illinois. He secured the 17th title of his PBA Tour career with a 290-279 victory against Finland’s Santtu Tahvanainen.
Simonsen will head to Detroit seeking his fourth Masters title and second at Thunderbowl Lanes. The 29-year-old two-handed right-hander previously won the 2023 event at the historic center along with Masters victories in Las Vegas in 2022 and Indianapolis in 2016.
However, capturing a Masters title is never easy. Competitors must navigate the event’s challenging double-elimination match-play bracket before reaching the stepladder finals and earning the opportunity to bowl for the championship.
The stepladder finals of the 2026 Masters will take place March 29 at 4 p.m. Eastern on The CW. The champion will claim a place in the tournament’s storied history, a PBA Tour major title and the $100,000 first-place prize. All rounds leading up to the televised finals will stream live exclusively on BowlTV.
The 2026 USBC Masters also marks the return of the traditional five-player stepladder finals format for the live television broadcast on The CW. The final two competitors remaining in the Winners Bracket will face off for the top seed while the final four players in the Elimination Bracket will compete for the remaining three spots on the TV show. The No. 1 seed will need to be defeated only once during the championship match.
CLICK HERE for more information on the USBC Masters.
ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2026 United States Bowling Congress Masters will begin Tuesday at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, where a sold-out field of nearly 400 competitors will take to the lanes starting at 8 a.m. Eastern.
Qualifying will consist of 15 games contested over three days. Each player will bowl two five-game blocks on the fresh 2026 USBC Masters lane condition along with one five-game squad on the burn. When qualifying concludes, the top 63 players based on total pinfall will advance to the double-elimination match-play bracket and join defending champion Gary Haines of Babylon, New York. Match play is scheduled to begin Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Haines earned the 2025 Masters title with a 192-186 victory over Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas during the live television finals.
In addition to claiming the $100,000 top prize, the win marked the first Professional Bowlers Association Tour victory and first major championship of Haines’ career.
He will look to defend his title this week, but the task will be challenging with several players entering the tournament in strong form.
Brandon Bonta of Wichita, Kansas, a former standout at Wichita State and medalist for Team USA, opened the PBA season by winning the PBA Players Championship, a major, at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, last month.
During the event, Bonta rolled a 300 game during the championship match to become just the second player in PBA history to shoot 300 during the title match of their first career television finals appearance.
Canada’s Graham Fach followed the next week by capturing the PBA Pete Weber Classic in St. Louis, earning the third PBA Tour title of his career.
Patrick Dombrowski of Parma, Ohio, also broke through this season, collecting his first PBA Tour title – and major – at the 2026 Go Bowling U.S. Open, which took place at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis from March 1-8.
Dombrowski secured the victory with a dramatic 197-195 win over top-seeded Simonsen, who left a pocket 7-10 split on his final delivery, preventing a potential roll-off to extend the title match.
Simonsen rebounded one week later by claiming the top seed and winning the Groupon PBA Illinois Classic in Decatur, Illinois. He secured the 17th title of his PBA Tour career with a 290-279 victory against Finland’s Santtu Tahvanainen.
Simonsen will head to Detroit seeking his fourth Masters title and second at Thunderbowl Lanes. The 29-year-old two-handed right-hander previously won the 2023 event at the historic center along with Masters victories in Las Vegas in 2022 and Indianapolis in 2016.
However, capturing a Masters title is never easy. Competitors must navigate the event’s challenging double-elimination match-play bracket before reaching the stepladder finals and earning the opportunity to bowl for the championship.
The stepladder finals of the 2026 Masters will take place March 29 at 4 p.m. Eastern on The CW. The champion will claim a place in the tournament’s storied history, a PBA Tour major title and the $100,000 first-place prize. All rounds leading up to the televised finals will stream live exclusively on BowlTV.
The 2026 USBC Masters also marks the return of the traditional five-player stepladder finals format for the live television broadcast on The CW. The final two competitors remaining in the Winners Bracket will face off for the top seed while the final four players in the Elimination Bracket will compete for the remaining three spots on the TV show. The No. 1 seed will need to be defeated only once during the championship match.
CLICK HERE for more information on the USBC Masters.