July 2017 -
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TOURNAMENTS
Malaysia‟s Sin Wins 2017 Pepsi
PWBA Lincoln Open
By
Matt Cannizzaro
GREEN BAY, Wis. -
Malaysia's Sin Li Jane was the top
seed for the stepladder finals at two consecutive Profes-
sional Women's Bowling Association tournaments, and the
experiences couldn't have been more different.
After a disappointing loss to her own teammate in her first
opportunity, the resilient right-hander confidently returned to
the CBS Sports Network television set at The Ashwaubenon
Bowling Alley and opened the title match of the 2017 Pepsi
PWBA Lincoln Open with five consecutive strikes.
Sin, 25, cruised to a 222-186 victory over amateur Tha-
shaina Seraus of Aruba in the final of the PWBA Lincoln
Open and joins her teammate, Siti Rahman, in the record
book as the second Malaysian player to claim a PWBA Tour
title.
The win earned Sin $10,000 and a spot in the season-
ending Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship in Richmond,
Virginia, a 16-player invitation-only event that will include the
winners and top point-earners from the 2017 PWBA Tour
season.
"After I lost in the Wichita event, I knew I had one more
chance, and we started joking that since (Siti) was going to
the Tour Championship, she'd probably need a roommate,"
said Sin, who opened in the first three frames of the PWBA
Wichita Open title match against Rahman and fell 221-170.
"The loss didn't get me down, it made me come back even
stronger. I looked forward to the second chance. I just had
to remember it was a different event and different lane con-
dition."
Sin was dominant on her way to the No. 1 seed at the
PWBA Wichita Open but edged Seraus by just 32 pins to
claim the top spot for the championship round in Lincoln a
week later.
Overall, the six-player Malaysian contingent, supported by
their country's National Sports Council, had a successful
four-event stint on the PWBA Tour this year, tallying four TV
appearances and two titles.
They competed in the Wichita, Lincoln and Detroit events
and finished the trip with all six players cashing at the 2017
Go Bowling PWBA Players Championship.
They'll now spend time at home preparing for the 2017
Southeast Asian Games, which will be held in Kuala Lum-
pur, Malaysia, in August.
"Winning here was a dream come true for me as some-
thing I've thought about since I was very young," Sin said. "I
heard a lot about the PWBA Tour, especially when Shalin
(Zulkifli) came to bowl, so it was something I hoped to do,
too. I was disappointed when I heard the Tour went away
(2003) but very excited when it came back (2015). It feels
great to be a PWBA champion."
The 2017 PWBA Lincoln Open was just the second event
for Seraus, a top collegiate competitor and recent graduate
of Maryland Eastern Shore.
The 26-year-old right-hander performed like a veteran in
her PWBA television debut, topping PWBA spokesperson
Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey, 222-142, to set up the
meeting with Sin.
Seraus struck three times in the first five frames to build a
25-pin lead, and Kulick opened four times in the second half
of the game to end her run at her second title in 2017. Kulick
won the recent PWBA Fountain Valley Open for her first
victory since the relaunch of the Tour in 2015.
The opening game of the PWBA Lincoln Open stepladder
featured a rematch of the title tilt at the 2017 Go Bowling
PWBA Players Championship and allowed Kulick to earn
some redemption against two-time reigning PWBA Player of
the Year Liz Johnson of Deerfield, Illinois.
In this showdown, Kulick, 40, built an 11-pin lead after five
frames and cruised to a 207-159 victory, as Johnson, a 43-
year-old United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer,
opened in her last three frames.
Johnson has had a successful 2017 campaign as she
looks for her third consecutive player-of-the-year honor. The
PWBA Lincoln Open marked her fifth consecutive champi-
onship round appearance.
During that stretch, Johnson collected wins at the PWBA
Storm Sacramento Open and Players Championship, and a
runner-up finish at the USBC Queens.
All qualifying and match-play rounds of the Pepsi PWBA
Lincoln Open were held at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Ne-
braska, on June 9-10.
The stepladder was held June 25 at The Ashwaubenon
Bowling Alley in conjunction with the live championship
round of the 2017 Go Bowling PWBA Players Champion-
ship, the second major of the 2017 PWBA Tour season, and
the finals of the PWBA Wichita Open and PWBA Greater
Detroit Open.
Johnson topped Kulick to win the PWBA Players Champi-
onship for her ninth major title, while Rahman was victorious
at the Wichita Open to become the first player from Malaysia
to win a PWBA Tour title.
2017 PEPSI PWBA LINCOLN OPEN
At The Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley, Green Bay, Wis.
Final standings
1, Sin Li Jane, Malaysia, 222 (one game), $10,000
2, Thashaina Seraus (a), Aruba, 408 (two games), $5,000
3, Kelly Kulick, Union, N.J., 349 (two games), $3,500
4, Liz Johnson, Deerfield, Ill., 159 (one game), $3,000
Stepladder results
Match One -
Kulick def. Johnson, 207-159
Semifinal -
Seraus def. Kulick, 222-142
Championship -
Sin def. Seraus, 222-186
