Stepladder finals set at 2026 USBC Senior Masters
June 07, 2026
From left to right, your 2026 USBC Senior Masters stepladder finalists are Chris Warren of Plano, Texas; Dan Knowlton of Dade City, Florida; Brian Hoffman of San Antonio; Kevin Jenkins of Anthem, Arizona; and USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela. All five punched their tickets to Sunday's finals by surviving Saturday's final day of bracket match-play competition at Sam's Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas.
FINAL QUALIFYING STANDINGS
BRACKETS
LAS VEGAS – Bracket match play came to an end at Sam’s Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, and now a 2026 United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters field that started with 306 athletes is down to the final five.
This year’s stepladder finalists are Chris Warren of Plano, Texas; Dan Knowlton of Dade City, Florida; Brian Hoffman of San Antonio; Kevin Jenkins of Anthem, Arizona; and USBC and Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela.
Warren earned the No. 1 seed for the finals by winning all six of his three-game, total-pinfall matches on Friday and Saturday to stand alone as the tournament’s lone remaining undefeated player.
As such, Warren, who already has a Senior Masters title to his credit thanks to his victory at the 2018 event at Sam’s Town, will have to be defeated twice to be denied the title in the tournament’s true double-elimination format. The stepladder finals will begin Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern from Sam’s Town and will be streamed live on BowlTV.
Warren began his march through the bracket with wins over Rick Meneley of Henderson, Nevada (696-638), and John Verbich of Griffith, Indiana (698-682), on Friday.
When action resumed at Sam’s Town on Saturday, the 62-year-old right-hander picked up right where he left off, taking down Chris Hibbitts of Keller, Texas (707-667), Sam Ventura of Norwich, New York (712-668), and Hoffman (731-678) to secure a berth in Sunday’s stepladder finals and earn a shot at the No. 1 seed.
Warren made it clear he intended to make that shot count as he opened the top-seed match against Knowlton with 12 strikes in a row to record his second 300 game and third honor score – Warren also recorded an 806 series this week at Sam’s Town – of this year’s tournament.
The scoring pace would come down during the final two games, but Warren still remained on top, collecting a 686-634 win over Knowlton to land the stepladder’s top seed while forcing Knowlton to settle No. 2.
Sunday won’t be the first time Warren enters the final round of Senior Masters competition as the man to beat as he also earned the top position in the stepladder in 2022; unfortunately, on that occasion, he was defeated twice by Dino Castillo of Highland Village, Texas, and forced to accept second place. It was an experience Warren has no desire to repeat.
“I was in this spot when I bowled Dino (Castillo) in 2022 and he beat me twice, so this is just another opportunity for me,” Warren said. “I know I have that second game if I need it, but I’d rather do it like I did against Dan (Knowlton) today and throw 12 in a row to get it over with really quick.”
Nevertheless, Warren knows that Sunday’s scoring pace will be dictated by how he and his fellow finalists choose to break down the 45-foot 2026 Senior Masters oil pattern.
“I’m not really concerned with how the two lefties will play the lanes,” Warren said, referring to Hoffman and Jenkins. “I’ve mostly played way outside on the fresh, but Dan (Knowlton) and Amleto (Monacelli) will probably be using dull balls, so I’m going to have to see how those guys are playing them to see which way I go.”
When it comes to setting up the championship pair, Knowlton expects the group to opt for the path of least resistance.
“With two left-handers and three right-handers, you don’t want to make the pair hard on your side or else you’re going to get run over by the other hand, so I anticipate that we’re going to try to set them up like we would if we were bowling by ourselves to make them a little bit easier,” Knowlton said.
Knowlton certainly made things look easy on Friday and Saturday, averaging nearly 238 per game and racking up five wins – 678-649 over Michael Haugen Jr. of Lake Forest, California; 700-665 against Brian Waugh of Phoenix, Arizona; 780-735 versus Anthony Franklin of Frisco, Texas; 752-666 in a bout with Mika Koivuniemi of Traverse City, Michigan; and 739-676 in a win over Robert Reed of Weed, California – before falling to Warren in the battle for the top seed.
Knowlton would love to exact revenge on Warren during Sunday’s stepladder, but no matter how the results shake out, he’ll consider the week at Sam’s Town a win.
“Obviously, it would mean a lot to win because major titles are something you’re always driving for since there aren’t very many handed out,” Knowlton said. “Still, I finished fifth the first time I made a show at a major, so this performance has already topped that.”
Jenkins also expressed feeling a certain amount of gratitude for having made it this far, which makes sense considering the path he took to reach the stepladder finals.
The 50-year-old left-hander was the last player to qualify for match play, finishing 64th after 15 games of qualifying to make the cut by one pin.
