O'Neill, Knowles survive Elimination Bracket, advance to stepladder finals at 2025 USBC Masters
March 29, 2025
Justin Knowles of Okemos, Michigan, reacts to one of eight strikes he threw during his 255-199 defeat of Dom Barrett in the Elimination Bracket Finals of the 2025 USBC Masters, which was broadcast live on FS1 from Strobl Arena inside Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, on Saturday afternoon.
MATCH-PLAY BRACKETS
ALLEN PARK, Michigan – Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Justin Knowles of Okemos, Michigan, survived Saturday’s final rounds of Elimination Bracket competition and earned the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, for Sunday’s stepladder finals at the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Masters, which is taking place at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan.
O’Neill got through thanks to a 211-209 victory over Bailey Mavrick of Peru, Indiana, and a 217-207 win over Canada’s Graham Fach.
Knowles advanced by defeating England’s Dom Barrett by a final score of 255-199. Barrett earned a shot at Knowles after besting Nathan Stubler of Peru, Illinois, 215-193, during Match 2 on Saturday.
All of Saturday’s Elimination Bracket Finals matches were broadcast live on FS1 and were contested inside the famed Strobl Arena inside Thunderbowl Lanes.
By virtue of their wins on Saturday, O’Neill and Knowles earned the right to join No. 1 seed Gary Haines of Babylon, New York, and No. 2 seed Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas, the 2016, 2022 and 2023 Masters champion, on Sunday’s stepladder finals telecast, which also will be held in the Strobl Arena and will be broadcast live on FOX starting at noon Eastern.
Haines was the only competitor to make it through match play at this year’s tournament undefeated. As such, he’ll have to be beaten twice on Sunday in order to be denied the 2025 Masters title.
Sunday’s winner will take home the tournament’s $100,000 first-place prize, a major title on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour and a place in bowling history.
Regardless of his performance during the stepladder finals, O’Neill has made his mark on bowling history as is evident by the fact that he’ll be enshrined in the PBA Hall of Fame on April 18.
O’Neill’s distinguished resume features 15 PBA Tour titles, the first of which he won at Thunderbowl during the 2009-2010 PBA World Series of Bowling Chameleon Championship.
The 43-year-old right-hander also has three major titles to his credit; however, a Masters crown isn’t among them. O’Neill would love to change that fact on Sunday, but he is trying to keep his focus on the process as opposed to the outcome.
“I just have to go out there tomorrow, execute my routine and take it one shot at a time,” O’Neill said. “I got too far ahead of myself in the 10th frame here today, and I don’t want to do that again.”
O’Neill was referring to the end of his match with Fach, which got quite a bit more dramatic than O’Neill was hoping for.
After Fach spared in the ninth frame, O’Neill stepped up for his ninth and 10th needing double-nine spare to finish at 218 and shut the Canadian out.
O’Neill put himself in position to do just that by delivering a no-doubt strike in the ninth frame and then getting a great break by crossing over for a Brooklyn strike on the first ball in the 10th.
His next shot left a 10 pin, but that was perfectly fine because as long as O’Neill could convert the spare, he’d win the match and punch his ticket to Sunday’s stepladder.
But O’Neill didn’t convert; instead, he missed the spare in the gutter to the right, which meant that Fach suddenly had an opportunity to strike out to tie the match and force a roll off.
It wasn’t meant to be, however, as after striking on his first shot in the 10th, Fach’s second delivery resulted in a high-flush 8 pin, ending the lefty’s run at the 2025 Masters.
Saturday’s opening match between O’Neill and Mavrick came down to the wire as well.
Despite chopping the 3-6-10 in the fourth frame, O’Neill led most of the way thanks to a Mavrick foul during a spare conversion attempt in the second frame and a two-count after a double in the seventh.
Nevertheless, Mavrick wasn’t ready to give in, and after O’Neill left a pocket 7-10 split on his second ball in the 10th frame, the 26-year-old two hander found himself with a chance to win.
Already riding two strikes into the 10th frame, if Mavrick could add two more, he’d go around O’Neill and move on to face Fach in Match 4.
Mavrick delivered a clutch strike on the first ball in the 10th, but his second shot left a ringing 10 pin, which allowed O’Neill to hang on for a hard-fought victory.
O’Neill has been bowling long enough to know that good and bad breaks tend to even out in the long run. Still, he was happy to have found himself on the good side on Saturday.
