Under the lights, against the best in the world, EJ Tackett, in the championship match of the season’s first major, Brandon Bonta delivered perfection.
Not just a win. Not just a breakthrough. A perfect start of his career. Quite literally.
Strike after strike, the No. 4 seed dismantled one of the sport’s greatest players and sealed the PBA Players Championship with a flawless performance - earning $10,000 in bonus money and giving fans across America a free game of bowling in the process.
On the biggest stage of his young career, Bonta didn’t just arrive. He made history.
The championship match opened with Bonta in complete control. Throwing the Storm Bionic and Storm IQ Tour 78/U, he started with a five-bagger and never looked back. Tackett struck four times in his first six shots but trailed by 21 pins halfway through the game.
Bonta kept pouring it on. Six in a row. Seven. Eight. Nine. When Tackett failed to strike in the ninth frame, the game was sealed. But Bonta wasn’t finished.
He completed the perfect game, earning himself a $10,000 bonus and giving fans across America a free game of bowling.
Can you imagine a better debut on the biggest stage? No one can.
The finals, just like qualifying, were contested on a dual oil pattern format - 50-foot Badger and 37-foot Viper.
However, the venue was different. While all qualifying rounds were held at
Bowlero Euless, the stepladder finals moved to the International Training and
Research Center - a place very special to EJ Tackett, as he met his future
wife Natalie duirng the Junior Team USA camp in 2013 in there.
Now the ITRC will hold special meaning for Bonta too. He took the long road through the stepladder to earn that title.
The opening match between No. 4 seed Brandon Bonta and No. 5 seed Spencer Robarge showed nerves from the very beginning. Bonta missed a single-pin spare in the second frame, while Robarge struggled early, leaving a spare unconverted before splitting in the third and fourth frames.
Ball choices played a key role. Bonta used a Transformer on the 50-foot Badger pattern and switched to a Storm !Q Tour 78/U on Viper. Robarge relied on a Hammer Black Urethane on Viper and a Track Synthesis on Badger.
Bonta settled in quickly, stringing together strikes in the fourth and fifth frames to build a 26-pin lead heading into the commercial break. He maintained momentum after the restart, while Robarge was unable to generate consistent carry.
The match concluded 227-173 in Bonta’s favor, sending him forward to face Jesper Svensson in the next round.
In the match between No. 3 seed Jesper Svensson and Brandon Bonta, both
players came out firing.
Each opened with a four-bagger before
Bonta shot one slightly high, leaving a 4-7-9 split. He nearly converted it,
though, but the 4-pin slid in front the ninth, which left standing.
Meanwhile, Svensson had trouble of his own, leaving a single 7-pin and failing to convert, resulting in an open frame.
Svensson relied on the Storm !Q Tour 78/U on both oil patterns, while Bonta stayed with the same equipment setup that carried him through the opening match.
After the commercial break, Bonta surged ahead and entered the tenth frame with the lead. Svensson was unable to strike on his first shot in the tenth, settling for a spare and finishing with 216. That left Bonta needing just eight pins to advance.
He delivered, striking on his first shot in the tenth to secure the 253-216 win and advance to face Canada’s Graham Fach in the semifinal.
No. 2 seed Graham Fach started the semifinal with two strikes and two spares. Bonta, however, looked completely settled on the right side — an advantage with Robarge, Svensson, and Fach all left-handers — and built an 11-pin lead through six frames.
Fach used a polished Track Stealth Mode on the long pattern and a Crown Victory 78/U on the shorter oil. Bonta made a ball change in the sixth frame, switching from a Roto Grip Transformer to a Storm Bionic Hybrid.
After the break, Fach applied pressure with strikes in the eighth and ninth.
Bonta responded with strikes in the ninth and tenth but left a ringing 10-pin
that kept the match alive.
Fach needed three in the tenth to force
a tie, but a stone eight on his first shot ended the threat.
Bonta closed it out 247-226, sending the No. 4 seed into the final against EJ Tackett that he later won in a big style.
The next stop on the 2026 PBA Tour schedule is the Legendz PBA Pete Weber
Missouri Classic, taking place February 24 through March 1 at Bowlero St.
Peters in St. Peters, Missouri.
The event begins on Tuesday,
February 24, with the seven-game Pre-Tournament Qualifier.
