Iowa State Cyclones’ guard Jada Williams (8) shoots the ball over Southern Lady Jaguars forward DeMya Porter (24) during the third quarter on Nov. 5, 2025, at Hilton Coliseum, Ames.
Jaylia Reed scored 16 points and DeMya Carter contributed 15 on Thursday night as Southern went on a game-ending 14-2 run to subdue Samford 65-53 in an Women’s NCAA Tournament First Four matchup in Columbia, S.C.
The game was tied at 51 with 6:59 left after Carla Baguda hit a layup for the Bulldogs. But Reed canned a 3-pointer on the next possession, and the Jaguars never looked back. Samford went scoreless for 4:42 during the clinching spurt.
Jocelyn Tate added 10 for Southern (20-13), which shot just 39.7% from the field but made up for it by forcing 19 turnovers and converting those into 20 points. The Jaguars advance as a No. 16 seed to meet top-seeded South Carolina on Saturday in a Sacramento 4 Region game at Columbia.
Briana Rivera scored a game-high 16 points for the Bulldogs (16-19), who won eight of their previous 10 games, including all three in the Southern Conference tournament.
“The size, layout, and positioning of the banner in the stadium shall be submitted by the Israel Football Association to Fifa at the latest 15 days before each match for approval,” said Fifa in a statement.
It has also ordered the IFA to “invest one third of the fine … towards the implementation of a comprehensive plan to ensure action against discrimination and to prevent repeated incidents”.
Fifa added “the decision remains subject to a potential appeal” by the IFA.
The PFA also accused the IFA of “allowing inclusion of football teams located on the territory of another association (Palestine) in its national league”.
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On this, Fifa said it “should take no action given that … the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law”.
Meanwhile, the Palestine FA said its national team’s friendly matches against Mauritania and Benin in Morocco later this month have been cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East.
Jake Guentzel, Darren Raddysh, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Hagel also scored for the Lightning (42-21-4).
Andrei Vasilevskiy, who picked up his league-leading 32nd win of the year, made 19 saves for Tampa Bay.
Liam Ohgren and Linus Karlsson replied for Vancouver (21-39-8).
Kevin Lankinen made 24 saves for the last-place Canucks.
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The Lightning were 0-for-1 on the power play, while the Canucks went 0-for-2.
Guentzel opened the scoring late in the first period to become the third Lightning player to reach 30 goals this season, after Kucherov and Hagel.
After establishing position at the net front, Guentzel tipped a shot from the top of the zone by Charle-Edouard D’Astous over the glove of a screened Lankinen.
Less than a minute into the second, Raddysh made it 2-0 with a big one-timer. Gourde then added his ninth of the year, tipping in another Raddysh shot from the side of the net at 4:16. Kucherov then deflected the puck off the leg of Canucks defenceman and into the net for his 38th of the year at 5:31.
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Ohgren spoiled Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid with 7:54 remaining in the second, putting a low shot past the Tampa goalie for his seventh goal of the year.
In the third, Karlsson batted the puck over an outstretched Valisevskiy for his 13th of the year. Twenty-two seconds later, Cirelli restored the Lightning’s three-goal edge, then Hagel rounded out the scoring with his 32nd, with 9:25 remaining.
Canucks: Vancouver allowed six goals or more for the ninth time this season. With assists on both Canucks goals, Rossi extended his point streak to four games (nine points). Aatu Raty played in his 100th career NHL game.
Lightning: Won 6-2 for the second-straight game on their current road trip. Raddysh’s 18 goals are the third-most ever in a single season by a Lightning defenceman. Tampa Bay is a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill over the last four games.
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Raddysh, Gourde and Kucherov scored their goals in the span of four minutes 42 seconds, with the latter two coming on consecutive shots.
Kucherov’s three-point night moved him into sole possession of second place in the NHL scoring race. With 114 points, he’s one point behind league leader Connor McDavid (115).
Welcome to our PGA Tour gambling-tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network devoted to sports and sport betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow him on X at @LasVegasGolfer, and you can read his early picks below for the Masters, which gets underway on April 9th in Augusta, Ga.
Let the madness begin! The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and the Masters is really a match made in heaven, isn’t it? For roughly the next 25 days, two of the biggest events in all of sport will dominate the headlines, viewership, content … the entire media landscape! And what a wonderful thing that is.
