By DONOVAN GRUBAUGH
PWBA Communications
INDIANAPOLIS – After 56 games of competition and four different oil patterns, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open is down to its final five competitors for Tuesday’s live TV finals on CBS Sports Network.
Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane qualified 11th heading into match play but after winning 16 matches, finds herself as the No. 1 seed in the stepladder and only one game away from her first major title and third Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour title of the 2024 season. A major win puts her in the drivers seat for the 2024 PWBA Player of the Year race.
The No. 2 seed in Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova is making her third U.S. Women’s Open telecast in four years after finishing fourth in 2023 and fifth in 2021. Zavjalova is seeking her third major title to add to her trophy case, who won the 2013 and 2017 editions of the United States Bowling Congress Queens.
Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, is the No. 3 seed and looking for her second major title overall. Johnson, like Sin, started match play outside the top five in 12th, but won 13 matches and averaged over 218 the final round of match play to make the jump into the show.
“I feel like I bowl my best when my back is against the wall,” said Johnson, who was nearly 150 pins out of the show at the start of Monday’s second round of match play. “I just tried to keep it simple, never got too super excited or too low. I could look back at the wins I gave away or I could look back at the games I struck to win, it all evens itself out.”
The stepladder starts with No. 4 Verity Crawley of England and No. 5 Breanna Clemmer of Clover, S.C. Crawley had enough big games to get into the stepladder despite her 9-14-1 record and is poised to make a run similar to what she did at the first PWBA Tour stop at the PWBA GoBowling! Twin Cities Open, where she climbed the ladder to the title match.
Clemmer won 15 matches to narrowly make it in the show, edging out USBC Hall of Famer Kelly Kulick by eight pins for her first major telecast appearance. For Clemmer, this week has been a major grind for her as she missed the first three stops of the 2024 PWBA Tour season with a stress fracture in her foot. Now, she’s in position to make her own run for her first major title and second PWBA Tour title.
Stow’s Jillian Martin finished 25th after making match play with a 5-5-2 record.
Crawley and Clemmer will start the stepladder at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The winner will take home the coveted green jacket, the iconic eagle trophy and the $60,000 top prize.
All rounds of qualifying and match play were streamed live on BowlTV.