McCarthy prepares to defend first major title at 2023 U.S. Women's Open
GATES, N.Y. – Erin McCarthy of Elkhorn, Nebraska, has been a member of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour for nearly 10 years.
As such, there isn’t a whole lot the 32-year-old right-hander hasn’t seen or experienced out on the lanes.
Nevertheless, when McCarthy arrives at ABC Gates Bowl to compete in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open, she’ll face something new: what it feels like to come to a major as the defending champion.
McCarthy earned that right just under a year ago when she captured the coveted green jacket and $60,000 first-place prize by defeating Danielle McEwan of Stony Point, New York, to take home the title at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open in South Glens Falls, New York.
The win gave McCarthy her first major title and the second PWBA Tour victory of her career. She’ll be back in New York and in the field this week hoping to make another strong run at the tour’s most prestigious (and challenging) tournament.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Open kicks off Wednesday at ABC Gates Bowl with the tournament’s official practice sessions, and the season’s second major will conclude June 20 at 7 p.m. Eastern live on CBS Sports Network.
This year’s winner will once again receive $60,000, with the event’s overall prize fund at nearly $280,000.
Even though McCarthy has had plenty of time to reflect upon last year’s victory, there are still moments when she needs to be reminded that she’s the reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion.
“Some days it still doesn’t seem real that last year happened let alone the fact that it’s been almost an entire 365 days since it did,” McCarthy said. “I’m not sure that it will ever truly sink in even though I see the trophy sitting at home. Maybe when I get there this year and see the banners and we start competing, maybe that’s when it will hit me that I won last year.”
She certainly earned those banners because winning the U.S. Women’s Open is no easy task; the tournament is so challenging, in fact, that McCarthy found herself much closer to the bottom of the leaderboard than the top during the early stages of the 2022 event.
“Last year, I started out in last place after two games, so I obviously didn’t think that I’d come back from that to win it,” McCarthy said. “But the fact that I did, that I was able to bounce back kind of showed me that if I stay patient and true to my process, anything is possible.”
Given the long and difficult nature of the U.S. Women’s Open, just about every player will have her patience tested at one point or another.
“To make the stepladder at this tournament, you have to bowl 56 grueling games on multiple patterns with each day bringing a different challenge,” McCarthy said. “You just have to literally focus on one shot at a time and one game at a time because anything is possible with that format and amount of games.”
McCarthy comes into the event with fewer games under her belt this season than some of her fellow PWBA Tour competitors. That’s because her work schedule as a nurse back home keeps her from being able to bowl every tour stop like some players do.
That hasn’t kept McCarthy from finding success, however; in fact, she is off to a very solid start again this season.
Through six events on the 2023 PWBA Tour schedule, McCarthy has recorded three top-10 finishes – including a runner-up performance at the GoBowling! Spokane Open – and she’s yet to finish worse than tied for 23rd.
Work responsibilities forced McCarthy to skip last week’s Bowlers Journal Cleveland Open, which was won by Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, who became the PWBA’s first three-time winner on tour this season.
Although McCarthy never likes missing tournaments, she believes that being forced to take a week off here and there can actually yield positive results.
“There are some days when I’d love to bowl more and have that be my sole job,” McCarthy said. “At the same time, I enjoy coming back home and having a different type of work environment because it makes it so that I don’t get burned out. If I have one bad event, I can come home, switch my mindset and go back out there with a refreshed outlook.”
Despite coming in as the defending champion, McCarthy’s mindset for this year’s U.S. Women’s Open will remain quite simple.
“Every year at the U.S. Open, I just look at making the top 24 to get into the round-robin match play,” McCarthy said. “Obviously, you want to make the show and win, but, in reality, you can do everything right and still not get there. So, for me, the goals is always just to get into match play to give myself a chance.”
If McCarthy can reach that goal, there’s no reason why she wouldn’t be capable of leaving New York with a green jacket for the second year in a row.
The most recent player to successfully defend a title at the U.S. Women’s Open was Liz Johnson, who won four straight editions of the tournament from 2013-2017. There was no event held in 2014.
Marion Ladewig and Dorothy Fothergill are the only other players to have successfully defended a U.S. Women’s Open title, and each accomplished the feat when the event still was known as the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America All-Star. The name of the event was changed to the U.S. Women’s Open in 1971.
The 2023 event will feature three eight-game qualifying rounds, starting Thursday at 8 a.m. Eastern, to determine the 36 players advancing to a fourth eight-game block. Each of the four rounds will feature a different oil pattern.
After 32 games, 24 athletes will begin round-robin match play, starting Sunday, with the fourth oil pattern being used for the remainder of the event.
Match play will consist of three eight-game rounds, with total pinfall and bonus pins for each victory determining the five players advancing to the stepladder finals.
All rounds leading up to the CBS Sports Network broadcast will be livestreamed at BowlTV.com.
Along with McCarthy and Johnson, additional past U.S. Women’s Open champions competing this week include Josie Barnes of Hermitage, Tennessee; Liz Kuhlkin of Schenectady, New York; Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey; and McEwan.
For more information about the U.S. Women’s Open, click here.