Seeking to make the most of the opportunity, Jenkins responded by taking down top seed Michael Machuga of Erie, Pennsylvania, by a final score of 751-574 during first-round action on Friday.
That’s as far as Jenkins would go in the Winners Bracket, however, as he fell to Jason Couch of Clermont, Florida, one round later, 699-657, to drop into the Elimination Bracket.
At that point, Jenkins’ odds of reaching the stepladder appeared long indeed as he would need to rattle off six consecutive victories and then survive the four-for-three match to keep his title hopes alive.
Even though it may have seemed like he had bitten off more than he could chew, Jenkins simply took one bite at a time.
The first came in the form of a 713-610 win over Dan Nadeau of Grand Junction, Colorado, on Friday evening to live to fight another day.
When bracket play resumed at Sam’s Town on Saturday, Jenkins took a few more bites, topping John Marsala of St. Louis (732-661), Randy Weiss of Lexington, South Carolina (664-647), and Steve Harman of Indianapolis (667-646) to clean his plate some more.
As the rounds progressed, more and more athletes were eliminated. Jenkins, however, refused to go away, and after defeating Koivuniemi (757-708) and Castillo (813-622), he had run his record to 7-1 and moved just one game away becoming the first No. 64 seed to reach the stepladder finals at the Senior Masters.
To do so, he’d have to finish no worse than third when he, Hoffman, Monacelli and Reed competed for three spots during the final Elimination Bracket contest of this year’s tournament. The top three performers in that bout would earn seeds No. 3, 4 and 5 for Sunday’s stepladder while the fourth-place finisher would be eliminated and finish in sixth place.
Jenkins didn’t place third; instead, he used games of 278, 202 and 247 to finish second in the four-for-three match with a three-game total of 727, which was good enough for the No. 4 seed for Sunday’s stepladder.
Hoffman led the way with 775 to earn the No. 3 seed while Monacelli snagged the fifth and final spot in the finals with 724. Weed finished with 637.
Some may have expected Jenkins to have been stressed out after having had to endure such a long and arduous road to reach the finals. According to Jenkins, nothing could have been further from the truth.
“There was no pressure on me these last two days because I was on house money,” Jenkins said. “After barely sneaking into the cut to match play, I figured if they’re going to let me stay on this train, I’m just going to enjoy the ride as long as I can.”
And now the journey has brought a major championship within sight, which is something Jenkins is very excited about.
“I never bowed on tour when I was younger, so it means a lot to be able to do it now as a senior and possibly win a major,” Jenkins said.
Monacelli, on the other hand, had a hall of fame career on the PBA Tour, one that saw him win 19 standard titles and one major.
The 64-year-old right-hander has shown that form throughout this week’s competition at Sam’s Town, rolling to a 5-1 match-play mark with wins over Josh Hale of Billings, Montana (718-680), Dave Paffumi of Crossville, Alabama (719-700), Weiss (727-718), Rolando Sebelen of the Dominican Republic (760-611) and Chris Barnes of Denton, Texas (648-640). Monacelli’s lone defeat occurred when he came up on the short end of a 705-664 decision to Hoffman on Saturday.
Monacelli would certainly like to avenge that loss on Sunday and get back in the winner’s circle, but it’s not something he’ll be fixated on.
“I’ve kind of been in serenity mode so far to get here,” Monacelli said. “All week long I’ve been trying to forget about everybody else because the only one I can control is myself. That kind of took the anxiety away.
“Physically, I’ve been working hard on my game and am doing really well. If I can just keep doing what I’ve been doing, which is to take my time and avoid rushing, I think I have a really good chance.”
Like Jenkins, Hoffman has a chance to end a drought by becoming the first left-hander to win a Senior Masters title since Vince Mazzanti Jr. accomplished the feat at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas in 2005.
It’s an opportunity Hoffman would like to take advantage of.
“It’s been 21 years since a lefty has won it, so it would be surreal to end that and be the one holding up the trophy on Sunday; it would mean the world,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman put on a world-class exhibition during match play, going 4-1 with two wins on Friday – 643-631 over Jeffrey Bonte of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and 675-642 against Tony Ruth of Northampton, Pennsylvania – and two more on Saturday’s final day of bracket play – 813-691 versus Anthony Crews of Sebring, Florida, and 705-664 over Monacelli – before being bested by Warren in the Winners Bracket semifinals.
Despite the setback, Hoffman fought his way through to the stepladder finals and earned the third seed, which is a position he’s somewhat familiar with.
“This is the second time I’ve made the cut on tour, and both times I’ve ended up the number three seed for the show,” Hoffman said. “I was hoping to get a little bit higher this time, but that didn’t work out. I guess we’ll see how things work out tomorrow.”
