ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Throughout his career, Jason Belmonte has always been known as a bowler who excels at major events. He’s starting to take that reputation to the next level.

For the third consecutive major this season, Belmonte has earned the top seed and will bowl for the title at the 2019 PBA World Championship. He won the PBA Tournament of Champions and finished second at the PBA Players Championship last month.

Belmonte ended match play with a total of 12,952 and an 8-8 record to lead the field by more than 320 pins at Thunderbowl Lanes. The stepladder finals will take place Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern live on FS1 for U.S. audiences and on FloBowling for international audiences.

Results: WSOB World Championship Match Play Round 2

In his career, Belmonte has won more major titles than he has won non-major titles. He is tied for the most majors all-time with 10 and holds nine regular event titles. He’ll look to add to those numbers next week as the 2019 World Series of Bowling continues.

“It feels really, really good,” Belmonte said of his string of top seeds at majors. “I’m certainly not expecting it or assuming it’s going to happen all the time, but while it is happening, I will thoroughly enjoy the ride.”

Lefthander Matt McNiel earned the No. 2 seed for the finals with 12,630 and a 12-4 match-play record. McNiel used a 300 game in the final round of match play to boost himself into the top five, where he remained from that point forward.

Bill O’Neill, who won the first event of the PBA Tour season, qualified in the third position with a 10-6 record and 12,603 total. Lefty Jakob Butturff earned the No. 4 seed with 12,597 after posting a 12-4 record, and BJ Moore is the fifth seed with a 7-9 record and 12,518 total.

The World Series of Bowling continues at Noon on Monday with the match play rounds of the PBA Cheetah Championship live on FloBowling.