I began betting College Basketball futures back in December. The first bet I made this year “to win the Masters” was in early February. For several years now in my golf handicapping process, I have used the Hawaii events and the American Express in La Quinta, Calif., as a “pre-season” of sorts, getting a feel for the players, their form, the new faces, and assessing everything involved with the new golf year. With the Plantation Course at Kapalua being such a strong pointer toward success at Augusta National, I have often made my first Masters bets during or after that tournament, the Sentry, but of course, that event was cancelled this year due to drought-like conditions in northwest Maui.
There are a couple of other strong indicators on the West Coast Swing that can be predictive of Masters success. In addition to Kapalua, the connection between winners at Riviera Country Club (Genesis Invitational) and the Masters is widely known and is an extensive list. The Genesis winner this year, Jacob Bridgeman, is down to anywhere from 60 to 70-1 to slide on a green jacket on the second Sunday in April. I did not make a play on Bridgeman after that victory, nor did I back Rory McIlroy to defend his Masters title after he finished runner-up in Los Angeles. I did make some early bets, however, on a few guys that finished top 15 at Riviera. We’ll get to that shortly.
In addition to specific golf courses that can provide us with some clues, strong performance, top-10 finishes, and tournament wins are a common thread that we see on the early season resumes of most Masters winners. It is not surprising that current form is a bit of a qualification. It is not often that a player who is struggling suddenly finds their game and wins a major championship.
My first play though took place a few weeks ago during the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Two-time winner in Phoenix, former Masters champion, and recent winner at both Riviera and Kapalua, Hideki Matsuyama was my first “to win the Masters” bet of 2026 at 39-1, which I found here in Las Vegas at Circa Sports. After seeing how the 2021 Masters champ got off to a great start in Phoenix, I pulled the trigger. I did the same thing last year after he won at Kapalua but unfortunately, he cooled off and ended up finishing 21st at the 2025 Masters four months later. Since finishing runner-up in Phoenix, Matsuyama has cooled off again but the game remains very strong. The struggles have come off the tee but the wide fairways at Augusta National can often minimize those issues. I still don’t mind a play on Matsuyama at 30-1 or better.
I made my second bet that same week on another former Kapalua and Masters champion. A player who at the time, was red-hot, and that is Patrick Reed. I was able to get ahead of the game slightly, grabbing Reed at 46-1. Reed left the LIV circuit and has been playing quite a bit on the DP World Tour. He won twice and finished runner-up once in a span of three weeks between the end of January and beginning of February. I’m seeing his price now range from roughly 25 to 35-1. I believe 35 is still a solid number. Reed just recorded another top 10 finish earlier this month at the Joburg Open in South Africa. In seven Masters appearances since winning in 2018, Reed has no missed cuts and has finished top 10 four times.
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I added two more plays in February with both players being Australians. Min Woo Lee (80-1) and Adam Scott (125-1). Scott of course, is a former Masters champion and Lee fits the mold for me as a big hitter with a fantastic short game. Lee’s lone PGA Tour victory came at Memorial Park in Houston, which can also be Augusta National-like in course set up and layout style. Both players have gotten off to excellent starts in 2026. Scott finished fourth at Riviera, a course where he’s won twice. He followed that up with an 11th-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This year will mark the 25th time Scott has played the Masters. He’s only missed the cut one time since he won 13 years ago. I thought 125-1 was too high and lately I am seeing anywhere from 80 to 100-1 on the 45-year old.
This will be Lee’s fifth time playing the Masters. His best finish is 14th. He’s missed the cut one time and has also finished 22nd. Lee was 12th at Riviera this season, runner-up at Pebble Beach, and finished sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
I currently have six plays in pocket. I may stand pat, but I am thinking if I do add anything, it will only be one more. It is very easy to accumulate Masters bets with the board being up and available for such an extended period of time but let’s remember, this is a smaller field and becoming overloaded on outrights can happen more quickly than with a typical 130-some player field. If you start to pick apart the Masters field, it feels like only 30 players or so really have a chance to win. It won’t likely be a debutant, with that not happening since 1979, and we can’t expect it to be one of the seniors or one of the amateurs. So again, six or seven futures is already a lot. We don’t want to get too carried away or it starts to impact potential profits greatly.
