EJ Tackett dropped to his knees on the championship pair at Strobl Arena. Zach Wilkins had just left the 4-9 split and could not convert it. The four-peat was done. On June 13, 2026, EJ Tackett won the AMF PBA World Championship for the fourth year in a row, the first bowler in the history of the Professional Bowlers Association to win the same major four consecutive times.
The title match was a slow, taut affair. Tackett and Wilkins both opened with splits, setting the tone for the evening. Neither man pulled away. They traded marks and small advantages, surviving the lane conditions rather than stringing strikes. The turn came in the sixth frame. Tackett began lofting the ball a little, connected his strikes, and built a slim ten-pin lead. Wilkins stayed close by filling frames. Tackett then left the 3-10 split twice and converted it both times, protecting a seven-pin advantage. When Wilkins missed the 4-9, the score settled at 188-181.
Wilkins had earned his place the hard way. Seeded seventh, the Canadian won six matches in a row through the stepladder, including a victory over Jason Belmonte, to reach the title game. He was as hot as any player on tour. It was not enough against the man who has owned this stage longer than anyone alive.
Two months, two endings
The setting carried its own weight. In late March, on these same lanes at AMF Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Michigan, Tackett stood one win from the career Grand Slam at the USBC Masters. He lost the title match to Boog Krol by a single pin, 196-195. He walked back onto the same floor in June and left no room for heartbreak.
What makes the run stranger is the season around it. Tackett had led the PBA in competition points by a wide margin, kept earning the top seed, and kept coming up short. Heading into the World Championship, the most prolific winner of his generation had not won a single title in 2026. The four-peat was his first win of the year.
A place no one has been
The victory was the 28th PBA Tour title of his career and his eighth major. Tackett has now won the World Championship in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and it was his fifth in the event overall, having also taken it in 2016. The result also left him in line for a fourth straight Player of the Year award, a feat no player has managed.
I can't even put it into words what this feels like right now, to do something that no one else has ever done in the history of our sport.
One pin once stood between EJ Tackett and history. On the same lanes, he answered it. The Grand Slam can wait.
