The stage is set for the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic stepladder finals at Owlero Vernon Hills in Vernon Hills, Illinois. The finals will be broadcast live on FS1 at 2 AM Central European Time on Sunday, January 9.
After missing last season due to injury, Finland’s Santtu Tahvanainen is back at the top of the PBA Tour. He clinched the No. 1 seed for the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic and is now just one game away from his first PBA Tour title.
In 2023, the 28-year-old made three stepladder finals, competing live on TV in the Scorpion Championship and Shark Championship finals at the World Series of Bowling XIV, as well as the PBA World Championship. It seemed like the start of a breakthrough season, but an unfortunate injury forced Tahvanainen to skip the entire 2024 PBA Tour season. His return wasn’t smooth—he finished 64th in the PBA Delaware Classic and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open.
Now, the reigning 2022 PBA Harry Golden Rookie of the Year has bounced back. He finished third in qualification with a 4181 total over 18 games (232.28 avg.), skipping the Round of 24 and advancing straight to the Round of 16, where he swept David Krol 4-0 in Elimination Match Play.
As the highest qualifier in the Round of 8, Tahvanainen would have advanced to the stepladder as the No. 5 seed even if he lost, but he secured the top seed with a 4-1 victory over Hayden Stippich.
The 28-year-old now looks to capture his first career title and become the third Finnish player to win on the PBA Tour, following Mika Koivuniemi and Osku Palermaa. Additionally, Tahvanainen is the first European to reach the stepladder finals in the 2025 PBA Tour season.
Alongside Tahvanainen, four other players—Chris Via, Sean Rash, Tim Foy Jr., and Matt Ogle—have also qualified for the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic finals.
After finishing third in last week’s U.S. Open, No. 2 seed Chris Via qualified ninth for match play, missing out on a one-round bye by just five pins. The 32-year-old then defeated Jakob Butturff, Nate Stubler, and Eric Jones to reach his second consecutive championship round.
Future PBA Hall of Famer Sean Rash averaged over 227 to qualify 12th for match play, then took down Matt Sanders, Kris Prather, and Matt Ogle to earn the No. 3 seed. Despite his defeat, Ogle secured the No. 5 seed as the highest eliminated qualifier.
No. 4 seed Tim Foy Jr. qualified 18th and defeated Bailey Mavrick, Graham Fach, and Jason Belmonte in match play to earn his spot in the stepladder finals.
Full results of the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic can be found here. The live broadcast will be available on BowlTV.
