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'Players' format provides taut finish as Boog Krol earns top seed of 2026 PBA Indiana Classic, Marshall Kent, Timmy Tan, Ryan Barnes, E.J. Tackett also make stepladder finals

JEFF RICHGELS | Posted: Friday, March 20, 2026 11:00 pm
'Players' format provides taut finish as Boog Krol earns top seed of 2026 PBA Indiana Classic, Marshall Kent, Timmy Tan, Ryan Barnes, E.J. Tackett also make stepladder finals
The stepladder finalists for the 2026 PBA Indiana Classic, left to right and in order from first to fifth: Boog Krol, Marshall Kent, Timmy Tan, Ryan Barnes, and E.J. Tackett. Photo by PBA.
There are some who will tell you the “players” format for PBA Tour events is boring: No match play — just game after game of bowling, with no round robin or elimination bracket to provide excitement beyond watching the best in the world compete. Those critics would have had a hard time making their case in Friday night’s final round of the 2026 PBA Indiana Classic, where there was jockeying for the five positions in the stepladder finals down to the final shots. The high...