The final two plays I made were done earlier this month. Collin Morikawa (30-1) and Jordan Spieth (60-1). I played Morikawa when he was threatening at Bay Hill a few weeks ago, a place where he finished runner-up last season. Morikawa already checks the box of having a win to his credit this season, capturing the crown at Pebble Beach back in February. In six visits to Augusta, he hasn’t ever missed a cut. His last five finishes are as follows.. 14-3-10-5-18. Morikawa withdrew from The Players last week after experiencing pain in his back during a practice swing on just the second hole of the championship. I am confident he’ll be ready to go next month.
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Like I was surprised by the price on Scott, I was pretty happy to find 60-1 on Spieth. I found this on March 8th at William Hill. I am now seeing odds between 35 and 45-1. Anything 40-1 or higher is good in my opinion. He was 12th at Riviera this season and followed that up with an 11th place finish at Bay Hill. At the time of writing, Spieth is off to a great start at the Valspar Championship. If that continues, his Masters odds will likely drop even further.
A six-pack it is for now for the Masters. As for cutting down the nets in Indianapolis on that Monday of Masters Week, I’m hoping that is either Gonzaga, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Illinois, or Iowa State.
Galatasaray have confirmed that Victor Osimhen suffered a broken forearm during their UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool on Wednesday.
The Turkish side travelled to Anfield with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg and needed only a solid performance to qualify. However, things quickly went wrong when Osimhen picked up an injury early in the game.
Although he received treatment and returned to continue the match, the striker was clearly struggling. He could not move freely and was unable to play his usual strong attacking role. He was later taken off at half-time.
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Without their key forward, Galatasaray were heavily beaten 4-0, ending their Champions League journey.
After the match, the club confirmed that Osimhen suffered a fracture in his right forearm. He has already been treated and his arm placed in a cast, while doctors will decide in the coming days if he needs surgery.
The club also revealed that Noa Lang picked up a serious cut on his thumb during the second half and will undergo an operation.
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Osimhen is now expected to be out for several weeks, which is a big setback for Galatasaray as they continue their push for the league title and the domestic cup. Both the player and the club will be hoping he recovers quickly and returns before the end of the season.
Manchester City have Wembley on their mind as they prepare to face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
We may be two days out from the Carabao Cup final, but Manchester City already know one player who will be starting against Arsenal on Sunday. After beating Newcastle, Pep Guardiola confirmed James Trafford would be in goal against the Gunners. “He’s an extraordinary ‘keeper and I’m really pleased,” City’s head coach said.
“With the final, he’s going to play the first final of Carabao Cup for him and in FA Cup of course everything can happen.” It has been well documented how tough this season has been for Trafford. Arriving from Burnley under the impression he would eventually be the club’s first choice, the 23-year-old soon lost his spot to Gianluigi Donnarumma.
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The Italian has barely put a foot wrong since arriving and that has left Trafford on the fringes. He has been consigned to FA Cup and Carabao Cup appearances. His only start in the Champions League ended in defeat to Bayer Leverkusen and Donnarumma returning for the remaining games in the competition.
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In the summer, Trafford will pursue an exit from City. The goalkeeper should be playing regular first-team football, but while Donnarumma remains in Manchester, Trafford will not get that at the Etihad Stadium. And this leaves City with a problem to solve.
Guardiola never stands in the way of a player looking for a fresh opportunity. But Trafford’s lack of game time puts a ceiling on the price City can demand for his services.
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Trafford has spent the season sitting on the bench and, as a result, teams will feel they have an advantage in negotiations because he wants something City can’t provide.
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The Carabao Cup Final will see Arsenal v Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium this March.
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However, a brilliant performance in the Carabao Cup final could change the narrative. Suddenly, City could point to the final as an example of a player who is ready to step into any side and perform straightaway, rather than a player who could take time to get up to speed having spent so long playing second fiddle.
Newcastle were interested in Trafford last summer and the Magpies are likely to return at the end of the season.
Nick Pope’s time as Eddie Howe’s No.1 seems to be over and Trafford would be an improvement on Aaron Ramsdale. But performing well in a game of this magnitude will increase the interest and potentially launch a bidding war.
That would be the perfect scenario for City. Regardless of the score on Sunday, if Trafford performs, the Blues could add millions to Trafford’s price tag.
Following the unprecedented decision to strip Senegal of the Africa Cup of Nations title and hand it to Morocco, Mark Owen is pleased to welcome Eurosport’s Ruben Slagter. Not only is our guest troubled by the decision itself, but also the opacity of its timing and communication: the delayed ruling, coupled with its quiet release during a major European fixture, the Champions League, raises questions about institutional transparency and intent.
