The Race for Major: 2025 PBA Players Championship Finals Set for This Weekend

Preliminary Round Finalists | Picture credit: Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)

The 2025 PBA Players Championship is down to its final nine contenders. After 48 games of intense bowling at JAX 60 in Jackson, Michigan, the stepladder finals are set to decide who takes home the fourth major of the season.

Fiore Leads the Way

Ethan Fiore, just 20 years old, has claimed the top seed for Sunday’s championship finals. Fiore was a force all week, never dropping lower than second place. With big closing games of 265, 276, and 279 in the final block, Fiore secured his spot in the title match. He now has just one more win standing between him and his first PBA Tour title.

Championship Round Set

Joining Fiore in the top four are Ryan Barnes, who earned the second seed and returns to the Players Championship finals for the second straight year. Alec Keplinger, seeded third, also impressed, delivering under pressure with the support of a local crowd—his hometown of Coldwater is just 40 minutes away from the venue. Rounding out the top four is Tim Foy Jr., who has now made his sixth championship round of the season and is hungry for his first title.

All four finalists are chasing their first career PBA Tour title — but they’ll first have to watch what happens in the preliminary stepladder, which is stacked with PBA Tour title winners.

Belmonte Leads Star-Studded Preliminary Round

Saturday night’s prelims feature some of the biggest names in bowling. Jason Belmonte, the most decorated player in PBA Players Championship history with three titles, enters as the No. 5 seed. He’ll await the winner of the earlier matches, which include Jason Sterner, who secured the sixth seed after firing a perfect 300 in match play; Anthony Simonsen, the 2019 champion and a constant threat in stepladder formats, holding the seventh seed; Nick Pate, who delivered a clutch performance in the position round to climb into eighth place; and Kevin McCune, the ninth seed and 2023 Players Championship winner.

The winner of Saturday’s stepladder will earn the final spot in Sunday’s championship show.

Full Schedule – 2025 PBA Players Championship

All times Eastern

Saturday, April 12 – FS1

• 7:00 p.m. – Prelims Stepladder Finals (5th–9th seeds)

Sunday, April 13 – FOX

• 12:00 p.m. – Championship Stepladder Finals (Top 4 seeds + prelims winner)

Stay tuned to BowlingLife.eu for daily updates, highlights, and reactions as the action unfolds in Jackson! Live action will be livestreamed on BowlTV.com.