STOCKTON, Calif. – The first event of every season is exciting, but the opening tournament of the 2023 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour season will be extra special as it will be the 100th tournament to award a title since the tour’s relaunch in 2015.
That title will be handed out at Pacific Avenue Bowl, which will host the 2023 PWBA Stockton Open from May 4-6.
This will mark the first time that Pacific Avenue Bowl has hosted a national event on the PWBA Tour.
The action begins Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern with the official practice session. Tournament competition will get underway Friday with two six-game qualifying rounds, the first beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern and the second following at 8 p.m. Eastern.
The top 24 athletes will advance and bowl another six-game block Saturday at noon Eastern before the field is cut down to the top 12 players. Those 12 will have a final six-game round at 5 p.m. Eastern to determine the five players for the stepladder finals, based on total pinfall for 24 games.
The finals of the Stockton Open will take place Saturday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern with the winner earning $20,000.
All rounds of competition, including the stepladder finals, will be broadcast live at BowlTV.com.
The at-home audience and spectators on-hand at Pacific Avenue Bowl should be in for a treat this week as the Stockton Open field is loaded with talent from top to bottom.
USBC Hall of Famer Liz Johnson of Niagara Falls, New York, and Team USA legend Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, are scheduled to compete. Stefanie Johnson won last year’s season opener at The Cherry Bowl in Rockford, Illinois.
This week’s roster also features reigning PWBA Rookie of the Year Olivia Farwell of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and Player of the Year Shannon O’Keefe of Shiloh, Illinois.
O’Keefe is a 15-time PWBA Tour titlist and three-time major champion, and she’s coming off what she considers to be her best season yet on tour.
As such, it would be easy to expect the right-hander to approach the 2023 season with a win-or-bust mentality. That is not, however, the view that O’Keefe is choosing to take.
“We went 12 years without the PWBA Tour, so every year that we get to compete, I feel extremely blessed and humbled just to be out here bowling,” O’Keefe said. “I don’t really put any extra pressure or expectations on myself. I just want to be able to leave the bowling center proud of who I was and how I competed that day.”
While all bowlers want to be proud of how they compete, the 13 athletes from California will have a little extra incentive as they will be attempting to make a good showing while bowling in their home state.
That list is headlined by 2021 PWBA Rookie of the Year Stephanie Zavala of Downey and 2011 USBC Queens champion Missy Parkin of San Clemente.
Nevertheless, all 73 players in this week’s field will be hoping to walk away with the 100th PWBA Tour title since the relaunch and become the first champion crowned at Pacific Avenue Bowl.
As far as O’Keefe is concerned, it’s fitting for those distinctions to accompany this year’s season opener.
“I actually didn’t know at first that the Stockton Open was going to be the 100th title since the relaunch, but that’s awesome,” O’Keefe said. “It’s a great way to start the year.”
The 2023 season features 12 events and features an overall prize fund of approximately $1.4 million, which is tied for the largest average per event since the tour’s relaunch in 2015.
The schedule also features three majors, the USBC Queens, U.S. Women’s Open and season-ending PWBA Tour Championship. The stepladder finals at all three majors will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network.
