LAS VEGAS – Stepping out from behind the shadow of his older, successful brother is something Zac Tackett strives every week to achieve on the PBA Tour. This week at the United States Bowling Congress Masters may be his chance.

Tackett, whose brother EJ has 12 titles and is a household name in the bowling industry, is setup to make a name for himself after finishing qualifying with 3,177, a 211.80 average, which is more than enough to make the cut into match play.

EJ, meanwhile, shot just 3,042 and appears unlikely to make the cut at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino this week in the season’s fourth major.

“We look alike, so people are always coming up to me and calling me EJ,” Tackett said. “I just want people to recognize me for me and not call me EJ all the time. I want to be recognized for myself. It would feel good for people to know who I am.”

Tackett, who is about five years younger than his 26-year-old brother, has been trying to find his way on the PBA Tour and after some shoddy spare shooting at the 2019 PBA World Series of Bowling, he said focus on that aspect of his game has paid off this week.

“I’ve been practicing a lot,” Tackett said. “Luckily this week I’ve been able to pick up my spares, unlike at the World Series where I missed a lot of them that kept me from making one cut. After that, I went home, grabbed my spare ball and that’s all I was doing was practicing my spares.”

It was just last month that Tackett had a bit of a scare on the way to bowl the PBA Jonesboro Open when he was involved in a car accident after having a seizure while driving to the event.

“I’ve had epilepsy since I was 13 or 14,” Tackett said. “I didn’t have a seizure for six and a half years. I was driving to a tournament, and I had a seizure while I was driving. Luckily, I didn’t have a bruise or anything. I was very lucky.”

Tackett hopes that luck is on his side again this weekend as he moves into the three-game, total-pinfall double-elimination match-play bracket at the USBC Masters.