PBA Show Recap: 2025 Owen's Illinois Classic

Windy City Storylines

For the second time in as many years, the PBA Tour has returned to the Chicagoland area. This time, the Illinois Classic found itself at Bowlero Vernon Hills. Formerly known as Hawthorn Lanes, this bowling center last saw a PBA Tour event in 2007.

A lot has happened on tour since 2007. Jason Belmonte won 15 majors, EJ Tackett won three Player of the Year awards, and Anthony Simonsen became the youngest bowler to ever win a major. None of these players were on tour in 2007. Back then, the "old guard" of Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Pete Weber will still ruling the tour, and current veterans like Wes Malott, Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill and Sean Rash were making names for themselves as young superstars.

Although there was no Walter Ray or PDW at this tournament, things looked good for the current crop of tour veterans. Tommy Jones finished 20th, Wes Malott finished 19th, and Bill O'Neill led the tournament going into match play.

And then there was Sean Rash. The tour's newest Hall of Famer had a magical week, averaging 227 throughout qualifying and going the distance in match play to make his first singles show since 2023. His final match, against his doubles partner Matt Ogle, was a must-see.

The other matches were certainly no slouch. Chris Via started match play by sweeping Jakob Butturff in 4, then nearly surrendered a 3-1 lead to Nate Stubler in the next round. He went down 0-2 to Eric Jones on the final day of match play, but then won four games in a row to secure a spot on TV.

Matt Ogle received a bye through the first round of match play, but was greeted by a seven-game match against Tommy Jones immediately after. He would then match up against his doubles partner, going tit for tat until Rash reeled off three straight wins. Ogle still qualified for the telecast as the highest seed to lose in the Round of 8.

Tim Foy Jr., coming off a successful 2024 season, made it through Tour Trials earlier in the year and is now a fully exempt bowler on the national tour. He made his presence known early, knocking Bailey Mavrick out of the first round of match play in five games. He would go on to defeat Graham Fach in six in the Round of 16, and capped off his incredible run with a six-game victory over Jason Belmonte.

But nobody dominated match play more than Santtu Tahvanainen. The two-handed powerhouse dropped only one game on his way to the TV finals, sweeping David Krol in four and nearly doing the same to Hayden Stippich, eventually walking away with a five game victory to grab the number one seed in the finals. He was so dominant that he had locked up a spot on TV before the final round of match play even began.

As the evening faded into night, the games wrapped up, the scoresheets were turned in, and the final stepladder was assembled. At the top was Santtu Tahvanainen, hoping to start 2025 with his first career PBA Tour title. Beneath him was Chris Via, hoping to win a title in front of a crowd for the first time. Beneath Via was Sean Rash, hoping to add to his Hall of Fame career. And finally, in the opening match were Matt Ogle and Tim Foy Jr., two rising stars on tour, vying to ride the wave of momentum with some Windy City wind at their backs.

Match 1: Try, Try Again

The first match of the telecast featured two competitors with similar deliveries, but vastly different professions outside of bowling. When he isn't on the lanes, Matt Ogle manages a landscaping company in his native Louisville, Kentucky. Tim Foy Jr., on the other hand, is a correctional officer at a prison in Delaware.

In this match, Foy was judge, jury, executioner. He sent all ten pins to their cells seven times, leaving makeable spares whenever he missed. His only open frame was on his fill shot, when he took a lineup shot.

Ogle, on the other hand, had a hard time mowing the pins down. He struck on his first shot, but left a super washout on his second. He would follow that shot up with a 7-count split, which he failed to convert, resulting in back-to-back open frames.

Although he rallied slightly after his opening struggles, his tournament would come to an official end in the tenth frame, when he left a 2-10 split. Foy would close the match out with a score of 217 to Ogle's 168, and he would advance to face Ogle's doubles partner, Sean Rash.

Match 2: The Homecoming

It's hard to believe that Sean Rash won his first title 19 years ago. Since then, he has been one of the tour's toughest competitors. He started his career with a 7-0 TV winning streak, during which he won four titles. Nearly two decades later, Rash has 17 career tour titles, including two majors- a resume that is well deserving of a Hall of Fame induction.

But Rash isn't done. The 42-year-old has as much competitive fire as ever, and he proved it throughout qualifying and match play. Now, under the bright lights once again, he was only three wins away from yet another title.

As Rash began his match, he looked solid. His backswing was back where it used to be, and he was even opening up the lane a little bit. Although his first shot went a little high, he converted the spare, and followed it up with a three-bagger.

