PWBA Tour Championship

Despite having a rough tournament at the U.S. Women’s Open, I did manage to qualify as the No. 12 seed for the Top 16 finals of the Smithfield Foods PWBA Tour Championship.

Prior to the tournament, I was able to go home for a few days after 6 ½ very long weeks out on tour. While home, I got in some much needed rest, relaxation, beach time and of course a lot of practice.

Then it was off to the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas for the culmination of the PWBA Tour. 

Luckily, at this event, my husband Drew was able to come and cheer me on. After an early morning and rushing around all day, we arrived and had our official practice session, followed by a reception and pro-am. 

The pattern for the PWBA Tour Championships was a 37’ pretty flat pattern. 

This event had a unique format in that the top 16 finalists were seeded into a bracket. The top 2 point leaders – Stefanie Johnson and Liz Johnson  were automatically seeded onto the televised finals. The No. 3 seed Kelly Kulick and No. 4 seed Diana Zavjalova both received a one round bye.

Each match was a Best of 5 single elimination format, meaning that the first bowler to win 3 games would advance to the next match and the loser would be eliminated from the tournament. 

Top 16 Finalists for the PWBA Tour Championship

I faced Shannon O’Keefe in the first round of matches. We bowled on lanes 5-6 which proved to be a tough pair. In the opening game, we both started out strong each throwing a turkey. Things quickly changed as Shannon had the front 7 strikes. I, being too far back and since total pins didn’t matter, decided to switch from my Track Paradox to try some other options for game 2. She easily won the first game 179 to 258.

Then in game 2, I switched to my New Columbia 300 Swerve and started out again with a turkey and had the lead until I left a very unfortunate pocket 6,7 which quickly changed the match. I had some carry issues and Shannon started stringing strikes and I ended up losing game two - 201 to 218.

In a do or die situation, I started out the next match throwing a great shot for a 2, 8, 10 and then chopping the 3, 6, 10. With what little ball reaction I had quickly diminishing, I changed back to my Paradox on the left lane and stayed with my Swerve on the right lane to try and pull the game out for a win. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as I strung strikes from the 8^th frame to the 1^st shot in the 10^th, but couldn’t get the 2^nd strike in the 10^th to put some pressure on Shannon. She won game three - 191 to 211 to quickly knock me out of the tournament.

Congratulations to Danielle McEwan for qualifying as the No. 5 seed, winning all of her matches and running the stepladder finals to win her first PWBA Tour Title!