Thursday’s power outage in the area did not stop EJ Tackett and Deo Benard from holding their leads at the PBA Norm Duke Open.
Both players finished qualifying on top of their respective squads at Lucky Strike Sinking Spring in Pennsylvania, earning No. 1 seeds for Sunday’s televised stepladder finals on CBS Sports Network.
Benard led A-Squad with 5,659 after 25 games, while Tackett topped B-Squad with 5,580.
The 22-year-old Benard averaged more than 226 on the 39-foot Norm Duke oil pattern and will now wait for his opponent in the A-Squad final. It will be either Marshall Kent, Richie Teece or Bill O’Neill.
Kent earned the No. 2 seed with 5,460, while Teece climbed into third with 5,354 after a wild final round. O’Neill grabbed the fourth seed with 5,339, finishing just one pin ahead of Zach Wilkins.
On the other side of the bracket, the 2026 PBA World Championship winner maintained the lead in B-Squad. Tackett finished 201 pins ahead of Anthony Simonsen, who took the No. 2 seed with 5,379.
AJ Johnson earned the third seed with 5,366, while Eric Jones secured the final spot with 5,313.
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The Norm Duke Open format keeps the two squads separate until the final match. Each squad will bowl its own televised stepladder, with the No. 1 seed waiting for a Race-to-Two match.
The A-Squad stepladder will begin Sunday at 12 p.m. ET and will be aired on CBS Sports Network. The B-Squad stepladder will follow at 2 p.m. ET. The two squad winners will then meet in the championship match at 4 p.m. ET.