“That’s just the way this game goes, especially with this format and a one-game match,” O’Neill said. “I’ve been on both sides of that sort of thing, so I try not to get too high or too low. If you bowl these events long enough, you’re going to be on the right side of those breaks at some point.”
Knowles didn’t really need any breaks on Saturday; that’s what throwing an eight-bagger will do for you.
After beginning his match against Barrett with a ringing 7 pin, Knowles did just that, running off strikes in frames two through nine on the 44-foot 2025 Masters oil pattern to lock up the victory before either bowler stepped up for the 10th.
Although Barrett, a 10-time PBA Tour titlist and three-time major champion, was the one with far more TV experience, it was Knowles who appeared most at ease during their nationally televised bout on Saturday.
According to Knowles, that was at least partly due to having the crowd in his corner since the 33-year-old two-handed lefty hails from a town just a little over an hour away from Thunderbowl.
“I’m not usually a crazy, loud kind of guy, but the fans just bring it out of me,” Knowles said. “It feels good to just vibe and feel like everyone is behind you; it’s pretty special.”
That wasn’t the only reason for Knowles’ comfort, however; it also had to do with a recent shift in his competition mindset.
“I spent so much time alone in my hotel room during the World Series of Bowling in Reno that I fell in love with bowling again,” Knowles said. “I used to be a really fierce competitor, but I kind of let that go and became this easy-going, nice-to-everyone guy.
“While I was in Reno, something told me to lock in and take it a little more serious. I guess that switch flipped because I was feeling pretty comfortable and loose when we got out there with the lights today. I guess you could say the monster came out.”
Knowles knows that he’ll need to author a monster performance during Sunday’s stepladder finals if he hopes to get through the likes of O’Neill, Simonsen and Haines.
“I need the crowd just as loud as it was today, and I’m going to have to execute at an extremely high level because there are three incredible competitors on the show, including a guy who has won this thing three times already,” Knowles said. “It’s going to take my absolute best.”
Sunday’s stepladder finals will kick off with Knowles battling O’Neill in Match 1. The winner will draw Simonsen in the semifinals to see who earns the opportunity to take on Haines for the title.
The 2025 Masters began on Monday with a sold-out field of 390 bowlers. All qualifying and match-play rounds leading up to the two telecasts were broadcast live on BowlTV.
For more information on the USBC Masters, CLICK HERE.
MATCH-PLAY BRACKETS
ALLEN PARK, Michigan – Bill O’Neill of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Justin Knowles of Okemos, Michigan, survived Saturday’s final rounds of Elimination Bracket competition and earned the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, for Sunday’s stepladder finals at the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Masters, which is taking place at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan.
O’Neill got through thanks to a 211-209 victory over Bailey Mavrick of Peru, Indiana, and a 217-207 win over Canada’s Graham Fach.
Knowles advanced by defeating England’s Dom Barrett by a final score of 255-199. Barrett earned a shot at Knowles after besting Nathan Stubler of Peru, Illinois, 215-193, during Match 2 on Saturday.
All of Saturday’s Elimination Bracket Finals matches were broadcast live on FS1 and were contested inside the famed Strobl Arena inside Thunderbowl Lanes.
By virtue of their wins on Saturday, O’Neill and Knowles earned the right to join No. 1 seed Gary Haines of Babylon, New York, and No. 2 seed Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas, the 2016, 2022 and 2023 Masters champion, on Sunday’s stepladder finals telecast, which also will be held in the Strobl Arena and will be broadcast live on FOX starting at noon Eastern.
Haines was the only competitor to make it through match play at this year’s tournament undefeated. As such, he’ll have to be beaten twice on Sunday in order to be denied the 2025 Masters title.
Sunday’s winner will take home the tournament’s $100,000 first-place prize, a major title on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour and a place in bowling history.
Regardless of his performance during the stepladder finals, O’Neill has made his mark on bowling history as is evident by the fact that he’ll be enshrined in the PBA Hall of Fame on April 18.
O’Neill’s distinguished resume features 15 PBA Tour titles, the first of which he won at Thunderbowl during the 2009-2010 PBA World Series of Bowling Chameleon Championship.
The 43-year-old right-hander also has three major titles to his credit; however, a Masters crown isn’t among them. O’Neill would love to change that fact on Sunday, but he is trying to keep his focus on the process as opposed to the outcome.
