APRIL 25, 2024 Story and Photo by NOLAN HUGHES
Matt Ogle leads the field as just 16 games remain in the 2024 PBA Tour season’s final major championship.
Ogle has averaged 224 across 26 games on the 40-foot Don Johnson pattern. Ogle has a total pinfall of 6,004 (+804), including match play bonus pins, at historic AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn, Ohio.
EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Eric Jones and Jake Peters round out the top five.
Defending and record-four-time TOC champion Jason Belmonte sits in 12th place
Ogle, a two-time PBA Tour champion, seeks to win his first major title. He finished fourth in last year’s TOC and gained valuable experience on the iconic TV pair of 27-28 — knowledge he aims to put to use on Sunday.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Ogle said of his performance on Wednesday. “We’ve still got 16 games to go so anything can happen. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing the best I can. Greg (Ostrander) is taking care of me (as a ball rep). He’s making all the right decisions and I’m just trying to execute the best I can so we do the right thing.”
The 72-player field was trimmed to 24 after Wednesday’s final six-game round of qualifying.
The top 43 players in competition points this season will earn exemptions for the 2025 PBA Tour, and the TOC is the season’s last event which awards points.
Therefore, players around the all-important No. 43 faced enormous stakes this week in Fairlawn. Several of those players rose to the occasion.
Matt Sanders, who was 44th in points coming into the TOC, began the final round in 41st place at +14 and 95 pins outside the cut. He fired a clean, 1,413 six-game series to rise into 22nd place and solidify a spot in the main field for every 2025 PBA Tour event.
“That was possibly one of best rounds I’ve ever had on tour, if not the best,” Sanders said.
Kyle Sherman entered the TOC 49th in points. Despite battling a litany of lower-body injuries, 30-year-old qualified for match play and sits in 13th place after 26 games.
As things currently stand, Sherman would earn enough points to earn a 2025 exemption. He will need to remain inside the top 20 at the TOC, and perhaps better if any of Trevor Roberts, Carlos Granados, Dick Allen, Shawn Maldonado or Brad Miller make a run on Thursday.
Miller, the other half of Sherman’s “Brad and Kyle” YouTube channel, delivered the story of the day on Wednesday — and could write one of the year’s best stories on Thursday.
Miller entered the TOC 80th in points with a top-three TOC finish as essentially his only chance of earning an exemption. He then missed the cut in the pre-tournament qualifier, finishing 12th with only the top 10 advancing.
Then two players from the main field withdrew, Miller snuck into the main field, and he led the whole dang thing through three rounds of qualifying.
“When I got into the event, I was just happy and on house money,” Miller said. “I actually started with 156 and I still didn’t care. I was just happy to be bowling. I just felt so lucky, so fortunate because of how everything went down. I came in with a mindset that I didn’t care how I did, and the lanes played into my favor.”
Miller said not bowling in the World Series of Bowling XV, in which the scoring pace was significantly higher, turned out to be a blessing in disguise (in reference to his success this week specifically).
“Other players were used to having a hook spot, and then this week we don’t have that,” Miller said. “I also didn’t bowl any games last week so I’m completely fresh and I’m not used to bowling on an easier condition. Everything literally just worked out.”
After a stellar 2022 season, in which Miller finished 12th in points, he finished 62nd last season and will need at least a top-three finish (and more likely top two) in order to climb into the top 43 in points this season.
“The past couple of years really have been pretty rough. There’s just not a lot of room for error. Everyone’s so good and there’s a lot of moving parts,” Miller said. “I’m excited. I want to compete against these guys. I want to see what I can do and see how I can hang. I’m right up there with all of them so it’s gonna be fun.”
Miller will look to write the final pages of a Hollywood-worthy script as match play continues at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.
After Thursday’s final round of match play, the top five players will advance to the stepladder finals, which will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.
All rounds of qualifying and match play will be livestreamed on BowlTV.
Match Play Round 1 Leaders
- Matt Ogle, 6,004 (+804)
- EJ Tackett, 5,911 (+711)
- Anthony Simonsen, 5,858 (+658)
- Eric Jones, 5,842 (+642)
- Jake Peters, 5,762 (+562)
- Brad Miller, 5,753 (+553)
- Matt Sanders, 5,750 (+550)
- Marshall Kent, 5,745 (+545)
- Jason Sterner, 5,727 (+527)
- BJ Moore, 5,727 (+523)
Full standings are available here.
TOC SCHEDULE
AMF Riviera Lanes | Fairlawn, OH
All times listed in Eastern
Thursday, April 25
10am — Match Play Round 2 (eight games)
6pm — Match Play Round 3 (eight games)
Top five players advance to championship round — Sunday at 1pm ET on FOX
Friday, April 26
6pm — Hall of Fame induction ceremonies (free to watch on BowlTV)
Saturday, April 17
9am — Pro-Am
11am — Pro-Am
4pm — PBA Elite League Round 14 matches (L.A. X vs. Portland; Akron vs. Las Vegas)
Tickets
Sunday, April 28
1pm on FOX — TOC stepladder finals