According to Slagter, this situation reflects deeper structural issues within football governance, where regulatory decisions are entangled with internal disagreements and political considerations.
For him, the lack of clarity surrounding both the process and the justification risks undermining trust. More broadly, he sees this episode as symptomatic of a fragile moment for African football, where progress in infrastructure and talent development is overshadowed by controversies that reinforce longstanding external criticisms.
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.
Team Vitality, The MongolZ and Team Spirit finished off sweeps in their respective upper-bracket quarterfinals to open Group B play of the BLAST Open Spring on Thursday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
PARAVISION also won its opening match to remain in the winner’s bracket. 9z Team, MOUZ, Team Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas each lost their opening matches and will face elimination on Saturday.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that will contest a pair of double-elimination brackets. The top three finishers in each bracket will advance to the six-team playoffs. All matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on March 29.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Team Vitality cruised to a sweep of 9z Team with a 13-3 win on Overpass and a 13-5 victory on Nuke. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of France led the way for Vitality with a 37-15-22 kill-death-assist ratio.
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The MongolZ took care of business against MOUZ, posting a 13-11 victory on Nuke followed by a 13-3 triumph on Inferno. For the all-Mongolian winners, Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold sparked the victory with a K-D-A ratio of 42-24-18.
Team Spirit had to work a little more to earn the sweep, taking down Team Liquid 13-8 on Mirage and 13-11 on Ancient. Russian Danil “donk” Kryshkovets was the star for the winners, notching a K-D-A ratio of 55-31-24.
PARAVISION opened with a 13-11 win on Ancient, but Ninjas in Pyjamas pulled even on Mirage with a 13-6 victory. In the decisive third map, PARAVISION rebounded to close out the match 13-8 on Dust II.
For the all-Russian PARAVISION squad, Ivan “zweih” Gogin posted a team-high 45 kills along with 45 deaths, while teammate Andrey “BELCHONOKK” Yasinskiy notched a K-D-A ratio of 43-41-2.
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Friday’s schedule:
FURIA vs. Aurora Gaming (Group A upper-bracket semifinal)
Natus Vincere vs. Team Falcons (Group A upper-bracket semifinal)
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TYLOO vs. FaZe Clan (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal)
B8 vs. NRG (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal)
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
The No. 3 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs will try to kickstart another deep NCAA Tournament run when they face the No. 14 seed Kennesaw State owls in the first round of the Big Dance on Thursday night. Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles in its final season in the conference. Kennesaw State had a mediocre regular season, but it won the Conference USA Tournament title to earn an automatic bid. These schools are meeting for the first time ever.
Tipoff from the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., is at 10 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs are 20.5-point favorites in the latest Gonzaga vs. Kennesaw State odds, with the over/under at 152.5, a 5-point drop since opening at 157.5. The Zags are at -5000 on the money line (risk $5,000 to win $100). Before making any Kennesaw State vs. Gonzaga picks, check out the men’s college basketball predictions and betting advice from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every college basketball game 10,000 times. It entered the 2026 NCAA Tournament on a sizzling 11-1 run on its top-rated over/under college basketball picks dating back to last season, and is on a 28-22 run on top-rated CBB side picks. Anyone following its college basketball betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen strong returns.
After 10,000 simulations of Gonzaga vs. Kennesaw State, SportsLine’s model is going Over on the total (152.5 points). Gonzaga’s Graham Ike has scored the most career points (2,531) of any active player, and he has scored 17.7 points per game in six career NCAA Tournament games. He is averaging 23.4 points across his last 13 games, and the model has him finishing with 25.4 points in this matchup.
Teammate Braden Huff is sidelined with a knee injury, but the model has guard Tyon Grant-Foster scoring 15.2 points. Kennesaw State led Conference USA in scoring (83.4) and second-chance points per game (14.7) this season. The model has these teams combining for 159 points, as the Over hits in 61.8% of simulations.
“FIFA is looking forward to all teams participating at the World Cup to compete in a spirit of fair play and mutual respect,” Infantino said from Zurich during an online FIFA Council meeting.
“We have a schedule. We will soon have the 48 competing teams confirmed, and we want the World Cup to go ahead as scheduled.”
Iran‘s participation has been shrouded in doubt due to the conflict in the Middle East.
