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16-Player Filed Finalized for 2017
Smithfield PWBA Tour
Championship
By Emil Williams Jr.
ARLINGTON, Texas – The final major of the
season is up for grabs as 16 of the top players on
the Professional Women’s Bowling Association
Tour will vie for the season-ending Smithfield
PWBA Tour Championship title, Sept. 3-6 at
Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
The PWBA Tour Championship brings together
all eligible champions from 2017, with the remain-
der of the field filled through the season points
list.
The 16-player field and bracket matchups be-
came official Tuesday following the television
broadcast of the Nationwide PWBA Rochester
Open on CBS Sports Network.
Players will compete in a single-elimination, best
-of-five match-play bracket to determine the two
additional competitors who will advance to the
live finals, which will be broadcast on CBS Sports
Network on Wed., Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. EST.
Reigning PWBA Player of the Year Liz Johnson
of Deerfield, Illinois, and Kelly Kulick of Union,
New Jersey, automatically earned spots on the
TV show as the top two players on the 2017
PWBA Tour points list. As the season points
leader, Johnson is the top seed.
Johnson was dominant this season – her 139,150
points are more than 50,000 points ahead of sec-
ond place – resulting in her already earning
PWBA Player of the Year honors, which is deter-
mined by season points. She is the first player in
PWBA history to win award in three consecutive
seasons.
The 43-year-old right-hander had the best year of
her professional career in 2017, winning the
PWBA Storm Sacramento Open, Go Bowling
PWBA Players Championship and her fourth con-
secutive U.S. Women’s Open title.
She joins Wendy Macpherson (four) and Lisa
Wagner (three) as the only players who’ve won
the honor three or more times.
“That is absolutely amazing to me,” said Johnson,
who has won eight titles since the relaunch of the
PWBA Tour. “I grew up a bowler and with a
dream to bowl on the women’s professional tour.
I grew up watching the ladies bowl. I grew up
watching Leanne (Hulsenberg), who I bowl
against. I watched Robin Romeo and all those
ladies, hoping I could grow up one day and do
what they do. To be in this position, especially
doing this for more than 20 years and at the ripe
age of 43, to be player of the year, is hard to put
into words. But, it’s amazing. It’s an amazing feel-
ing.”
And while 2017 already has been a season to
remember, winning the Tour Championship
would add a new title to Johnson’s resume.
“I’ve been fortunate to go right to the TV show
the last couple times, but I didn’t do so well,”
Johnson said. “To really finish off 2017 with the
Tour Championship would be a big deal for me.
But, I’ve had an amazing 2017 – two major wins,
one runner-up in a major and one more title. If it
happens, it happens. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant
to be. But, I’m not going to be at the Tour Cham-
pionship just to show up and have fun. I’m going
to have fun, but I want to win. That’s going to be
my goal in Richmond.”
Kulick broke through earlier this season with a
win at the PWBA Fountain Valley Open, her first
victory in 11 championship-round appearances
since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour in 2015.
Kulick added a runner-up finish at the Go Bowl-
ing PWBA Players Championship and was third
at the Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open, which helped
her finish second on the points list (86,000). She
will be the No. 2 seed and compete in the second
semifinal.
Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, who won her second
United States Bowling Congress Queens title this
season and finished second at the PWBA Storm
Sacramento Open, is the No. 3 seed and earned
a first-round bye at the PWBA Tour Champion-
ship. Zavjalova will face the winner of Monday’s
match between No. 10 seed Daria Pajak and
11th seeded Verity Crawley.
Also earning a first-round bye is 2015 Smithfield
PWBA Tour Championship winner Danielle McE-
wan of Stony Point, NY. She won the Nationwide
PWBA Rochester Open, the final standard event
of the 2017 season, for her first win of 2017, was
3rd at the PWBA Orlando Open and had 4th
place finishes at the PWBA Storm Sacramento
Open and PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater.
She will face the winner of Monday’s opening
match between No. 9 Maria Jose Rodriguez and
No. 12 Missy Parkin.
Monday’s other first-round matches, with how
they qualified in parenthesis: No. 5 Shannon
O’Keefe (PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open
winner) vs. No. 16 Birgit Poppler (PBA/PWBA
Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles
winner); No. 7 Rocio Restrepo (QubicaAMF
PWBA Sonoma County Open winner) vs. No. 14
Sin Li Jane (Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open cham-
pion); No. 6 Shannon Pluhowsky (points) vs. No.
15 Stefanie Johnson (PWBA Orlando Open win-
ner); No. 8 Clara Guerrero (points) vs. No. 13 Siti
Rahman (PWBA Wichita Open winner).
Monday’s Pajak-Crawley match is a matchup of
former Webber International teammates and
PWBA Tour roommates. The match also could
determine the winner of the PWBA Rookie of the
Year award. Pajak, who won the 2017 PWBA
Greater Detroit Open, has 59,890 points and
holds a small advantage over Crawley (53,462.5).
If Pajak wins the match, she will claim the 2017
honor.
Crawley, who finished second at the PWBA
Fountain Valley Open and the PWBA Greater
Detroit Open, would need to reach the TV finals
to win the award.
The PWBA Player of the Year and Rookie of the
Year awards are determined by competition
points.