There will be plenty on the line for Hoffman and his fellow finalists on Sunday as the winner of the 2026 USBC Senior Masters will take home a major championship on the PBA50 schedule and the first-place prize of $20,000.
CLICK HERE for scores and information about the 2026 USBC Senior Masters.
FINAL QUALIFYING STANDINGS
BRACKETS
LAS VEGAS – Bracket match play came to an end at Sam’s Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, and now a 2026 United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters field that started with 306 athletes is down to the final five.
This year’s stepladder finalists are Chris Warren of Plano, Texas; Dan Knowlton of Dade City, Florida; Brian Hoffman of San Antonio; Kevin Jenkins of Anthem, Arizona; and USBC and Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela.
Warren earned the No. 1 seed for the finals by winning all six of his three-game, total-pinfall matches on Friday and Saturday to stand alone as the tournament’s lone remaining undefeated player.
As such, Warren, who already has a Senior Masters title to his credit thanks to his victory at the 2018 event at Sam’s Town, will have to be defeated twice to be denied the title in the tournament’s true double-elimination format. The stepladder finals will begin Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern from Sam’s Town and will be streamed live on BowlTV.
Warren began his march through the bracket with wins over Rick Meneley of Henderson, Nevada (696-638), and John Verbich of Griffith, Indiana (698-682), on Friday.
When action resumed at Sam’s Town on Saturday, the 62-year-old right-hander picked up right where he left off, taking down Chris Hibbitts of Keller, Texas (707-667), Sam Ventura of Norwich, New York (712-668), and Hoffman (731-678) to secure a berth in Sunday’s stepladder finals and earn a shot at the No. 1 seed.
Warren made it clear he intended to make that shot count as he opened the top-seed match against Knowlton with 12 strikes in a row to record his second 300 game and third honor score – Warren also recorded an 806 series this week at Sam’s Town – of this year’s tournament.
The scoring pace would come down during the final two games, but Warren still remained on top, collecting a 686-634 win over Knowlton to land the stepladder’s top seed while forcing Knowlton to settle No. 2.
Sunday won’t be the first time Warren enters the final round of Senior Masters competition as the man to beat as he also earned the top position in the stepladder in 2022; unfortunately, on that occasion, he was defeated twice by Dino Castillo of Highland Village, Texas, and forced to accept second place. It was an experience Warren has no desire to repeat.
“I was in this spot when I bowled Dino (Castillo) in 2022 and he beat me twice, so this is just another opportunity for me,” Warren said. “I know I have that second game if I need it, but I’d rather do it like I did against Dan (Knowlton) today and throw 12 in a row to get it over with really quick.”
Nevertheless, Warren knows that Sunday’s scoring pace will be dictated by how he and his fellow finalists choose to break down the 45-foot 2026 Senior Masters oil pattern.
“I’m not really concerned with how the two lefties will play the lanes,” Warren said, referring to Hoffman and Jenkins. “I’ve mostly played way outside on the fresh, but Dan (Knowlton) and Amleto (Monacelli) will probably be using dull balls, so I’m going to have to see how those guys are playing them to see which way I go.”
When it comes to setting up the championship pair, Knowlton expects the group to opt for the path of least resistance.
“With two left-handers and three right-handers, you don’t want to make the pair hard on your side or else you’re going to get run over by the other hand, so I anticipate that we’re going to try to set them up like we would if we were bowling by ourselves to make them a little bit easier,” Knowlton said.
Knowlton certainly made things look easy on Friday and Saturday, averaging nearly 238 per game and racking up five wins – 678-649 over Michael Haugen Jr. of Lake Forest, California; 700-665 against Brian Waugh of Phoenix, Arizona; 780-735 versus Anthony Franklin of Frisco, Texas; 752-666 in a bout with Mika Koivuniemi of Traverse City, Michigan; and 739-676 in a win over Robert Reed of Weed, California – before falling to Warren in the battle for the top seed.
Knowlton would love to exact revenge on Warren during Sunday’s stepladder, but no matter how the results shake out, he’ll consider the week at Sam’s Town a win.
“Obviously, it would mean a lot to win because major titles are something you’re always driving for since there aren’t very many handed out,” Knowlton said. “Still, I finished fifth the first time I made a show at a major, so this performance has already topped that.”
Jenkins also expressed feeling a certain amount of gratitude for having made it this far, which makes sense considering the path he took to reach the stepladder finals.
The 50-year-old left-hander was the last player to qualify for match play, finishing 64th after 15 games of qualifying to make the cut by one pin.
Seeking to make the most of the opportunity, Jenkins responded by taking down top seed Michael Machuga of Erie, Pennsylvania, by a final score of 751-574 during first-round action on Friday.
