10
- July 2017
NEW ARCADE
Kulick Wins PWBA Fountain Valley Open
Emil Williams Jr.
BATON ROUGE, La
. – Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., captured her first Professional
Women’s Bowling Association title since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour by winning
the 2017 PWBA Fountain Valley Open.
Kulick, a six-time major champion and the event’s top seed, defeated rookie of the
year candidate Verity Crawley of England, 224-218, in the title match. The steplad-
der finals aired nationally on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday.
The moment was almost more of the same for Kulick as she traded strings of
strikes with Crawley late in the championship match, and had a chance to shut out
Crawley in the final frame. But Kulick spared in the 10th, followed with a strike on
the final offering, to leave Crawley with the opportunity to win her first career title.
Needing a double in the 10th frame to secure a victory, Crawley left a 3-6-10 on the
first shot to give Kulick her first title in 11 championship-round appearances of
PWBA events since 2015.
Amidst personal and physical trials during the last two seasons, Kulick still was
able to put herself in position for a title but had been unable to find the winner’s cir-
cle. She battled an ankle injury during the second half of last season, and endured
the death of her mother, too.
Words simply couldn’t describe the feeling for Kulick after climbing a mountain to
what was such an elusive victory.
“I’m speechless,” Kulick said. “Words can’t describe it because she (Crawley) had
a chance to shut me out and I caught some really good breaks. It’s not a hump I got
over, it was a mountain. I give myself credit for making so many shows and being
one of the consistent players out here on tour. Everyone looks at wins, and even
though I didn’t win, I still considered myself a winner because I know what it takes to
win.
“I grinded out today, didn’t make quality shots but I left makeable spares. It was a
win for myself and it was a win for my family because of the emotional things we’ve
been going through and having to deal with life itself. So, it was a win for the Kulick
family today.”
Crawley, the No. 2 seed, advanced to the title match when she struck seven con-
secutive times en route to defeating No. 3 seed and reigning back-to-back PWBA
Player of the Year Liz Johnson of Deerfield, Illinois, 241-211. Johnson was looking
for consecutive titles after winning the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open last week.
Johnson opened the broadcast by defeating Singapore’s Cherie Tan, 275-258. The
high-scoring affair featured a combined total of 19 strikes.
All qualifying and match-play rounds of the PWBA Fountain Valley Open were held
at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, California, on May 12-13.
The stepladder finals were held May 23 at the Raising Cane's River Center in Ba-
ton Rouge, Louisiana, in conjunction with the USBC Queens and the finals of the
QubicaAMF PWBA Sonoma County Open and PWBA Storm Sacramento Open.
For more information on the PWBA, visit PWBA.com.
PWBA Fountain Valley Open
At Raising Cane‟s River Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Final standings
1, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 224 (one game), $10,000
2, Verity Crawley, England, 459 (two games), $5,000
3, Liz Johnson, Deerfield, Ill., 486 (two games), $3,500
4, Cherie Tan, Singapore, 258 (one
game), $3,000
Stepladder results
Match No. 1 -
Johnson def. Tan, 275-258
Semifinal -
Crawley def. Johnson, 241-211
Championship -
Kulick def. Crawley, 224-218
