ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, snuck into the match-play bracket at the 2026 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Rochester Open as the No. 16 seed and parlayed it into her sixth career title at ABC Gates Bowl in Rochester, New York. Johnson defeated Finland’s Peppi Konsteri, 200-183, in the title match.
It’s Johnson’s second straight win at ABC Gates Bowl after winning the 2025 event last August over Singapore’s New Hui Fen.
“It is pretty surreal,” Johnson said. “I think that's the word I've been using a lot. You never really know when you're going to get the next one, or if you will get the next one. To come back to Rochester and have back-to-back wins representing a new brand this year is pretty special.”
Johnson also admitted the victory carries additional meaning at this stage of her career.
“I just always have to remember why I do it,” Johnson said. “I genuinely love the game, so that's what keeps me showing up and finding the joy in it. The winning is just kind of icing on the cake.”
After qualifying as the No. 16 seed, Johnson swept top seed Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida, in the best-of-five games opening round before coming back the next round against Colombia’s Maria Jose Bohr, using all five games to advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals and finals were one-game matches, and Johnson faced Singapore’s Daphne Tan in the first semifinal match. Johnson opened with four consecutive strikes and never looked back as Tan opened twice early in the match. After a spare in the fifth, Johnson returned to striking and cruised to a 257-167 victory.
Johnson had to wait to see who her opponent would be after the other semifinal match between Konsteri and Sweden’s Nora Johansson, a battle between tour roommates this season. It was Konsteri’s first career championship-round appearance while Johansson was making her third championship-round appearance.
The Finnish bowler came out firing with seven strikes in the first eight frames while Johansson struggled early with three splits in the first four frames and only two strikes after eight frames. Konsteri closed out with 243 to bowl for the title while Johansson finished with 157. Johansson and Tan each earned $3,520 for their finishes.
The title match proved to be a lot closer than both semifinal matches, coming down to the final frame. After an opening split, Konsteri fired off four straight strikes while Johnson alternated strikes and spares. Konsteri had yet another split in the sixth frame before three spares in a row, yet stayed close as Johnson continued alternating as the right lane was giving her trouble.
“The right lane kind of had my number today,” Johnson said. “In my practice shots, I didn't really see the picture very clearly. Then I was just trying to out-execute it and leave some makeable spares, which I did.”
Heading into the final frame, Johnson was the first to finish and went strike, 9 pin, spare for a Dutch 200. Konsteri needed to double and count to claim her first professional title, but her ball went high for a 3-6-7-10 split for Johnson to win the title and the $10,000 top prize. Konsteri finished with 183 and earned $5,000 for her runner-up finish.
“At the end of the day, I ended on the left lane, which seemed to be my better lane anyway, and we got the win,” Johnson said.
Johnson won't have much time to celebrate, as the PWBA Summer Series – Rochester continues Friday with the BowlTV Open.
“This is such a grueling week because you don't really want any downtime,” Johnson said. “You want to make the cuts and keep bowling. But tomorrow, we're going to enjoy this one tonight. Tomorrow, we're going to put on a new hat, tackle a new pattern and kind of start all over again.”
The BowlTV Open will start Friday with two six-game qualifying rounds at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern before a cut to the top 12. Those 12 will bowl two six-game blocks of round-robin match play on Saturday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern, where the top five advance to the stepladder finals at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Lilac City Open will close the week out on Sunday and Monday with qualifying before the top 24 advance to the match-play bracket.
For more information on the PWBA Summer Series – Rochester, click HERE.
