LAS VEGAS – Jason Belmonte’s astonishing run of making major shows continued Thursday as he earned the top seed for the season’s fourth major at the 2020 PBA World Championship.

Belmonte, the event’s defending champion, posted the best match-play record in the field, going 11-5 to earn the top spot with a 56-game total of 13,546, a 236 average at South Point Bowling Plaza.

Belmonte has now made the show at every major this season, including his win at the U.S. Open. Last season, he made the stepladder in four out of five majors, only missing the USBC Masters show after competing with an injury.

RESULTS: PBA World Championship Match Play Round 2

In 2018, he made two of the four major shows, and in 2017, appeared in three of five stepladders. Over the course of the past four season, Belmonte has made the show at 13 of 18 majors.

Belmonte entered the day in second place, nearly 250 pins behind EJ Tackett. At the end of the day, Belmonte was able to overtake Tackett by just six pins.

Needing a double in the final frame of the night to secure the top seed, Belmonte was up to the task and left Tackett frustrated at the end of the round.

Tackett earned the second seed with a 7-7-2 record and 13,540 total but the thing that stung the most was he out-averaged Belmonte by 1.5 pins per game. It was bonus pins for match wins that made the ultimate difference.

Anthony Simonsen, Francois Lavoie and Chris Via earned the third, fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, and all posted 10-6 records in match play.

Simonsen finished with 13,390, while Lavoie had 13,283. Via was outside the show by 91 pins with two games to go but rallied to get the fifth spot with 13,236.

The stepladder finals will take place Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern live on FS1. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the finals will be held without spectators.