LAS VEGAS – After a combined 40 games bowled on four different lane conditions, the field of 40 PBA World Championship cashers was trimmed to 16 during Wednesday’s cashers round at the Storm PBA World Series of Bowling XI at South Point Bowling Plaza. And the leader of the pack heading into match play Thursday is EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Indiana, who raced away to a 246-pin lead during the cashers round.

Tackett, the 2013 PBA World Champion, completed the fourth round of qualifying with a 40-game total of 9,482 pins, averaging 237.05 pins to build a significant lead over Australia’s Jason Belmonte who posted a 9,236 total. Sweden’s Jesper Svensson, who came into the World Series on the heels of back-to-back victories in the Go Bowling Indianapolis Open and Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, was in third place, 14 pins behind Belmonte. 

The top 16 World Championship qualifiers advance to round robin match play on Thursday. After a total of 56 games, including bonus pins earned in match play, the five leading scorers will advance to the PBA World Championship stepladder finals that will air live on FS1 on Wednesday, March 18, at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific.

The multi-event PBA World Series is being contested on 33-foot Cheetah, 39-foot Chameleon, 42-foot Scorpion and 43-foot Earl Anthony lane oiling patterns, forcing the starting field of 120 players from around the world to adapt to a variety of scoring challenges. All players also are working to earn competition points in each event toward qualifying for the upcoming PBA Playoffs and the annual PBA League draft.

FloBowling, the PBA’s official subscription-based online streaming service, is providing exclusive coverage of all WSOB qualifying and match play rounds. For subscription information, visit flobowling.com. Fans also can follow the World Series in real time on pba.com’s Live Scoring feature.

PBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

(A Storm PBA World Series of Bowling XI/2020 Go Bowling PBA Tour Tier 1 event)

South Point Bowling Plaza, Las Vegas, Wednesday

Final Cashers Round Standings (after 40 qualifying games; top 16 advance to round robin match play Thursday)

1, EJ Tackett, Bluffton, Ind., 9,482.
2, Jason Belmonte, Australia, 9,236.
3, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 9,222.
4, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 9,146.
5, Anthony Simonsen, Little Elm, Texas, 9,140.
6, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 9,134.
7, Jakob Butturff, Tempe, Ariz., 9,129.
8, Brad Miller, Lees Summit, Mo., 9,123.
9, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., 9,107.
10, Darren Tang, Las Vegas, 9,106.
11, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 9,087.
12, Kyle Sherman, O'Fallon, Mo., 9,030.
13, Dom Barrett, England, 9,018.
14, BJ Moore, Greensburg, Pa., 9,014.
15, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 9,010.
16, Kris Prather, Plainfield, Ill., 8,966.

Failed to advance:
17, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 8,938, $5,200.
18, Wes Malott, Pflugerville, Texas, 8,927, $5,000.
19, Jake Peters, Henderson, Nev., 8,925, $4,800.
20, AJ Chapman, Manchester, Iowa, 8,911, $4,600.
21, Jason Sterner, Rochester, N.Y., 8,907, $4,400.
22, AJ Johnson, Oswego, Ill., 8,892, $4,200.
23, Carsten Hansen, Denmark, 8,879, $4,100.
24, Richard Teece, England, 8,859, $4,000.
25, Josh Blanchard, Mesa, Ariz., 8,854, $3,750.
26, Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 8,823, $3,650.
27, Tom Smallwood, Saginaw, Mich., 8,811, $3,550.
28, Andrew Anderson, Holly, Mich., 8,801, $3,450.
29, Michael Tang, Johnstown, Ohio, 8,798, $3,350.
30, Nathan Bohr, Austin, Texas, 8,790, $3,250.
31, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 8,766, $3,100.
32, Dick Allen, Lexington, S.C., 8,749, $3,000.
33, Patrick Girard, Canada, 8,745, $2,900.
34, Matt McNiel, Minneapolis, 8,704, $2,800.
35, Rasmus Edvall, Sweden, 8,690, $2,750.
36, Kenneth Ryan, Farmingdale, N.J., 8,626, $2,700.
37, Arturo Quintero, Mexico, 8,617, $2,650.
38, Michael Davidson, Versailles, Ohio, 8,540, $2,600.
39, Ryan Ciminelli, Lancaster, S.C., 8,514, $2,550.
40, Matt Sanders, Evansville, Ind., 8,458, $2,500.

300 Games: Jason Belmonte (2), Richard Teece (2), Bill O’Neill, AJ Johnson.