INDIANAPOLIS – Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova had the biggest eight-game qualifying block in U.S. Women’s Open history since the relaunch of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour in 2015 with a total of 2,037. Her total also broke the PWBA Tour record for an eight-game qualifying block since the relaunch after Round 1 of qualifying at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis.
Zavjalova had games of 288, 226, 279, 206, 268, 268, 278 and 224 on today’s 35-foot oil condition, beating out the previous U.S. Women's Open qualifying record of 1,967 that was set by Cherie Tan in 2021. Zavjalova is not resting on her great start to the week, as she has her sights set on more than just the record after placing in the top five in two of the past three years at the U.S. Women’s Open.
“I know it’s a very long tournament, very grueling and it tests your patience,” said Zavjalova. “I knew scores were going to be high going into today so I really wanted to take advantage of that and the easier pattern today and I think I really did that, it feels awesome.”
She also noted her confidence level gradually increased as the block went on, eventually getting to the point where she could just know a ball was going to result in all 10 back.
“There were some shots where I was smiling before the ball even hit the pins because I knew it such a good shot and I knew it was going to strike. It was probably the best I’ve ever thrown the ball.”
Zavjalova wasn’t the only one to throw the ball well today, as the rest of the top five all averaged 225 or better: Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas (1,825); Rebecca Hagerman of Loves Park, Illinois (1,824); Crystal Elliott of Palm Bay, Florida (1,807) and Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan (1,801).
The current cut line for the fourth qualifying round is a three-way tie at 1,697.
Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, also had the tournament’s first 300 in Game 2 of C Squad, bringing the total of 300’s in the 2024 PWBA Tour season to 10: two at the United States Bowling Congress Queens, two at the PWBA Greater Nashville Classic and five at the PWBA Southern Indiana Open.
For Zavjalova, she is still stunned at her performance today and doesn’t know when it will feel real to her.
“Breaking the eight-game record is insane, I don’t think it has sunk in yet. I just really want to focus on what is in front of me because it’s easy to just be overly excited for how I bowled and kind of forget what I have to do tomorrow. I’m just going to focus on one game and one shot at a time and stay focused on what’s in front of me.”
Qualifying continues tomorrow and Saturday starting at 8 a.m. Eastern on both days, before a fourth qualifying round for the top 36 at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. After the fourth round of qualifying, the top 24 start the first of three round-robin match-play rounds later on Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern. The final two rounds of match play will be on Monday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern to determine which five competitors move on to the live TV stepladder finals Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network.
All rounds leading up to the stepladder finals will be streamed live only on BowlTV.
