Breakout season propels Sin Li Jane to 2024 Player of the Year honors
ARLINGTON, Texas- Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane came back to the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour with no expectations and simply wanted to enjoy the journey. That journey led her to winning 2024 PWBA Player of the Year honors thanks to a dominant season that included four titles, including two majors.
Sin returned to the PWBA Tour in 2024 after a three-season hiatus that was largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it presented to those looking to travel internationally; nevertheless, even while she was away, Sin continued refining her craft and competing back home, waiting for her moment to return to the tour.
That moment came at the second event of the 2024 PWBA season, the Bowlers Journal Rockford Open, which was contested at The Cherry Bowl, the headquarters of the original PWBA Tour.
Sin led the tournament heading into the stepladder finals and defeated Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova in the title match for her second career title.
The following week at the United States Bowling Congress Queens in Green Bay, Wisconsin, she missed the TV show in the final round of the Elimination Bracket by one spot, finishing sixth.
That setback hardly slowed her down, however, as she was right back in the thick of things the following week during the three-event Classic Series – Nashville, which took place at Smyrna Bowling Center in Smyrna, Tennessee.
At the Greater Nashville Classic, Sin qualified for the stepladder finals as the No. 3 seed and took down Lauren Russo of Ballwin, Missouri; England’s Verity Crawley; and Singapore’s Cherie Tan for her second title of the season.
With two titles through four events, Sin was already the frontrunner for Player of the Year, which was something she never thought about winning when she came back to the tour.
“I just want to enjoy the tour instead of thinking about winning,” Sin said back in June after her Greater Nashville Classic win. “Winning isn’t even the important part really; I want to enjoy the journey and make good memories here.”
Sin made plenty of good memories during the final two events in Smyrna, notching match-play appearances at the BowlTV Classic and Music City Classic. She maintained her torrid pace the following week, collecting a 14th-place finish at the Southern Indiana Open.
However, her biggest test came the following week at the second major of the year, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open.
At the U.S. Women’s Open, often called the hardest tournament of the year, Sin stayed steady throughout qualifying, eventually making her way into match play as the No. 11 seed.
She began her climb up the standings during the first round of match play, however, ending the round in sixth place before leapfrogging into the top spot after the very next round.
Once she reached the top spot, Sin had no designs on giving it up, and by the time the final round of match play was over, she held on to the No. 1 seed for the major telecast by more than 250 pins.
Prior to this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, Sin’s last major telecast was in 2019 at the USBC Queens, where she lost to Kovalova in a close title match, 226-216. Fast forward five years, and Sin was determined to not let another major slip through her fingers.
In the only match she bowled, Sin triumphed over Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova, 226-214, for her first career major and third title of the season, bolstering her position as frontrunner for Player of the Year honors.
After the tour’s scheduled break, Sin finished in the top 40 at the Professional Bowlers Association/PWBA Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles tournament in Houston before heading into Detroit for PWBA Tour Championship Week fresh and ready for the final events of the season.
At the Greater Detroit Open, Sin had a season-low finish of 53rd and missed cashing in an event for the only time this season; however, she quickly rebounded during the following event, the Pepsi Open, recording a 19th-place finish.
That meant that she would need just one more good showing at the Tour Championship to officially lock up POY honors.
Even though she was trying not to think about it, Sin noted that the thought of earning Player of the Year crept in more before the final tournament of the year.
“I told myself, ‘If you want to be Player of the Year, you have to bowl good in this tournament,’” said Sin. “Otherwise, forget about it. That was my motivation to bowl well for the last tournament.”
After the first two rounds of match play at the Tour Championship, Sin found herself in 16th place, 115 pins out of the TV show. With the POY trophy potentially slipping out of her grasp, Sin dug deep to pull herself up with a final eight-game block of 1,707, winning six matches for an additional 180 bonus pins.
That performance vaulted her up the standings and allowed her to make the show as the No. 2 seed, putting her only 14 pins ahead of fifth, sealing Player of the Year honors and fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I remember Kelly (Kulick) and Diandra (Asbaty) used to bowl in Malaysia when I was a kid dreaming to be as good as them,” Sin said. “It’s been an amazing journey for me, and I’m glad I’m able to inspire younger generations, not just back home but around the world. They are just like me that had a dream, and after 20 years, that dream came true.”
But she wasn’t content with just POY. Sin wanted to win the final major of the year.
After defeating Missy Parkin of San Clemente, California, in the semifinal match, Sin went against 2023 Player of the Year Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, for the title.
The match came down to the final frame, and that’s when the Malaysian bowler did what she had done all season long, showing up when the moment called for it, getting all three strikes in the 10th to clinch a 215-209 win, her fourth title of the season and second major.
Sin’s remarkable season bumped her career title count from one to five, and with the two majors, she officially is eligible to be nominated for the PWBA Hall of Fame once she celebrates her 50th birthday.
The 32-year-old right-hander also never lost in the stepladder finals this season, going 7-0 in her four appearances and averaging 225 for those seven games. Sin led the tour in earnings with $154,570, the most since the relaunch of the tour in 2015 and the second-most in PWBA history behind only Wendy Macpherson’s 1997 campaign of $165,425.
Sin joins PWBA Hall of Famer Carol Gianotti from Australia as the only international players to win Player of the Year honors in PWBA Tour history.
“It’s an incredible honor,” said Sin. “I’m glad that I made it happen, and I hope it inspires more international players to come bowl on the tour and compete. It’s great to be able to inspire others to come out. I think that’s an important thing for the bowling community, to have great support to help make the tour greater.”
Sin intends to come back for the 2025 PWBA Tour season and continue living out her dreams on the tour.
More dreams will be realized next year on the PWBA National Tour during the 2025 season, which will kick off in Topeka, Kansas, in May.
