By Bill Vint
PBA Media Relations
BANGKOK, Thailand - Top qualifier Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, turned back Stuart Williams of England in a two-game championship match to win the PBA International-WBT Thailand at Blu-O Rhythm and Bowl Paragon on Friday.
McEwan, a four-time Professional Women's Bowling Association titlist, won the six-game qualifying round to earn the top berth in the eight-player stepladder finals by seven pins over Malaysia's Rafiq Ismail, taking advantage of the eight handicap pins per game awarded to women in the tournament.
Williams, who qualified third, defeated Kyle Troup of Taylorsville, North Carolina, 182-173, and Ismail, 206-205, to advance to the title match where he needed to beat McEwan twice to win the event. Williams won the first game, 232-218, but McEwan won the second, 225-179, to claim the $31,908 first prize.
McEwan is a PBA member, but won't receive credit for a PBA title because she accepted the handicap pins.
Next on the PBA Tour's 2018 schedule will be the FloBowling Fall Swing Oct. 14-20 at The Lanes at Coffee Creek in suburban Tulsa, Okla. The multi-event tournament, open to an elite field of 120 PBA members only, will be covered exclusively on FloBowling.com and will award three PBA Tour titles for the PBA Wolf Open, PBA Bear Open and FloBowling Tulsa Open events.
The U.S. Open from Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kan., will be the final qualifying event for the PBA Clash and the final event of the 2018 Go Bowling! PBA Tour season. The U.S. Open finals will air live on CBS Sports Network on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Rhino Page is the defending champion.
PBA INTERNATIONAL-WBT THAILAND
Blu-O Rhythm and Bowl Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand, Sept. 28
Final Standings:
1, w-Danielle McEwan, Stony Point, N.Y., $31,908.
2, Stuart Williams, England, $15,954.
3, Rafiq Ismail, Malaysia, $9,572.
4, Kyle Troup, Taylorsville, N.C., $6,381.
5, w-Sin Li Jane, Malaysia, $3,190.
6, Anthony Simonsen, Austin, Texas, $2,871.
7, Jojoe Yannaphon, Thailand, $2,712.
8, Sean Rash, Montgomery, Ill., $2,552.
Stepladder Results:
Match One - Jane (261) def. Yannaphon (246) and Rash (195).
Match Two - Troup (220, 10) def. Jane (220, 9) and Simonsen (178).
Match Three - Williams def. Troup, 182-173.
Semifinal - Williams def. Ismail, 206-205.
Championship - McEwan def. x-Williams, 218-232, 225-179.
x-Williams had to defeat McEwan, the high qualifier, twice to win the title.
Round 4 Cashers (after 6 games, top 7 plus highest ranking Thailand player advanced to stepladder finals):
1, McEwan, 1,381,
2, Ismail, 1,374.
3, Williams, 1,352.
4, Troup, 1,348.
5, Simonsen, 1,339.
6, w-Jane, 1,317.
7, Rash, 1,316.
8, y-Yannaphon, 1,240.
y-Yannaphon qualified 15th but advanced as the highest finishing Thailand player in the field.
Failed to advance ($2,233 each):
9, Chris Via, Springfield, Ohio, 1,306.
10, Greg Young, Viera, Fla., 1,261.
11, w-New Hui Fen, Singapore, 1,260.
12, Jesper Svensson, Sweden, 1,251.
13, Shota Kawazoe, Japan, 1,249.
14, w-Liz Johnson, Palatine, Ill., 1,247.
15, Bill O'Neill, Langhorne, Pa., 1,246.
16, Francois Lavoie, Canada, 1,230.
17, Osku Palermaa, Finland, 1,218.
18, Marshall Kent, Yakima, Wash., 1,212.
19, Surasak Manuwong, Thailand, 1,199.
20, Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong, 1,179.
Round 3 Cashers (after six games, $1,595 each):
21, Sithiphol Kunaksorn, Thailand, 1,272.
22, Chris Barnes, Double Oak, Texas, 1,267.
23, w-Natasha Roslan, Malaysia, 1,252.
24, Michael Tang, San Francisco, 1,227.
25, w-Esther Cheah), Malaysia, 1,216.
26, Billy Islam, Indonesia, 1,214.
27, Sam Cooley, Australia, 1,209.
28, Ryan Lalisang, Indonesia, 1,199.
29, Napat Buspanikonkul, Thailand, 1,191.
30, Abdulrahman Alkheliwi, Saudi Arabia, 1,176.
31, Steve Weber, Chalmette, La., 1,168.
32, Darren Tang, San Francisco, 1,139.
33, Ryan Ciminelli, Clarence, N.Y., 1,128.
34, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 1,068.
Round 2 Cashers (after six games, $1,276 each):
35, Kim Bolleby, Thailand, 1,227.
36, Choi Won Young, Korea, 1,216.
37, Francois Louw, South Africa, 1,205.
38, Matt Sanders, Indianapolis, 1,192.
39, w-Daphne Tan, Singapore, 1,185.
40, Alhassan Sugati, Saudi Arabia, 1,172.
41, Atchariya Cheng, Thailand, 1,169.
42, w-Misaki Mukotani, Japan, 1,149.
