O’Neill Leads USBC Masters Qualifying as Match Play Begins

Bill O'Neill | Picture credit: Professional Bowlers Association

The qualifying rounds of the 2025 USBC Masters have concluded, and match play is set to begin at Thunderbowl Lanes. Bill O’Neill, who led the field after the first two rounds of qualifying, finished as the top seed in the 64-player double-elimination bracket after leading the 390-player field with a total pinfall of 3331 over 15 games.

Three-time Masters champion Anthony Simonsen secured the second seed with a total of 3322. Rounding out the top five qualifiers are Jean Perez (3311), Marshall Kent (3303), and Tom Smallwood (3290).

The match play rounds will begin on Thursday. O’Neill, as the No. 1 seed, will face defending champion DeeRonn Booker, who automatically qualified as the 64th seed. Booker finished outside the top 63, tying for 96th place with a total of 3032. Chad Roberts took the 63rd place to be the last above cut line with 3096 total.

Three bowlers achieved perfect 300 games during the qualifying rounds. Alec Keplinger rolled his 300 in the third round, joining Sweden’s Rasmus Edvall and Finland’s Santtu Tahvanainen as the only players to do so in this year’s tournament. Keplinger secured the 43rd seed for match play, while Edvall finished 47th and also advanced. Tahvanainen, however, placed 170th and did not make the cut.

The match play rounds will follow a three-game total-pinfall format, with competitors facing off on a 44-foot oil pattern.

The elimination bracket matches will continue through Saturday, with the final six bowlers advancing to televised rounds. The top two players from the winners bracket will earn automatic spots in the stepladder finals, which will air Sunday, March 30, on FOX. The player earning the top seed for the stepladder must be defeated twice to be denied the title.

All match play rounds leading up to the TV broadcast will be available for streaming on BowlTV.

Full 2025 USBC Masters Match Play bracket can be found here.

Full 2025 USBC Masters Schedule

Thursday, March 27

• 10:00 a.m. – First round (left side of bracket)

• 12:30 p.m. – First round (right side of bracket)

• 2:30 p.m. – All first round winners

• 5:00 p.m. – Match play

  
  

Friday, March 28

• 10:00 a.m. – Match play

• 2:00 p.m. – Match play

  
  

Saturday, March 29

• 12:00 p.m. (FS1) – Preliminary Round

  
  

Sunday, March 30

• 12:00 p.m. (FOX) – USBC Masters Stepladder Finals