Belmo advances to PBA World Championship final
By Tenpin Bowling Australia
Jason Belmonte has qualified for the PBA World Championship stepladder final at the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB) in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
After a marathon 54 qualifying games, the PBA World Championship stepladder final will kick-off on Monday morning in Australia at 4 am AEDT, where Belmonte will look to extend his all-time PBA major title record to 15.
An already three-time PBA World Championship titleholder (2017, 2019 and 2020), Belmonte has qualified as the third seed and will join Kris Prather (1), Tommy Jones (2), Jason Sterner (4) and Jakob Butturff (5) in the stepladder final on his quest for his fourth PBA World Championship title.
Qualification into the PBA World Championship requires bowlers to finish in the top 30 from performances in three separate championships during the WSOB on three animal patterns – Cheetah, Scorpion and Shark.
Each animal pattern championship would see bowlers complete ten qualifying games, with the top 16 in each pattern advancing to the next stage for that animal pattern tournament which will run next week.
All results were combined from the 30 games of qualifying throughout all three championships (Cheetah, Scorpion and Shark) to provide the top 30 to advance to the PBA World Championship stages.
Apart from the Cheetah Championship, Belmonte quickly warmed up as the week progressed to book his ticket to the next stage of several tournaments.
- PBA Cheetah Championship – 53rd place – 2,148 over 10 – Average of 214.80
- PBA Scorpion Championship – 16th place – 2,194 over 10 – Average of 219.40
- PBA Shark Championship – 6th place -2,320 over 10 – Average of 232
A total score of 6,662 saw Belmonte finish in 12th place on the PBA World Championship standings and comfortably qualify for the top 30 who would proceed to the first advancer round.
As advancer rounds commenced, Belmonte would make his move. After the first two rounds (12 games), Belmonte would sit in second place and qualify for the round of sixteen.
With two more rounds to go (12 games), Belmonte maintained his hot form and finished on a total of 12,364 pins over the 54 games cementing his place in the stepladder final as the third seed.
With the top 16 from each animal pattern championship advancing to the best of 5, single-elimination match play stages, Belmonte has also qualified for both the PBA Scorpion and Shark Championship match play stages. The match play stages of these events will begin on Wednesday (Scorpion) and Thursday (Shark) next week.
Already the owner of two titles in 2022, Jason will have a chance to add more next week at the PBA World, Scorpion and Shark Championships.
Tenpin Bowling Australia wishes Jason the best of luck for the next stages of the WSOB XIII.
PBA World Championship Final Standings
Remaining Schedule (AEDT)
Monday, March 14
PBA World Championship Stepladder Finals – 4 am AEDT
Tuesday, March 15
Cheetah Round of 16 (best of five) – 2 am AEDT
Cheetah Round of 8 (best of five) – 5 am AEDT
Cheetah Championship Round – 11 am AEDT
Wednesday, March 16
Scorpion Round of 16 (best of five) – 2 am AEDT
Scorpion Round of 8 (best of five) – 5 am AEDT
Scorpion Championship Round – 11 am AEDT
Thursday, March 17
Shark Round of 16 (best of five) – 1 am AEDT
Shark Round of 8 (best of five) – 4 am AEDT
Shark Championship Round – 11 am AEDT
Monday, March 21
WSOB PBA Collegiate Invitational – 5.30 am AEDT
As always, head to PBA.com for all the latest news and FloBowling to stream all the action if you are a subscriber.
Credit to the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) for the image used in this article.
