Parity reigns through eight events of the 2026 PWBA Tour season
ARLINGTON, Texas – With four events remaining in the 2026 Professional Women's Bowling Association National Tour season, the race for season-long honors remains wide open. Before the final stretch begins, here's a look at what the year has delivered so far.
This season can be described in one word: parity.
Early on, however, it looked as though 2026 might be similar to the last two years when it comes to international dominance as Malaysia’s Sin Li Jane and Singapore’s New Hui Fen opened the year with wins in Rockford, Illinois, and Greeley, Colorado, respectively. They were also the last two PWBA Players of the Year, with Sin earning the honors in 2024 after a four-win season in her return to the tour and New in 2025 with three wins.
But despite continuing to make championship-round appearances, neither has been able to win again this season. In fact, no one has won twice this year.
Erin McCarthy of Elkhorn, Nebraska, won the United States Bowling Congress Queens in Las Vegas before Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas; Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio, and Cherie Tan of Singapore all collected wins during the PWBA Summer Series in Rochester, New York.
At the Barbara Chrisman Classic presented by Storm in Columbus, Ohio, the following week, Sin was able to make it to the title match but lost to Jordan Snodgrass of Adrian, Michigan, in their first stepladder meeting since the title match of the 2024 PWBA Tour Championship.
That was before an all-time title match at the U.S. Women’s Open in Indianapolis between Sin and Jillian Martin of Stow, Ohio. The match ended in a 212-212 tie and went to a four-ball roll-off that saw Martin win her second major title.
Eight events, eight different champions. The level of parity on the PWBA Tour has been remarkable, rivaling some of the most competitive leagues in professional sports such as the National Basketball Association, which has had eight different NBA Finals champions since 2019.
Everything can change with four events to go in the season, three of which count for points toward the Player of the Year race, which has become closer each week after New got off to a fast start.
Prior to the Barbara Chrisman Classic, New held a lead of more than 22,000 points over Pluhowsky. That advantage has shrunk to just 2,400 points after Sin's back-to-back runner-up finishes helped trim the deficit. New leads with 73,400 points, while Sin now sits at 71,000. Snodgrass (65,550) is just under 8,000 points behind New, while Pluhowsky (62,345) sits a little more than 11,000 points back.
New didn’t finish in the top 12 in Columbus or Indianapolis, leaving little margin for error if she wants a second straight POY award, and it’s anyone’s guess who will take home those honors during Tour Championship Week in Cleveland from Aug. 11-18.
The Rookie of the Year race is more straightforward as South Korea’s Seo Yeon Ryu, the first South Korean competitor to bowl on the PWBA Tour, has pulled away with the points lead with 34,320 points, nearly 18,000 ahead of Victoria Varano of Stony Point, New York, who has 16,860. Ryu's point total ranks 14th on the season-long list, putting her in strong position to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship.
While no one has separated from the field with multiple wins this season, no newcomer has broken through either. Lauren Russo of Wentzville, Missouri, remains the tour's most recent first-time champion after capturing the 2024 PWBA Southern Indiana Open. Since then, every title has gone to a player who had already won on the PWBA Tour.
That doesn't mean opportunities haven't been there. Several players have made deep runs into events this year, most notably Malaysia's Natasha Roslan at the USBC Queens and Finland's Peppi Konsteri at the Rochester Open. Both advanced to the title match before falling short. As balanced as the competition has been from week to week, experience has continued to make the difference in the biggest moments.
With four events remaining, the opportunity is still there for someone to become the tour's first new champion since Russo. But if the first eight events of the season have shown anything, there are no easy paths to a PWBA title. Whether it's the race for Player of the Year, the search for the season's first repeat champion or the pursuit of a breakthrough victory, every storyline remains in play heading into the season's final stretch.
For more information on the PWBA Tour, visit PWBA.com.
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