They are due to play group games in the United States, against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and in Seattle against Egypt.
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However, Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj indicated that as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on his country he wanted its matches moved to one of the other host nations — Canada and Mexico will host the World Cup with the United States.
“We will be preparing for the World Cup. We will boycott the United States but not the World Cup,” Taj said in the video released on Wednesday.
Iran’s football federation says it has opened talks with FIFA about potentially relocating its matches.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country is prepared to host Iran’s first-round matches if required.
“FIFA can’t solve geopolitical conflicts, but we are committed to using the power of football and the World Cup to build bridges and promote peace as our thoughts are with those who are suffering as a consequence of the ongoing wars,” added Infantino.
This interview was first published in Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive Golf Journal and to learn how you can ensure a strong future for the game, become a USGA Member today.
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Only six men — Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy — have won golf’s career Grand Slam. EJ Tackett became just the ninth to capture the Professional Bowlers Association’s equivalent, the Triple Crown, at the 2023 U.S. Open in his home state of Indiana. Needing a strike and eight pins in the last frame to defeat his rival, friend and golf buddy Kyle Troup, Tackett “shoed up and stepped up,” as they say on the lanes, crushing the pocket twice for strikes to fulfill his childhood dream.
Well, one of his childhood dreams — it could have been a U.S. Open golf triumph, too.
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Tackett, now 33 and starring alongside Troup in HBO Max’s new documentary series, “Born to Bowl,” was an elite junior golfer as well as bowler, competing against the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas at the 2010 U.S. Junior Amateur and Junior PGA championships and later playing Division I golf before turning his attention to knocking down pins with a bowling ball instead. The four-time and reigning PBA Player of the Year has since won 27 tour titles, including seven majors, and will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Tackett’s career numbers put him at least in line with what Scheffler, Spieth and Rory McIlroy have achieved in professional golf, except for his Q rating and bank account — bowling’s popularity and prize money, while on the rise again, still lag golf’s by a country mile and a half. The highly entertaining “Born to Bowl” has the potential to change that, at least marginally. Regardless, if Tackett only recently stopped having to share hotel rooms on the road, he hasn’t just left his mark on bowling but also still finds time to maintain a better-than-scratch golf game. Which begs the question: Can JT bowl a 300? Color us doubtful.
Before winning bowling’s U.S. Open, Tackett had dreams of winning golf’s version.
courtesy EJ Tackett
How did you get started in golf?
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I was 3 or 4 years old when I started going out with my dad. He used to play a skins game on Saturday and Sunday morning, small-town stuff with maybe 30 guys. Dad would let me drive off the tee, pick up my ball, take it to his ball and let me hit from there, then chip and putt around the green. The grandson of the guy who owned the course was the same age as me — he actually owns the course now. As I got a bit older, he and I would play chipping and putting games and hit balls at the range. So, I had someone challenging me to get better.
When did youbeginplaying junior tournaments?
When I was about 12. In Indiana, there was a tour sponsored by Pepsi, and it was broken up into age groups named after pop brands — the Pepsi Tour, the Mountain Dew Tour. There was one summer I won every event I played in, and that was the year (2010) I qualified for the U.S. Junior Am and the Junior PGA.
What were those experiences like?
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The Junior PGA was at Sycamore Hills in Fort Wayne, 30 minutes from where I lived. The first round I was nervous and played absolutely horrendously — I think I shot 85. Justin Thomas set the course record that day with 65. The next day got rained out, and me and Dad went to the driving range and got my swing straightened out. I shot even-par 72 the second round, which wasn’t good enough to make the cut but at least I redeemed myself. At the Junior Am at Egypt Valley in Michigan, I shot, like, mid-to-upper 70s both rounds and missed making the cut for match play by a few strokes.
And you’re doing this while becoming one of the nation’s best junior bowlers. In 2011, you made Junior Team USA — and as a teenager made it through qualifying at bowling’s U.S. Open, finishing 20th. When did you finally decide to pick bowling over golf?
When I decided that I wasn’t good enough to play golf. I played golf at Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne (now Purdue Fort Wayne), a D1 school. I went for three semesters. I wasn’t seeing the results that I thought I should see. I hated school and just didn’t want to do it anymore. My parents owned a bowling center my whole life, and they haven’t been well off, so I always worked a lot at the center, too. I wasn’t living on campus, I was commuting an hour back and forth to school, trying to work every day — it was maybe a little too much for me to handle. I decided to try a different path. I knew I was always really good at bowling. I got my PBA card in October of 2012, and here we are.
