at the PBA World Championship, on December 11 in Reno, NV. The four titles in 2016 helped E.J. earn PBA Player of the Year honors for the season. He is the third-youngest player (24) to be named Player of the Year, behind Billy Hardwick (1963) and Andrew Anderson (2018). Tackett led the Tour in wins (4) and earnings ($168,290), and was third in Tour average (224.49). Tackett's run of victories continued into 2017, as he won the season's opening event on January 14 at the DHC PBA Japan Invitational. This was his sixth PBA Tour title. On February 19 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Tackett won his second major and seventh PBA title overall at the Fire Lake PBA Tournament of Champions. Tackett continued his 2017 success with a win in the inaugural Main Event PBA Tour Finals on May 20. This invitational tournament featured the top eight players in PBA earnings from the start of the 2015 PBA Tour season through the 2017 USBC Masters. As the #2 seed, Tackett survived the round-robin and group stepladder matches, eventually defeating #1 seed Jason Belmonte in the three-game final. This was his third victory of 2017 and eighth title overall. Although he did not have a win in any of the seven Storm PBA Xtra Frame events in 2017, Tackett finished with the most points over the duration of the series, earning a $20,000 bonus and the Storm Cup. On November 19, Tackett won his ninth PBA title in the PBA Scorpion Championship, part of the World Series of Bowling in Reno, NV. Tackett duplicated his four titles (one major) from the previous season while making a career-high nine championship round appearances, amassing 2017 earnings of over $220,000. Tackett won his tenth PBA title on July 2, 2018, at the PBA Xtra Frame Parkside Lanes Open in Aurora, Illinois. At age 25 years, 329 days, he is the fourth-youngest player in PBA history to reach the ten title plateau (behind Pete Weber, Mike Aulby and Wayne Webb). Tackett won his 11th PBA title on July 29, 2018, teaming with female professional Liz Johnson to win the Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship in Houston, Texas. He won his 12th PBA title and third of the 2018 season at the FloBowling PBA Bear Open, held October 17–18 in Owasso, Oklahoma. Tackett was announced as a finalist for the 2018 PBA Player