The stepladder finalists at the 2026 USBC Masters are (from left to right) EJ Tackett of Ossian, Indiana; Eric Jones of Edmond, Oklahoma; Sweden's Jesper Sevensson; Matt Sanders of Evansville, Indiana; and Boog Krol of Springfield, Missouri. The five punched their tickets to Sunday's show by surviving two days of bracket match play at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan.

BRACKETS

ALLEN PARK, Michigan – Bracket match play came to an end at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, on Saturday night, and the 2026 United States Bowling Congress Masters stepladder finalists have been determined.

EJ Tackett of Ossian, Indiana, captured the No. 1 seed and broke a Masters record in the process, going a perfect 6-0 during two days of three-game, total-pinfall matches on Friday and Saturday while averaging an incredible 258.4 for 18 games – the old record was 250.4, which was established by Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas at the 2023 USBC Masters at Thunderbowl.

Eric Jones of Edmond, Oklahoma, is seeded second for Sunday’s TV show, which will be broadcast live on The CW starting at 4 p.m. Eastern. Jones earned that position by averaging just under 240 while posting a 5-1 match-play record of his own with his only loss coming to Tackett in Saturday afternoon’s battle for the top seed.

Seeds Nos. 3-5 went to Sweden’s Jesper Svensson (4-1), Matt Sanders of Evansville, Indiana (6-1), and David “Boog” Krol of Springfield, Missouri (4-1).

Each member of the trio punched his ticket to Sunday’s stepladder by surviving Saturday night’s Elimination Bracket finals, which saw four players battle for the final three spots on TV.

Svensson authored the highest score during the play-in match, using games of 214, 235 and 266 to lead the foursome with a 715 series. Sanders was close behind, tallying 697 on the strength of scores of 213, 248 and 236.

Krol snatched up the final stepladder berth with a mark of 666 (218, 234, 214), which left Brandon Bonta of Wichita, Kansas, the odd man out with 584 (203, 167, 214).

Despite falling short in his bid to make the second major championship stepladder finals appearance of his rookie season on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour – he qualified for the finals at the season-opening PBA Players Championship, which he won while shooting a 300 game in the title match – Bonta put on quite a display during match play.

The 23-year-old right-hander lost his opening-round match to England’s Dom Barrett on Friday but then proceeded to rattle off seven consecutive victories before coming up short in the four-for-three battle on Saturday night.

Bonta ended match play with a 7-1 record and a 227.4 average. Those efforts earned him $7,500 and will keep him the current frontrunner for 2026 PBA Rookie of the Year honors.

Tackett, meanwhile, has his sights set on Player of the Year, an award he’s won four times during his illustrious career and during each of the last three seasons.

Anyone who watched Tackett work at Thunderbowl on Friday and Saturday can easily see why as he delivered a performance that will be talked about for years to come.

The 33-year-old right-hander started his run to the top seed with wins over Steve Novak of Louisville, Kentucky (772-725), and Casey Cohagan of Jefferson, Ohio (731-714), on Friday.

As impressive as that was, it was only the beginning as Tackett’s pace climbed even higher during his four matches on Saturday, wins over Nate Garcia of Port St. Lucie, Florida (793-640), Francois Lavoie of Wichita, Kansas (793-735), Krol (783-669) and Jones (779-720).

Tackett struck on better than 80% of his deliveries during that run, averaging 262.3. That incredible performance allowed him to end match play as the lone undefeated player at this year’s Masters and move just one victory away from collecting his 28th PBA Tour title and eighth major championship.

It also would allow him to join Mike Aulby of Indianapolis, Norm Duke of Clermont, Florida, and Australia’s Jason Belmonte as just the fourth bowler in PBA history to complete the career grand slam.

While Tackett would certainly love to add that accomplishment to his eventual PBA Hall of Fame resume, he’s keeping his focus on the task at hand rather than on legacy building.

“Completing the grand slam would mean joining a very exclusive club, but I can’t sit and ponder about that; my job is to bowl the best game I possibly can,” Tackett said. “Hopefully, it’s good enough to win a championship and be able to hoist that trophy tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a special week, but it’s only really special if I’m able to finish it off by bringing home the title.”

As Tackett looks to push his career title count up near 30, Jones will come to Strobl Arena inside Thunderbowl Lanes on Sunday looking to collect his first career PBA Tour victory and major.

The 21-year-old two-handed lefty is no stranger to winning, however, as he has 10 PBA regional titles to his credit, the first of which he won when he was just 15 years, 263 days old, which, at the time, made him the youngest regional champion in PBA history.

Jones has certainly looked like a seasoned veteran at Thunderbowl this week, however, particularly during match play.

His Round 1 match on Friday against Daniel Vick of Pittsford, New York, was a nailbiter as the two bowlers finished the three-game affair with matching totals of 686. That meant that a one ball roll-off would be used to break the tie.

Each bowler struck on his first two deliveries, but after Jones delivered another no-doubt strike during the third round of the extra session, Vick’s next shot only netted nine pins, which allowed Jones to survive the scare and start bracket play with a win.

His next four bouts wouldn’t be nearly as close as Jones rolled to victories over Matt Ogle of Louisville, Kentucky (772-681), Dylan Bowers of Wilmington, Delaware (665-599), Belmonte (782-754) and Svensson (692-656).

That run allowed Jones to secure a stepladder finals berth and the eventual No. 2 seed for Sunday’s 2026 Masters TV finals.

Due to his age and relative lack of major championship stepladder finals experience compared to bowlers like Tackett and Svensson, one might assume that Jones would be excited just to have made the finals.

That was not, however, what Sunday’s second-seeded player was feeling shortly after securing his stepladder berth.

