ALLEN PARK, Mich.- The 2024 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour Championship had no shortage of drama, as only five players remain for the season-ending major championship at Thunderbowl Lanes in Detroit.
Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, is the No. 1 seed for the live TV finals, finishing over 100 pins ahead of No. 2 seed Sin Li Jane out of Malaysia. Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas, holds the No. 3 seed, while Singapore’s New Hui Fen and Missy Parkin of San Clemente, California, will kick things off as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively.
Richard will only have to bowl one game to win her first major title and improved upon her fourth-place finish in the 2023 Tour Championship, but the other four competitors already have one major title each and will lean on those experiences as they all look to add a second major to their resumes.
Sin has the most recent win as she won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open held in Indianapolis in June for her first major. Johnson’s major was the 2018 PWBA Players Championship, New won the 2016 edition of the Tour Championship, and Parkin’s major was in 2011, the United States Bowling Congress Queens.
Parkin’s situation is the most unique for any player in the stepladder finals.
She came in as the alternate for Diana Zavjalova, who withdrew after the first round of match play. Parkin started the second day at a deficit as she had to use Zavjalova’s Round 1 scores without the bonus pins, which put Parkin over 200 pins out of the show before Round 2.
But prior experience bowling on patterns similar to the difficult 44-foot one that was put out for the event proved crucial for her, going 11-5 in the two rounds of match play she bowled and doing something that no player since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour has done: make a major telecast coming in as the alternate.
“I was just trying to get the right strategy going and it was definitely nerve-wracking, especially the last game,” said Parkin, who lost her position round game but made it in over England’s Verity Crawley by three pins. “I told myself to throw 10 great shots and I did.”
No matter where she finished, she could hold her head up high after the game was over.
“I’m proud of how I did.”
Heading into the finals, she’s going in with a fresh mindset.
“It’s really a new tournament now that we’re bowling in the arena, it’s a super cool venue and I’m excited.”
Parkin has previous experience in the Thunderbowl arena, where she bowled the very first Professional Bowlers Association World Series of Bowling in 2009 and will look back on that past experience to try and win her second major title.
The stepladder finals will be contested on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network, with the champion taking a major title on the PWBA Tour and the $50,000 top prize. All competition leading up to the televised finals was streamed live only on BowlTV.