Do you feel like there’s a lot of overlap between the sports in terms of technique?
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There are a ton of parallels. I’m not a big guy — 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, but I’m pretty powerful in each sport. My swing path goes out-to-in on the backswing in each. If you look closely at my footwork in bowling, when I get to the [foul] line, you’ll sometimes see my heel coming off the ground. That’s using the ground as leverage, just like a golfer does. They load up the left knee, and it straightens as they turn through the ball, and sometimes that left heel is coming off the ground. Then there’s the old term: “Wait on it.” If you’re trying to make things happen too early in your swing, it throws your timing off and you get herky-jerky.
How about the mental side?A lot of “perfect” shots in bowling don’t produce strikes.It seems like dealing with bad breaks, or what feel like bad breaks, is critical.
In golf, at least in stroke play, you’re really playing against the course. In bowling, you’re bowling against the lane conditions. The guys who can overcome, who don’t overthink things and play what’s in front of them, they’re the ones you see on TV week in and week out. In golf and in bowling, it’s one shot at a time. Because you can’t change what already happened, and you can only control what’s about to happen. And that’s it.
Tackett says in bowling he uses the ground as leverage, just as a golfer does.
getty images
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Bowling and golf are both parallel-play sports — you’re competing alongside someone but can’t influence what they do. How do you handle that?
I’m just out there trying to do the best I can. I pay attention to what the other guys are doing in that we’re always moving lanes, changing bowling balls because of the conditions. If someone is bowling really well, I might look at what kind of ball they’re using, where they’re standing to start, the line they’re playing, trying to get a better visual that might help me. It’s not like I’m sitting in the back rooting someone else on or yelling for them to get a split. If someone makes a split, yeah, I’ll give him a high-five, or if he bowls a 300 game, it’s like, “Good job — happy for ya.” It’s probably the same way on the PGA Tour. You’re out there doing your job. If someone does something cool, you give ’em a thumbs-up. Throughout normal play, though, it’s pretty much business.
One difference, sadly, is the amount of money in pro golf vs. pro bowling. Do you ever think about that?
All the time, because I did play golf and still always watch it. I won five times (including two majors) in 2023. I bowled extremely well — and I was $40,000 from making half a million dollars. So, if you get to a high level, you can be, not rich, but definitely not poor. But would it be nice to make those million-dollar paychecks? Absolutely. If bowling was making what golf made, I would’ve earned 15 or 20 million dollars before the FedEx Cup. It’s, like, dang, if we had bowling for, you know, half a million or even a million dollars in major championships, that revolutionizes the sport and takes it to a different level. I know that the people in charge of bowling are doing their best. It’s always a work in progress.
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Not to romanticize it, but PBA pros will often caravan from event to event, share hotel rooms — it sounds like the PGA Tour back in the ’40s and ’50s. Does that create more camaraderie than today’s golfers’ private jets and five-star hotels?
I would say so. We spend more time with each other than we do with our families. I’m gone 200 days a year. There’s a bunch of my buddies that are always getting dinner when we’re done, going for lunch, having a few beers, hanging out. It is fun, like having a family away from home. I did start staying by myself in rooms a bit more recently. I’ve got to the point in my career where I don’t have to share a room with someone to save a bit of money every week.
Fair to say the average person doesn’t understand how hard both sports are at the top level — the old “they’re not real athletes” or “there’s a guy at our club who shoots par all the time….”
I don’t think people understand at all. The misperception goes with the fact that you can play both sports, and play them well, your whole life — and you can eat and drink while you do it. And in bowling, the ball comes back to you, and in golf someone’s carrying your clubs. They don’t understand the preparation that it takes — gym time, practice, eating right, and everything that goes into being successful.
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On the PBA Tour, you’re often bowling on oil patterns as difficult as U.S. Open golf conditions.As in golf, the precision needed is unreal.
On these harder patterns, we’ve got one, maybe two boards to hit — so you’re talking about 1-2 inches. Plus, you need the right speed, the right rev rate, the right rotation. Just like in golf — How much spin do I want? Draw or cut? Is this an 80 percent shot? — all these things get calculated into what you do. What makes both sports so great is that you are in control of so much but also in control of so little at the same time.
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