That’s as far as Jenkins would go in the Winners Bracket, however, as he fell to Jason Couch of Clermont, Florida, one round later, 699-657, to drop into the Elimination Bracket.
At that point, Jenkins’ odds of reaching the stepladder appeared long indeed as he would need to rattle off six consecutive victories and then survive the four-for-three match to keep his title hopes alive.
Even though it may have seemed like he had bitten off more than he could chew, Jenkins simply took one bite at a time.
The first came in the form of a 713-610 win over Dan Nadeau of Grand Junction, Colorado, on Friday evening to live to fight another day.
When bracket play resumed at Sam’s Town on Saturday, Jenkins took a few more bites, topping John Marsala of St. Louis (732-661), Randy Weiss of Lexington, South Carolina (664-647), and Steve Harman of Indianapolis (667-646) to clean his plate some more.
As the rounds progressed, more and more athletes were eliminated. Jenkins, however, refused to go away, and after defeating Koivuniemi (757-708) and Castillo (813-622), he had run his record to 7-1 and moved just one game away becoming the first No. 64 seed to reach the stepladder finals at the Senior Masters.
To do so, he’d have to finish no worse than third when he, Hoffman, Monacelli and Reed competed for three spots during the final Elimination Bracket contest of this year’s tournament. The top three performers in that bout would earn seeds No. 3, 4 and 5 for Sunday’s stepladder while the fourth-place finisher would be eliminated and finish in sixth place.
Jenkins didn’t place third; instead, he used games of 278, 202 and 247 to finish second in the four-for-three match with a three-game total of 727, which was good enough for the No. 4 seed for Sunday’s stepladder.
Hoffman led the way with 775 to earn the No. 3 seed while Monacelli snagged the fifth and final spot in the finals with 724. Weed finished with 637.
Some may have expected Jenkins to have been stressed out after having had to endure such a long and arduous road to reach the finals. According to Jenkins, nothing could have been further from the truth.
“There was no pressure on me these last two days because I was on house money,” Jenkins said. “After barely sneaking into the cut to match play, I figured if they’re going to let me stay on this train, I’m just going to enjoy the ride as long as I can.”
And now the journey has brought a major championship within sight, which is something Jenkins is very excited about.
“I never bowed on tour when I was younger, so it means a lot to be able to do it now as a senior and possibly win a major,” Jenkins said.
Monacelli, on the other hand, had a hall of fame career on the PBA Tour, one that saw him win 19 standard titles and one major.
The 64-year-old right-hander has shown that form throughout this week’s competition at Sam’s Town, rolling to a 5-1 match-play mark with wins over Josh Hale of Billings, Montana (718-680), Dave Paffumi of Crossville, Alabama (719-700), Weiss (727-718), Rolando Sebelen of the Dominican Republic (760-611) and Chris Barnes of Denton, Texas (648-640). Monacelli’s lone defeat occurred when he came up on the short end of a 705-664 decision to Hoffman on Saturday.
Monacelli would certainly like to avenge that loss on Sunday and get back in the winner’s circle, but it’s not something he’ll be fixated on.
“I’ve kind of been in serenity mode so far to get here,” Monacelli said. “All week long I’ve been trying to forget about everybody else because the only one I can control is myself. That kind of took the anxiety away.
“Physically, I’ve been working hard on my game and am doing really well. If I can just keep doing what I’ve been doing, which is to take my time and avoid rushing, I think I have a really good chance.”
Like Jenkins, Hoffman has a chance to end a drought by becoming the first left-hander to win a Senior Masters title since Vince Mazzanti Jr. accomplished the feat at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas in 2005.
It’s an opportunity Hoffman would like to take advantage of.
“It’s been 21 years since a lefty has won it, so it would be surreal to end that and be the one holding up the trophy on Sunday; it would mean the world,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman put on a world-class exhibition during match play, going 4-1 with two wins on Friday – 643-631 over Jeffrey Bonte of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and 675-642 against Tony Ruth of Northampton, Pennsylvania – and two more on Saturday’s final day of bracket play – 813-691 versus Anthony Crews of Sebring, Florida, and 705-664 over Monacelli – before being bested by Warren in the Winners Bracket semifinals.
Despite the setback, Hoffman fought his way through to the stepladder finals and earned the third seed, which is a position he’s somewhat familiar with.
“This is the second time I’ve made the cut on tour, and both times I’ve ended up the number three seed for the show,” Hoffman said. “I was hoping to get a little bit higher this time, but that didn’t work out. I guess we’ll see how things work out tomorrow.”
There will be plenty on the line for Hoffman and his fellow finalists on Sunday as the winner of the 2026 USBC Senior Masters will take home a major championship on the PBA50 schedule and the first-place prize of $20,000.
CLICK HERE for scores and information about the 2026 USBC Senior Masters.