From Jason Belmonte’s record-breaking 11th major title, to Chris Via’s second televised 300 game, to Anthony Simonsen’s unprecedented fifth major title at the age of 27, countless PBA history has been made at Strobl Arena inside Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.
A new tale of Thunderbowl lore may have just begun to unfold as 19-year-old Eric Jones won the play-in stepladder to advance to the PBA World Championship finals on Saturday night.
Defying age-related expectations is nothing new for Jones.
As a non-member, Jones won a PBA Regional Tour title in Oct. 2020 at the age of 15 years and 263 days, becoming the then-youngest player to win a regional. (Brady McDonough, also as a non-member, won a regional last year at the age of 15 years and 137 days old.)
Jones moves on to Sunday’s championship round, where he will meet defending champion and reigning Player of the Year EJ Tackett in the opening match. Three left-handers wait in the wings: Graham Fach, Jesper Svensson and top seed Matt Russo.
“Well Simo did it, so I’m not doing anything brand new here,” said Jones, referring to Anthony Simonsen winning the USBC Masters at the age of 19. “I’m just bowling my game. I’m out here trying to do my best and if my best is going for a major I’m pretty happy with that.”
The finals of the season’s fourth major championship will begin Sunday at noon Eastern on FOX.