Foy kept pace, keeping the ball in the pocket throughout the match, save for a high shot in the seventh frame where he left the 3-6-10.

Rash began to struggle in the fifth frame, throwing a shot wide and leaving a 10 pin, which he missed. He would come back with a light mixer strike on the right lane, but threw another one wide on the left, leaving a 2-8-10.

He attempted to mount a comeback by making an adjustment on the left lane, but his shot would go high, leaving a 3-6-7-10 split. That, along with a number of ringing 10-pins on the right lane, would eventually bring Rash's tournament to an end. He would take his leave as Foy experimented with a reactive ball, undoubtedly thinking about running the ladder as he advanced to face Chris Via.

Match 3: Big Guy Chris Via Returns

Chris Via perhaps epitomizes the phrase "dang, I'm surprised this guy only has one title." He's an incredible athlete, throws it great, and always seems to perform well in tournaments. Yet, despite all that, he has only visited the winner's circle once.

Via has done just about everything else on TV- he shot 300 twice in 2021, won the Strike Derby in 2023, and made just about every major telecast that the airwaves offer. On the receiving end of one of those 300 games was Tim Foy Jr., who took Bill O'Neill's spot after O'Neill tested positive for COVID.

Now, four years removed from that day, Foy and Via met once again.

Via started off somewhat shaky, leaving a light 2-4-8 on his first ball. He would then go heavy on the right lane, leaving a 3-6-10, both of which he would convert.

Foy, throwing reactive on the right lane and urethane on the left, saw much of the same ball reaction that he saw all day. He continued to hit the pocket, leaving a ringing ten pin on the left lane but striking twice on the right lane.

Via, on the other hand, seemed to have yet to figure out the left lane. He went high in the third frame, crumbling the big four, and then went light in the fifth, tripping out the 2-10.

The match's momentum suddenly swung in the sixth frame, when Foy left a solid 9-pin and missed it. Just like that, Chris Via's chances jumped a little bit.

Foy was able to bounce back from his missed spare with a double, while Via continued to deal with untrustworthy ball reaction. He threw a few shots left of target, but left makeable spares when he did.

Stepping up in the tenth with a chance to shut out Chris Via, Foy would not have the luxury of leaving a makeable spare. He left the 2-8-10 on his first shot in the tenth frame, swinging the door wide open for Chris Via.

Foy was down, but not out. Via still needed a double if he wanted to advance to the title match, and with the iffy ball reaction that he experienced all match, it was clear that anything could happen.

Via silenced any and all concerns about his ball reaction in his tenth frame, burying ten in the pit twice in a row to end Foy's tournament and bring him one match closer to his second title.

Match 4: The Finn Gets The Win

It isn’t often that an athlete bounces back quickly from an injury. It’s even rarer for them to dominate one of their first tournaments after finishing treatment for said injury.

Yet that is exactly what Santtu Tahvanainen was able to accomplish this week in Vernon Hills. The 28-year-old Finnish two-hander went from finishing 64th in Delaware to being the no-doubt number one seed in Illinois. The storyline was set, and Tahvanainen was ready to become the main character.

The match began with a very main character-esque strike from Tahvanainen on the left lane. He would follow it up by sending a wicked messenger into the 10-pin on the right lane for an opening double.

Via, on the other hand, had to endure a bit of a slower start. Although he began his match by carrying a light mixer strike on the right lane, he would follow it up with an open frame on the left.

It then became pretty obvious that this would be a low-scoring title match. Tahvanainen would leave the 4-9 split on his next shot, although he would follow it up with a double.

Via would get another big break in the seventh frame, when Tahvanainen took the 3-pin straight back on a 3-6-10 conversion attempt. Via was able to avoid major trouble for a few frames, but was unable to string enough strikes together to mount a comeback.

With ball in hand, and his first career title very much within reach, Tahvanainen threw an clutch strike in his eighth frame. He would leave a 3-6-10 in his ninth frame, and just barely converted it, forcing Via to get something going in the tenth frame to have any chance of winning.

Via managed to strike in his ninth frame. But, just like his opponent in the previous match, a 2-8-10 in his tenth frame would ultimately seal his fate. He would sit down with a 155, and Tahvanainen would step up, ready to take a tenth frame victory lap.

It was at this moment that Via's mother, Angie, who was sat right behind Tahvanainen, nudged him and gave him the first congratulations that he would receive as a PBA champion.

With Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us playing in the background, Tahvanainen rolled out in his tenth frame, finishing the match with a 184 and etching his name into the history books as only the third Finnish player to win on the PBA Tour.

Congratulations, Santtu! Mika and Osku, you have company!