RESULTS
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – Missy Parkin has cashed in all four stops on the 2019 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour, but admitted she’s not where she wants to be.
So, she spent time working on fundamentals and it paid off during Friday’s rounds of the PWBA Sonoma County Open at Double Decker Lanes. Parkin started the day with a 276 game and never let up on her way to a 3,679 pinfall total (229.9 average) after two rounds. She leads Singapore’s Shayna Ng by 120 pins.
“I really happy with how I bowled tonight,” Parkin said after Friday’s second round. “They were definitely tougher, and I was trying to grind it out. Luckily, toward the end of the block, I shot some big numbers.”
It was a quick exit in match play at the United States Bowling Congress Queens that sent Parkin back to her Laguna Hills, California, home to work on her game. She had bowled a big block to make the cut at the Queens but then suffered consecutive losses in match play.
“During our week off, I practiced quite a bit,” Parkin said of the break after the Queens. “I just really worked on basic fundamentals, keeping my swing really loose. It’s really easy for your swing to get tight when you are struggling and grinding it out each week.”
Jennifer Higgins of Westerville, Ohio, had the biggest set in the second round, pushing from No. 25 to third place with a 3,513 pinfall total. She averaged 242.5 over the first six games of the second round to make the big move and is happy to be back on the lanes.
Earlier this year, Higgins was hospitalized with a kidney infection that affected her other organs, with the bacteria going into her blood.
“When I finally went home, I had a PICC line in my arm and had to give myself antibiotics four times a day,” Higgins said. “I wasn’t allowed to bowl, couldn’t work out, was shrinking in weight … all I wanted to do was bowl.”
She said the support she received from friends, both in and out of the bowling community, helped her push through the months-long battle to get healthy. And she’s now just getting back to full strength.
“I’m a lot stronger, my muscles are healed and I got my ball speed over 12 miles an hour,” Higgins said. “Health is not an excuse anymore. This (tournament) is a confidence boost, that I am getting stronger. That was one of my strengths – stamina. I could bowl 100 games, no problem, so struggling to bowl four games at the first pro start was devastating.”
Also, during Friday’s second round, Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, who won the PWBA Lincoln Open earlier this season, was on the cut line heading into Game 6 on Friday. She then shot the first 300 game of the tournament to easily make the top 32, the first cut at the tournament.
The top 32 players return to Double Decker Lanes on Saturday morning and will bowl eight games before the field is cut to the top 12. The 12 advancers will bowl six additional games to determine the top four players, based on total pinfall, who will advance to Saturday’s stepladder finals at 5:30 p.m. Pacific (8:30 p.m. Eastern).
BowlTV.com will have live coverage of Saturday’s action, including the stepladder finals.
On Sunday, Double Decker Lanes will host the third PWBA Regional event of the season. Competitors will bowl eight qualifying game and then the top four advance to the stepladder finals. The winner of this week’s PWBA Regional earns a spot in the Go Bowling! PWBA Regional Showdown, a special made-for-TV event to be taped Aug. 17 in conjunction with the PWBA Orlando Open.
