Delaware
Graham Fach Ends Title Drought in Delaware
Fach wins second career title, first since 2016
Almost nine years after winning his first career title, Graham Fach captured his second on Saturday night at Mid County Lanes and Entertainment in Middletown, Del.
Fach defeated top seed Jakob Butturff, 277-200, in the 2025 season-opening PBA Delaware Classic title match to take home the $30,000 top prize.
“I feel nothing, but I feel everything at the same time,” Fach said. “I can’t even begin to think of my emotional state right now. It’s everything all at once, and I’m enjoying every second of it.”
For the first time in nine years, Graham Fach is a PBA Tour champion!
Fach celebrates with the Pilgrim’s Moment of the Match. pic.twitter.com/tWTBzVmwmZ
— PBA Tour (@PBATour) January 26, 2025
Fach won his first career title in the second event of his career, becoming the first Canadian to win on the tour. 3,261 days later, the now-father of two said each win feels like night and day.
“I know how hard it is to win on the PBA Tour now,” Fach said. “I fought so hard for nine years trying to get back in the winner’s circle. I’m not a kid anymore trying to see if I can do it. I’m out here proving to myself that I can do it. I’m proving to everyone that I can do it. More importantly, I’m comfortable doing it now.”
As the drought prolonged, Fach said he began to suffer from imposter syndrome.
“I didn’t really have any expectations when I joined the tour,” Fach said. “I was just a kid going to give the tour a shot and I won. After that, you build expectations. When you fall short, it gets heavy. It’s a big weight to bear. I started to feel like maybe I don’t belong out here. Maybe I had my week and that was it.”
Over the past few seasons, Fach had begun to work his way towards title contention. He finished 14th in points last season and made the PBA World Championship finals. He also dominated the PBA Elite League in Portland in 2023 and 2024.
Fach said can’t specify any particular low moment during the drought, just incremental burden.
“The weight gets a little heavier each time, but to pinpoint any one event I’d say is unfair,” Fach added. “It’s definitely a journey, and without it I don’t think this would feel as good as it does right now.”
Fach said the win felt even sweeter with his wife, Jen, in attendance.
“I’m so thankful my wife was able to make the trip and witness this,” he said. “She’s my biggest supporter. She will go anywhere if I’m on TV. She believes in me. She watches the kids when I’m out on tour. There’s no one that can do anything more than what she’s doing for me. To have the support right behind me, enjoying the moment with me, I love this feeling.”
Fach ran away and hid from top-seeded Butturff in an all-left-handed championship. Fach started with four strikes, while Butturff failed to notch a second strike until the sixth frame.
“I’d like to say that I handled the nerves better, but man those nerves were there,” Fach said. “Jakob is obviously world class. He’s the top seed for a reason. You expect him to be Jakob. If we replay that match, nine times out of 10 he’s that Jakob.
Butturff nearly converted his split in the fourth frame, but it may have been for naught regardless as Fach cruised to 277 with 10 strikes.
“After Jakob split, that got me thinking this could happen,” Fach said, “but you still expect Jakob to be what we all expect Jakob to be. I expected him to strike out for 230 and I knew I needed a couple more strikes to get there. It wasn’t until the ninth frame where I was able to strike and enjoy the moment. I sat down in the chair, basking in it, and realized what happened.”
Fach defeated Nick Pate in the semifinal, 249-226. Pate, who emerged from the pre-tournament qualifier (PTQ), sought his first career title. Pate needed a double in the 10th frame to upend Fach, but missed left on his first attempt.
In the second match, Fach out-struck another PTQ player in Michael Davidson, an impressive feat considering Davidson set the PBA’s 12-game scoring record during qualifying.
Davidson made the show as the highest-seeded qualifier to lose in the Round of 8 of bracket match play. He lost to AJ Johnson in that round, and earned his revenge in the first match of the stepladder finals.
The PBA Tour continues on Tuesday with qualifying of the U.S. Open presented by Go Bowling.
“Next week is next week. I want to focus on today right now,” Fach said. “You can’t go into the U.S. Open too high or too low and expect success. I’m going to have to bring myself into reality real quick, and I’m sure that tournament won’t hesitate to do so.”
Championship Round Scores
Match 1: No. 5 Michael Davidson def. No. 4 AJ Johnson, 237-232
Match 2: No. 3 Graham Fach def. No. 5 Michael Davidson, 256-242
Match 3: No. 3 Graham Fach def. No. 2 Nick Pate, 249-226
Championship: No. 3 Graham Fach def. No. 1 Jakob Butturff, 277-200
Final Standings
- Graham Fach, $30,000
- Jakob Butturff, $18,000
- Nick Pate, $13,000
- Michael Davidson, $10,000
- AJ Johnson, $9,000
More information on the PBA Delaware Championship is available here.
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Thomas Jefferson University is opening a regional campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Delaware, an effort that will result in the state’s first medical school.
Jefferson beat out three other bidders to establish the four-year program in partnership with the state. The other bidders were the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, Spotlight Delaware reported.
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The inaugural class of 40 medical students will begin instruction in July 2028. Initially, the campus will be based at the University of Delaware in Newark, with Jefferson faculty providing instruction. A permanent home for the campus is still being finalized, the Inquirer reported.
The medical students will receive 18 months of preclinical training on campus before receiving clinical training from healthcare providers in Delaware’s southern counties, where the state’s physician shortage is most deeply felt. That shortage is compounded by an aging population, Delaware officials said.
“Jefferson is committed to being part of the solution to Delaware’s physician shortage,” Jefferson CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione said in a statement. “We are proud to help build a future where every Delawarean has access to the care they deserve. Jefferson is all in.”
The school’s creation is being supported by $157.4 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Delaware is one of three states without a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program. Since the late 1960s, Jefferson and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine have reserved seats for Delaware students.
“Sidney Kimmel Medical College has trained generations of physicians for more than 200 years, more than any other medical college in the country,” Said Ibrahim, dean of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, said in a statement. “It is a privilege to bring our mission to Delaware’s patients and communities.”
Jefferson has announced several expansions recently. The university is establishing a full-time doctor of nursing practice-nurse anesthesia program and several online graduate programs at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Center for Healthcare Education in Lehigh County. It also is opening a satellite respiratory therapy lab at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown.
Delaware officials said medical students will start their classroom instruction at UD and then do their clinical training at offices and health care systems in Kent and Sussex counties, where the shortage of doctors is most acute.
However, ChristianaCare, which has its own partnership with Jefferson, is not participating. The state’s largest health care system was part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unsuccessful bid to operate the school. In a joint statement from ChristianaCare and PCOM, the two organizations expressed disappointment with not being part of the consortium of higher education institutions and healthcare organizations.
“The path forward raises genuine questions about whether the school’s goals can be fully realized without ChristianaCare’s meaningful participation in its clinical training mission,” it said. “The success of any four-year medical program depends not just on an academic institution, but on a true and committed partnership with its clinical partners — one built on shared mission, mutual investment and trust developed over time.”
Students in the first class can get their tuition subsidized, covering all of their education costs, in exchange for an agreement to work in rural Delaware for five years.
Running the medical school is expected to cost Jefferson $78 million over the next five years. The money is from a federal rural health grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which congressional Republicans created in the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”
The program will give $50 billion to every state over five years, though exactly the total each will eventually receive is unclear. Half of the money is to be distributed equally to states and the other half is awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services based on a variety of factors.
The state applied for $1 billion late last year to improve health care in Kent and Sussex counties. The Trump administration has so far allocated Delaware $157 million. Delaware is expected to receive at least $500 million over the life of the fund.
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