“I just have to go out there tomorrow, execute my routine and take it one shot at a time,” O’Neill said. “I got too far ahead of myself in the 10th frame here today, and I don’t want to do that again.”
O’Neill was referring to the end of his match with Fach, which got quite a bit more dramatic than O’Neill was hoping for.
After Fach spared in the ninth frame, O’Neill stepped up for his ninth and 10th needing double-nine spare to finish at 218 and shut the Canadian out.
O’Neill put himself in position to do just that by delivering a no-doubt strike in the ninth frame and then getting a great break by crossing over for a Brooklyn strike on the first ball in the 10th.
His next shot left a 10 pin, but that was perfectly fine because as long as O’Neill could convert the spare, he’d win the match and punch his ticket to Sunday’s stepladder.
But O’Neill didn’t convert; instead, he missed the spare in the gutter to the right, which meant that Fach suddenly had an opportunity to strike out to tie the match and force a roll off.
It wasn’t meant to be, however, as after striking on his first shot in the 10th, Fach’s second delivery resulted in a high-flush 8 pin, ending the lefty’s run at the 2025 Masters.
Saturday’s opening match between O’Neill and Mavrick came down to the wire as well.
Despite chopping the 3-6-10 in the fourth frame, O’Neill led most of the way thanks to a Mavrick foul during a spare conversion attempt in the second frame and a two-count after a double in the seventh.
Nevertheless, Mavrick wasn’t ready to give in, and after O’Neill left a pocket 7-10 split on his second ball in the 10th frame, the 26-year-old two hander found himself with a chance to win.
Already riding two strikes into the 10th frame, if Mavrick could add two more, he’d go around O’Neill and move on to face Fach in Match 4.
Mavrick delivered a clutch strike on the first ball in the 10th, but his second shot left a ringing 10 pin, which allowed O’Neill to hang on for a hard-fought victory.
O’Neill has been bowling long enough to know that good and bad breaks tend to even out in the long run. Still, he was happy to have found himself on the good side on Saturday.
“That’s just the way this game goes, especially with this format and a one-game match,” O’Neill said. “I’ve been on both sides of that sort of thing, so I try not to get too high or too low. If you bowl these events long enough, you’re going to be on the right side of those breaks at some point.”
Knowles didn’t really need any breaks on Saturday; that’s what throwing an eight-bagger will do for you.
After beginning his match against Barrett with a ringing 7 pin, Knowles did just that, running off strikes in frames two through nine on the 44-foot 2025 Masters oil pattern to lock up the victory before either bowler stepped up for the 10th.
Although Barrett, a 10-time PBA Tour titlist and three-time major champion, was the one with far more TV experience, it was Knowles who appeared most at ease during their nationally televised bout on Saturday.
According to Knowles, that was at least partly due to having the crowd in his corner since the 33-year-old two-handed lefty hails from a town just a little over an hour away from Thunderbowl.
“I’m not usually a crazy, loud kind of guy, but the fans just bring it out of me,” Knowles said. “It feels good to just vibe and feel like everyone is behind you; it’s pretty special.”
That wasn’t the only reason for Knowles’ comfort, however; it also had to do with a recent shift in his competition mindset.
“I spent so much time alone in my hotel room during the World Series of Bowling in Reno that I fell in love with bowling again,” Knowles said. “I used to be a really fierce competitor, but I kind of let that go and became this easy-going, nice-to-everyone guy.
“While I was in Reno, something told me to lock in and take it a little more serious. I guess that switch flipped because I was feeling pretty comfortable and loose when we got out there with the lights today. I guess you could say the monster came out.”
Knowles knows that he’ll need to author a monster performance during Sunday’s stepladder finals if he hopes to get through the likes of O’Neill, Simonsen and Haines.
“I need the crowd just as loud as it was today, and I’m going to have to execute at an extremely high level because there are three incredible competitors on the show, including a guy who has won this thing three times already,” Knowles said. “It’s going to take my absolute best.”
Sunday’s stepladder finals will kick off with Knowles battling O’Neill in Match 1. The winner will draw Simonsen in the semifinals to see who earns the opportunity to take on Haines for the title.
The 2025 Masters began on Monday with a sold-out field of 390 bowlers. All qualifying and match-play rounds leading up to the two telecasts were broadcast live on BowlTV.
For more information on the USBC Masters, CLICK HERE.