March 14, 2025 Nolan Hughes

EJ Tackett and Jason Belmonte continue to battle for control of the PBA World Championship, the major title event set to conclude the PBA World Series of Bowling (WSOB) XVI.

The two titans, who have won six of the last eight PBA World Championship titles, have sat in first and second place, in varying order, since the fourth round of qualifying at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.

The two-time defending champion Tackett entered Friday’s Advancer Round 2 — which included the top 50 players based on their qualifying pinfalls across the PBA Scorpion, Viper, Chameleon and Shark Championships — with a 112-pin advantage over Belmonte.

Then Belmonte started the eight-game round with games of 289 and 278, cutting into Tackett’s lead by… 20 pins.

“It was something for me to set the tone for the day,” Belmonte said. “(But) EJ had the front-nine in the first game, too. When I’m trying to find a way to catch him, you can’t have him throw more strikes than you. I definitely got off to a lightning start, then made every spare I could. Today’s job was to try and catch a few more pins on EJ and separate myself a few more pins from third place, and I did that.”

Ultimately, Tackett leads the field with a total pinfall of 15,139 (+2,339). Belmonte (+2,274) ranks second through 64 games.

Tim Foy Jr., BJ Moore and Boog Krol round out the top five of the major championship.

Darren Ong, Matt Ogle, Jesper Svensson, Mitch Hupé, Chris Via, Thomas Larsen, Andrew Anderson, Kyle Troup, Lanndyn Carnate, Ethan Fiore and Zach Wilkins each qualified for the next round of the PBA World Championship.

Fiore qualified for his first championship round appearance in the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic presented by Pilgrim’s finals in February, just before the WSOB. The finals will take place Saturday, March 15 at 3 p.m. Pacific/local (6 p.m. Eastern) time at the National Bowling Stadium.

“The first couple events of the WSOB, my confidence was working at an all-time high,” Fiore said. “My scores did not reflect that, so I kind of dropped the ego and went back to what I did when I was at Coconut Bowl. I stuck to the basics and put up scores to make this cut.”

Round-robin match play for the major championship will take place Thursday, March 20. The top five players will then advance to the championship round on Saturday, May 22 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

Elimination match play and championship rounds for the animal pattern championships will take place March 16-19.

All rounds of PBA WSOB XVI qualifying and match play will be livestreamed on BowlTV.

Advancer Round 2 Leaders | PBA World Championship
  1. EJ Tackett, 15,139 (+2,339)
  2. Jason Belmonte, 15,074 (+2,274)
  3. Tim Foy Jr., 14,818 (+2,018)
  4. BJ Moore, 14,697 (+1,897)
  5. Boog Krol, 14,643 (+1,843)
  6. Darren Ong, 14,642 (+1,842)
  7. Matt Ogle, 14,630 (+1,830)
  8. Jesper Svensson, 14,622 (+1,822)
  9. Mitch Hupé, 14,618 (+1,818)
  10. Chris Via, 14,609 (+1,809)
  11. Thomas Larsen, 14,607 (+1,807)
  12. Andrew Anderson, 14,564 (+1,764)
  13. Kyle Troup, 14,533 (+1,733)
  14. Lanndyn Carnate, 14,491 (+1,691)
  15. Ethan Fiore, 14,447 (+1,647)
  16. Zach Wilkins, 14,445 (+1,645)

Full standings are available here.

Tournament Schedule

National Bowling Stadium | Reno, NV

All times Pacific/local

Friday, March 14
3 p.m. — PBA Jr. National Championships - Meet and Greet
4 p.m. — PBA Jr. National Championships - Practice
6 p.m. — PBA Jr. National Championships - Match Play

Saturday, March 15
9 a.m. — PBA Jr. National Championships - Match Play
12:30 p.m. — PBA Jr. National Championships - Stepladder Finals (MIXED, U18 Boys and U18 Girls)
3 p.m. on FS1 — PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic pres. by Pilgrim’s - Finals
7 p.m. — PBA Jr. National Championship - Finals taping
Free Tickets

Sunday, March 16
9 a.m. — PBA Scorpion Championship - Match Play Round of 16 (best-of-five games)
11:30 a.m. — PBA Scorpion Championship - Match Play Round of 8 (best-of-five games)

Four winners and highest-seeded loser in Round of 8 advance to PBA Scorpion Championship Finals

5 p.m. on FS1 — PBA Scorpion Championship - Finals
Free Tickets

Monday, March 17
9 a.m. — PBA Viper Championship - Match Play Round of 16 (best-of-five games)
11:30 a.m. — PBA Viper Championship - Match Play Round of 8 (best-of-five games)

Four winners and highest-seeded loser in Round of 8 advance to PBA Viper Championship Finals

4 p.m. on FS1 — PBA Viper Championship - Finals
Free Tickets

Tuesday, March 18
9 a.m. — PBA Chameleon Championship - Match Play Round of 16 (best-of-five games)
11:30 a.m. — PBA Chameleon Championship - Match Play Round of 8 (best-of-five games)

Four winners and highest-seeded loser in Round of 8 advance to PBA Chameleon Championship stepladder finals

4 p.m. on FS1 — PBA Chameleon Championship - Finals
Free Tickets

Wednesday, March 19
9 a.m. — PBA Shark Championship - Match Play Round of 16 (best-of-five games)
11:30 a.m. — PBA Shark Championship - Match Play Round of 8 (best-of-five games)

Four winners and highest-seeded loser in Round of 8 advance to PBA Shark Championship stepladder finals

4 p.m. on FS1 — PBA Shark Championship - Finals
Free Tickets

Thursday, March 20
10 a.m. — PBA World Championship - Round-Robin Match Play Round 1 (eight games)
5 p.m. — PBA World Championship - Round-Robin Match Play Round 2 (eight games)

Top five players advance to PBA World Championship stepladder finals

Saturday, March 22
12 p.m. on FOX — PBA World Championship Finals
Free Tickets

More information on the PBA World Series of Bowling XVI is available here.