“When I made my first show ever, I got a big rush and thought it was all super exciting,” Jones said. “Right now, I’m really not feeling that because I’m so focused on what I want to do, which is win. It’s hard to feel excited because I want to win so badly, and I haven’t won yet.”

Svensson has won before, 12 times to be exact, including two major championships, the 2016 and 2025 PBA Tournament of Champions.

He would love to collect major No. 3 inside Strobl Arena on Sunday, and if he continues to bowl as well as he has during the first five days of this year’s Masters, he just might do it.

The 31-year-old two-handed lefty began the week by qualifying sixth in the 390-player field with a three-day, 15-game total of 3,534 (a 235.6 average). His strong play continued during the bracket portion of this year’s event, during which Svensson went 4-1.

The powerful Swede secured wins over Japan’s Shota Kawazoe (727-719) and Brandon Robertson of East Haddam, Connecticut (710-608), on Friday and then took down Nick Pate of Conway, South Carolina (715-684), and Deo Benard of Roanoke, Texas (772-696), during his first two matches on Saturday – Svensson shot 300 during Game 3 of the victory over Benard.

Jones got the better of Svensson one round later, but Svensson shook it off and finished first in the Elimination Bracket finals to earn the No. 3 slot for Sunday’s stepladder.

Sunday’s show will mark Svensson’s second stepladder finals appearance of the season – he made the TV finals and finished fourth at the season-opening PBA Players Championship at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

The powerful Swedish left-hander hasn’t been thrilled with his showings since then, so he’s hoping Sunday’s Masters finals will afford him the opportunity for a bit of redemption.

“This is my second major show for this year, which is definitely good,” Svensson said. “The time in between them was awful though, so it felt good to put some strikes together again and get some confidence moving forward.

“I’ve bowled inside Strobl Arena many times before, and it’s gone both ways with some being really good and others being really bad. I’m just hoping it goes well tomorrow. All I can ask for is to have an opportunity, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Sanders is looking forward to the opportunity as well, not only because it will give him the chance to vie for his second PBA Tour title and first major – Sanders won the 2017 PBA Xtra Frame Billy Hardwick Memorial Open – but also because there was a time not too long ago when the 32-year-old left-hander wondered whether or not he’d ever bowl again.

Less than a year ago, a freak accident at home left Sanders with severed muscles and tendons in the lower portion of his right leg, after which he was barely able to walk let alone bowl at an elite level.

Just last week, pain and swelling in that leg forced Sanders to withdraw from the PBA Indiana Classic; nevertheless, he came to Detroit this week hoping to author a strong showing. Oh, what a showing it’s been!

Match play started well enough for Sanders as he finished Friday’s action among the ranks of the undefeated thanks to wins over Garrett Meadows of Springfield, Virginia (710-677), and Canada’s Zach Wilkins (736-578).

Sanders fell (709-647 to Benard) during his first match on Saturday, however, which dropped him into the Elimination Bracket and greatly lowered his odds of reaching the stepladder finals.

But that’s when Sanders did what underdogs do best; he bucked the odds.

His improbable run began with a 760-618 win over Finland’s Tomas Kayhko. One round later, Sanders scored a narrow victory, 696-693, against Blake Walsh of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Not content to stop there, Sanders dispatched Lavoie (814-656) and Matt Russo of O’Fallon, Missouri (712-690), to reach the Elimination Bracket finals.

He found himself just 10 pins out of fourth place after the first game of the final match, but he shot the highest score of Game 2 and the second-highest mark during Game 3 to reach Sunday’s stepladder finals as the No. 4 seed.

Sanders was understandably emotional after securing his spot for the TV show.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to bowl this season or ever again,” Sanders said. “It’s hard to accept that you’re not going to be the same person you were before, physically or mentally, after something like that, so I’m just so happy to be here that it’s hard to know what to say. I’m just hoping tomorrow can go my way a little bit so that I can keep this rolling.”

Sunday’s No. 5 seed, Krol, will be looking to stay on a roll of his own.

The 30-year-old two-handed righty was the top seed for the TV finals at last week’s PBA Tour stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Things didn’t Krol’s way during the championship match, but he quicky shook that off and managed to put together another outstanding performance this week in Detroit.

Krol shot 300 during Round 2 of qualifying on Wednesday, which helped him eventually reach bracket match play as the No. 53 seed in the 64-player field.

He executed like a favorite once matches began, however, stacking four wins in a row – 692-679 over Ryan Burton of Valparaiso, Indiana; 696-674 against Michael Martell of West Babylon, New York; 772-632 versus Trey Brand of Newcastle, Oklahoma; and 777-599 in a bout with Cameron Crowe of Orland Park, Illinois – before losing to Tackett.

Krol then hung tough during the four-for-three match to hold Bonta off and secure his second TV finals berth in as many weeks.

Krol is grateful for the opportunity to improve upon last week’s performance, particularly at the Masters, which hasn’t typically been one of his better events.

“The Masters has never been a great tournament for me throughout my career, so I’m very pleased to be the No. 5 seed for the TV show,” Krol said. “Last week, I led, and I think I put too much pressure on myself. Now that I’m back, I’m just going to have fun with it and try not to be too serious. I’m on the show at a major. What more could I want?”

What all five stepladder finalists want is to be the one holding up the trophy and collecting the Masters’ $100,000 first place prize at the end of Sunday’s stepladder finals inside Strobl Arena.

The 2026 USBC Masters marks the return of the traditional five-player stepladder finals format for the live television broadcast, which means the top seed for the finals will need to be defeated only once during the championship match.

All rounds leading up to the televised finals were streamed live exclusively on BowlTV.

CLICK HERE for more information on the USBC Masters.