Crawley goes undefeated to start match play at PWBA Tour Championship
Round 1 Results
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Since the Professional Women’s Bowling Association went to the 24-game match-play format for the Tour Championship in 2021, no player has started the event 8-0 in matches.
That changed today as England’s Verity Crawley averaged over 244 for her eight-game block at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester, New York, conquering the 38-foot oil condition for the day. Her 1,957 total before bonus pins is the fifth-highest eight-game match-play total since the relaunch in 2015, ending the day with a grand total of 2,197.
Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, is second with 2,066 and Lauren Russo of O’Fallon, Missouri is third with 1,992. Singapore’s New Hui Fen and Josie Barnes of Hermitage, Tennessee, are tied for fourth with 1,973.
Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova (1,957); Julia Bond of Aurora, Illinois (1,941); Jordan Snodgrass of Adrian, Michigan (1,926); Lindsay Boomershine of Brigham City, Utah (1,926); and Malaysia’s Natasha Roslan (1,914) occupy positions six through 10 heading into the second round of match play tomorrow morning.
For Crawley, her high scores today weren’t really expected.
“I knew that they were going to hook a lot, but we never know what the scores are going to be like,” Crawley said. “The pattern on paper should be higher scoring, you just never know how it’s actually going to play.”
Upon hearing the news that she was the first person to start the Tour Championship 8-0, she instantly lit up.
“That’s very cool, it hasn’t really hit me yet,” she said. “I feel like I was so in the flow to where you’re truly just bowling game after game. It’s very cool and I’m very happy, but there’s still a lot of bowling left.”
She’ll have to maintain her level of focus tomorrow for 16 more games, especially with the scoring pace being as high as it is.
“I think the focus is easy, I follow my routine and do what I always do,” said Crawley. “I’m not going to try and do the exact same thing that I did today, just going to walk in the building and do what the lanes are telling me to do.”
Crawley and the rest of the field return Monday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern for their second round of match play before concluding at 5 p.m. Eastern. The top five after match play advance to the stepladder finals Tuesday night, broadcast live on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. Eastern. Both match-play rounds will be livestreamed only on BowlTV.
