INDIANAPOLIS – Latvia’s Diana Zavjalova and England’s Verity Crawley both had stellar rounds of qualifying on Friday at the U.S. Women’s Open being held at Royal Pin Woodland in Indianapolis, with Zavjalova increasing her lead and Crawley jumping into the top five after starting the day outside the cut.
Zavjalova’s pace slowly slightly in Round 2 of Qualifying on the 50-foot oil pattern, but still had an eight-game block of 1,780 to now be at 3,817 overall and nearly 300 pins ahead of Singapore’s Cherie Tan in second (3,539 overall). Zavjalova continues to break U.S. Women’s Open records, now holding the highest 16-game qualifying total since the relaunch of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour in 2015.
Kelly Kulick of Union, New Jersey (3,489); Stefanie Johnson of McKinney, Texas (3,485); Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio (3,472); Brittany Smith of Van Meter, Iowa (3,464) and Lauren Russo of Ballwin, Missouri (3,460) all hold spots six through 10, respectively.
The current cut line for the fourth round of qualifying is at 3,302 overall, held by Jessica Earnest of Hermitage, Tennessee.
Crawley was outside the top 36 before Round 2 and had a slow start to Friday’s round with 210, 167 and 189, but a key ball change turned her fortunes around, going 259, 268, 269, 225 and 233 for an eight-game total of 1,820.
“I felt like I was seeing the picture clearly but every time I missed a little bit, I split,” Crawley said about her first three games. “Once I switched balls, whenever I missed, I got away with the misses more and was able to string strikes and get more comfortable.”
She credits the hard work and practice she’s put in with United States Bowling Congress Hall of Famer John Janawicz for being able to succeed and bounce back the last five games today.
“I have to thank JJ (John Janawicz) because of the amount that we’ve practiced together. In situations like this, I feel like I’ve experienced before on similar patterns and helps me make better decisions. I’m very thankful for the time and knowledge that he gives me.”
Qualifying continues tomorrow starting at 8 a.m. Eastern 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.
