FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – At the opening event of the 2019 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour season, Danielle McEwan surprisingly found herself not competing on the second day of the event.
McEwan, who comes into this week’s PWBA Fountain Valley Open at Fountain Bowl as the defending champion, didn’t exactly get out out of the gates well at the start of the season. She failed to advance after two qualifying rounds at the Greater Cleveland Open, the first time in 19 consecutive singles events she failed to earn a check.
The last time that happened was at the 2017 PWBA Greater Detroit Open.
Since then, McEwan’s worst finish in five events has been 10th (twice). She made the stepladder finals at both the PWBA Lincoln Open and last weekend’s PWBA Tucson Open, finishing fourth in each, and looks to continue that momentum this week at Fountain Bowl, which is playing host to the PWBA Tour for the third consecutive season.
“I would just describe my season as an uphill battle after my start in Cleveland,” said McEwan, a four-time PWBA champion from Stony Point, New York. “Going into the season, I had very big goals for myself. I felt I was really prepared both mentally and physically.
“After Week 1, I was forced to cross out some of those goals, which were then unattainable. This was very hard for me to swallow, but it allowed me to write modified goals, and gave me an even bigger challenge then the goals themselves were.”
Competition in the PWBA Fountain Valley Open begins Friday with two eight-game qualifying blocks before the field is cut to 32 players. After eight additional games Saturday morning, the top 12 players will bowl a final six-game block to decide the four players who will compete in the stepladder finals.
BowlTV.com, the exclusive livestreaming home of the PWBA Tour, will have wire-to-wire live coverage of the event, including Saturday’s stepladder finals at 5:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. Eastern).
A couple of the goals McEwan had to cross off her list included cashing in each event this season and advancing to the Round of 12 in the first six standard events. She’s done both now in the last four standard events. Not too shabby for most, but slightly disappointing for one of the best players in the world.
McEwan’s mental attitude toward her tough start has been one of the keys to her recent success. It’s not surprising a player as talented as McEwan would power through adversity, but it also is a sign of continued growth and maturity from the 27-year-old competitor.
“Some of the best advice that has been given to me over the years is to have a short-term memory when it comes to bowling and to have balance,” said McEwan, who is an eight-time Team USA member. “Balance comes into play when I’m trying to evaluate and critique my performance professionally, rather than emotionally, in order to not be too hard on myself.
“After Cleveland, I pinpointed the things that went wrong, I came up with a plan of what I needed to do differently and then I put the short-term memory advice into play and tried to forget that tournament ever happened. What I’ve been able to do since Week 1 shows me how much I’ve matured mentally throughout my career. A few years ago, I don’t think I would have been able to bounce back after having such a bad start.”
This week’s 82-player field includes 11 players with Southern California ties led by 2011 USBC Queens champion and 10-time Team USA member Missy Parkin of Laguna Hills, California. Parkin was the runner-up two weeks ago at the PWBA Sonoma County Open in Rohnert Park, California. She finished fourth at the 2018 Fountain Valley Open.
Other players include PWBA members Debbie Ayers of La Mesa, and Michelle Lopez of Riverside.
Non-members competing include former Team USA and Junior Team USA member Stephanie Zavala of Downey. Zavala also was a collegiate standout at Sam Houston State. She is joined by Deanna Carrillo of Montebello, Bethany Hudson of Apple Valley, Macy Jimenez of Anaheim, Brittany Kolatzny of San Diego, Adriana Mazyck of Canoga Park, Roberta Vann of Downey, and Virginia Young of Vista.
BowlTV.com will have live coverage of all rounds of the PWBA Fountain Valley Open, including the stepladder finals. BowlTV.com also offers access to behind-the-scenes content, classic PWBA telecasts, blogs, podcasts and instructional content. Visit BowlTV.com for more information.
CBS Sports Network will televise the stepladder finals of seven events on the 2019 PWBA Tour schedule, including all four majors, and will feature three prime-time shows in August. CBS Sports Network’s coverage of the PWBA continues June 23 with the U.S. Women’s Open, the second major event of the season.
2019 PWBA FOUNTAIN VALLEY OPEN
(At Fountain Bowl, Fountain Valley, Calif.)
(All times local)
Thursday, June 13
4 p.m. – 90-minute practice session
Friday, June 14
9 a.m. – Eight-game qualifying block
5 p.m. – Eight-game qualifying block
(Cut to top 32 players)
Saturday, June 15
9 a.m. – Round of 32 (eight games)
(Cut to top 12 players)
2 p.m. – Round of 12 (six games)
(Cut to top four players for stepladder finals)
5:30 p.m. – Stepladder Finals live on BowlTV
7 p.m. – Bowl With The Pros
