ROCHESTER, N.Y. – With friends and family watching far and near, Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, claimed her fifth career Professional Women’s Bowling Association title after winning the PWBA Rochester Open at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester, New York.
Johnson qualified as the No. 2 seed after match play ended Thursday afternoon, defeating New Hui Fen of Singapore and top seed Bailey Delrose of Crest Hill, Illinois, to win her first title since the 2022 PWBA Rockford Open.
“It’s just pretty special,” said Johnson. “I’m probably closer to the end of my career than the beginning so you just never really know if you’re going to get any more wins. I’m blessed to be able to be out here doing what I love to do.”
The 41-year-old Johnson showed no signs of slowing down the past two days, averaging over 229 for her 24 games of qualifying and match play before heading into the stepladder finals.
In the semifinal match against New, Johnson opened twice in the first five frames, missing the 3-6-10 both times, but New was unable to capitalize as she opened herself in the third frame. After the fifth frame, Johnson went on to strike three times over the next four frames as New struggled to carry and fought transition on the lanes.
Johnson needed to strike the first two shots in the final frame and achieved just that, earning a 203 win to New’s 196 to advance to the title match, denying the Singaporean a chance at her fourth title of the season and handing New her first loss in the stepladder finals this season after previously going 9-0. New earned $4,000 for third place and stays in the Player of the Race lead ahead of Jordan Snodgrass.
Waiting for Johnson was the left-handed Delrose, making her first career stepladder appearance in her sophomore year on tour after winning 10 matches today and averaging 231 for her 24 games.
Delrose and Johnson began the title match on fire, each striking four times in the first five frames before Delrose opened after a 3-7 split in the sixth. Johnson went spare, double to start pulling away, but an open in the ninth put a little life back into Delrose who would have to strike out to have a chance.
A 3-7-9 split for Delrose nearly derailed her chances but she converted it to still give herself a shot, yet back-to-back 7 pins put the nail in the coffin for her and ended with 204 while Johnson struck out for 230. Delrose earned $5,000 for her runner-up finish while Johnson took home $10,000, the title and an automatic spot in the Tour Championship after starting the week on the outside looking in.
Johnson dedicated the win to fellow PWBA bowler and close friend, Clara Guerrero, who had to withdraw this week due to personal reasons.
“She’s got a lot going on at home and she had to withdrawal, but I told her this morning that I’m going to win for her and Freddy, her father-in-law,” said Johnson. “I felt it in my heart and I used that momentum throughout the whole day.”
The stepladder finals began with Singapore’s Cherie Tan and Julia Bond of Aurora, Illinois, where Bond used a string of six strikes in the middle of the game to come out on top against Tan, 233-214 Tan earned $3,000 for fifth place.
Bond faced New in the second match that was a back-and-forth affair and came down to the final frame as New needed a mark to advance and struck, ending with 224 to Bond’s 213. Bond earned $3,500 for fourth place.
Tour Championship Week continues Friday with two six-game qualifying blocks for the PWBA Pepsi Open at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern, and the top 16 will advance to the single-elimination bracket on Saturday where matches will be best-of-five leading up the semifinals and finals before becoming one-game matches.
The field goes down to just 24 on Sunday for the PWBA Tour Championship, as competitors bowl three eight-game blocks of round-robin match play throughout Sunday and Monday to compete for the major title Tuesday night on CBS Sports Network.
