PBA World Championship Finals to Air Live Sunday on FS1; WSOB XI Animal Pattern Finals Postponed by Bill Vint | Friday, March 13, 5:15 PM

LAS VEGAS - The PBA has modified plans for Storm World Series of Bowling XI finals in response to the coronavirus pandemic, enhancing the prize fund for the live PBA World Championship telecast on FS1 Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (10:30 a.m. Pacific), but postponing all additional competition in the three animal pattern championships.

The last-minute changes have been made out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of players, family members and tournament officials. International travel restrictions that may impact a number of World Series competitors also played a role in PBA’s decisions.

The changes include the following:

1) The match play eliminations and finals of the Go Bowling PBA Cheetah Championship, Chameleon Championship and Scorpion Championship will be postponed indefinitely. Details regarding completion of those events will be announced later.

2) The live PBA World Championship finals will include enhanced prize money of $150,000 to the winner, $70,000 for second place, $40,000 for third, $30,000 for fourth and $20,000 for fifth place. The finalists, from first to fifth seeds, respectively, are Jason Belmonte, EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Francois Lavoie and Chris Via. The finals will still be conducted with an audience limited to fellow players, family members and tournament officials.

3) FS1 will air the finals live on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (10:30 a.m. Pacific) instead of next Wednesday, as originally planned.

4) A decision on the PBA’s 2020 competition points race, affecting the field of player who will qualify for the PBA Playoffs, will be announced later.

5) The PBA League Draft, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, also has been postponed and will be conducted at a later date.

The PBA announcement Friday comes on the heels of USBC’s announcement Thursday that the USBC Masters, originally scheduled for March 23-29 in Reno, has been postponed indefinitely.