By DONOVAN GRUBAUGH
PWBA Communications
PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio – The 2026 Professional Women’s Bowling Association National Tour season will close out the year at Yorktown Lanes with its final three events beginning Aug. 11 during PWBA Tour Championship Week.
Yorktown Lanes is no stranger to PWBA competition, having hosted the National Tour on four previous occasions (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025). The 40-lane center will host its first major championship in 2026, however, with the season-ending Tour Championship from Aug. 16 through 18, where the winner will earn a major title and $30,000.
Titles aren’t the only thing up for grabs in Cleveland as PWBA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors will be determined during the week as well.
The Rookie of the Year race is nearly settled as South Korea’s Seo Yeon Ryu, the first South Korean to bowl on the PWBA Tour, is over 17,000 points ahead of her nearest competitor thanks to three top-12 finishes this season and a championship-round appearance during the PWBA Barbara Chrisman Classic in Columbus. Ryu also is in position to be the only rookie in the Tour Championship field.
The points race for PWBA Player of the Year honors remains close with the top four players – Singapore’s New Hui Fen (73,400 points), Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane (71,000), Jordan Snodgrass of Adrian, Mich. (65,550), and Dayton’s Shannon Pluhowsky (62,345) – still in the hunt. New, Sin and Snodgrass are all looking to add a second Player of the Year honor to their résumés while Pluhowsky seeks her first POY award. A second win of the season by any one of them could be enough to pull away for the distinction by the end of the week.
All four Player of the Year contenders have enjoyed success either at Yorktown Lanes or in the PWBA Tour Championship.
New captured her first major title at the 2016 Tour Championship, a victory that also earned her PWBA Rookie of the Year honors. She went on to add two titles at Yorktown during the 2025 PWBA Summer Series on her way to Player of the Year honors.
Pluhowsky is the defending Tour Championship champion and also won the event in 2021. Sin claimed the 2024 Tour Championship to cap a season that included four titles, two majors and Player of the Year honors.
Snodgrass also has enjoyed success at Yorktown, winning there in 2023 and setting the PWBA 12-game qualifying record (since 2015) during the 2025 PWBA Rock ‘n’ Roll Open with a pinfall of 3,018 (a 251.5 average).
Before the Tour Championship, two standard events will be held: the PWBA Cleveland Open and PWBA Pepsi Open. The week begins Aug. 11 with the official practice session for the Cleveland Open and Pepsi Open at noon before the Bowl with the Pros at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Competition starts the following day for the Cleveland Open with two six-game qualifying blocks at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The top 12 after qualifying return Thursday for two six-game rounds of round-robin match play at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. After match play, the top five based on total pinfall plus bonus pins advance to the stepladder finals at 6:30 p.m. to determine the first champion of the week.
The Pepsi Open starts Friday and will follow a format similar to the Cleveland Open with two qualifying rounds at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. After qualifying, the top 16 competitors will be seeded into a single-elimination bracket on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. The bracket will be used for the remainder of the event, with matches being contested in a best-of-five format during the first two rounds and one-game matches beginning with the final four competitors at 6:30 p.m.
After the conclusion of the Pepsi Open, just 24 players will remain in contention for the season’s final major title as the 2026 Tour Championship field will be made up of winners from this season and those with the highest season point totals after the Pepsi Open. Those 24 competitors will bowl three eight-game match-play blocks Aug. 16 and 17, with the top five advancing to the stepladder finals at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18 to close out the season.
All three events will be streamed live from start to finish on BowlTV, with the stepladder finals for the Tour Championship being simulcast on Bowling TV, the 24-hour channel dedicated entirely to bowling, which can be found on Prime Video, LG Channels, Xumo Play, DISH TV, Bonusview, Sling Freestream, Plex, Free Live Sports and Bowling TV’s Roku app.
Here are the schedules and ticket prices for PWBA Tour Championship Week:
2026 PWBA CLEVELAND OPEN
(All times local for Parma Heights, Ohio, and subject to change)
Tuesday, Aug. 11
12 p.m.: Official practice session (120 minutes – first two events)
6 p.m.: Bowl with the Pros
Wednesday, Aug 12
10 a.m.: Qualifying – Round 1 – six games (fresh)
5 p.m.: Qualifying – Round 2 – six games (burn)
Cut to top 12 competitors for round-robin match play
Thursday, Aug 13
9 a.m.: Match Play – Rd. 1 – six games (fresh)
2 p.m.: Match Play – Rd 2 – six games (burn)
Cut to top five competitors for Stepladder Finals
6:30 p.m.: BowlTV Stepladder Finals
2026 PWBA PEPSI OPEN
Friday, Aug 14
10 a.m.: Qualifying – Round 1 (six games)
5 p.m.: Qualifying – Round 2 (six games)
Cut to top 16 competitors for bracket match play
Saturday, Aug 15
10 a.m.: Bracket Match Play Rd of 16 (best of 5)
2 p.m.: Bracket Match Play Rd of 8 (best of 5)
Remaining competitors will advance to Championship Round
6:30 p.m.: BowlTV Championship Finals
2026 PWBA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, Aug. 16
9 a.m.: Official Practice session (60 minutes)
5 p.m.: Match Play – Rd. 1 (eight games)
Monday, Aug. 17
10 a.m.: Match Play – Rd. 2 (eight games)
5 p.m.: Match Play – Rd. 3 (eight games)
Cut to top five competitors for Stepladder Finals
Tuesday, Aug. 18
6:30 p.m.: BowlTV/Bowling TV Stepladder Finals
TICKET PRICES: Ticket prices range from $20 for qualifying per day during the week, $25 for match play and stepladder finals and $100 for an all-week pass. All prices do not include fees if ordered on line. For ticket information, go to: http://yorktownlanes.com/ or https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-pwba-tour-championship-week-tickets-1995986911583
Here is the roster for the opening event of Tour Championship Week: