Higgins, New racing towards 2016 PWBA Rookie of the Year
August 25, 2016
ARLINGTON, Texas - The race for the 2016 Professional Women's Bowling Association Rookie of the Year is coming down to the season-ending Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship, and two players, who took different paths in qualifying for the special event, remain in the hunt.
Both Jennifer Higgins of Westerville, Ohio, and New Hui Fen of Singapore have earned enough points to secure spots among the 16 competitors invited to the PWBA Tour Championship, which will take place at Uptown Alley in Midlothian, Virginia, from Sept. 1-4.
It is the final major of the 2016 PWBA Tour season and will determine whether it's Higgins or New who claims the honor.
The finals of the 2016 PWBA Tour Championship will air live on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. Eastern, while coverage of the single-elimination match-play bracket will be broadcast live on Xtra Frame, the exclusive online bowling channel for the Professional Bowlers Association.
Higgins, a former Team USA and Junior Team USA member, will enter the Tour Championship with nearly a 4,000-point advantage over New. The PWBA Rookie of the Year is determined by competition points accrued over the course of the PWBA Tour season.
Higgins enters the Tour Championship with 56,025 points, while New sits at 52,250 points. Stefanie Johnson of Grand Prairie, Texas, earned the award in 2015.
Higgins began the 2016 season as a favorite for rookie of the year after making three match-play appearances during the 2015 season as a non-member and recording back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the United States Bowling Congress Queens in 2013 and 2014.
The 34-year-old right-hander was steady throughout the 2016 season, making five match-play appearances in 12 events and advancing to the championship round at the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open, where she finished fourth.
"If I had to sum up this season in one word, it would be 'consistent,'" Higgins said. "I'm definitely disappointed that I did not get a win and was hoping to make a few more shows, but the ladies on tour are just so good, so it's nothing to hang my head about. I know my time will come if I stay determined. It would be a great honor to get my name in the record books as Rookie of the Year. It would be something that I always would be proud of winning."
In the opening stepladder match of the Sonoma County Open, televised on CBS Sports Network, Higgins faced off against New, who was making her first career championship-round appearance. New defeated Higgins, 225-211, to advance to the semifinal, where she fell to eventual champion Shannon O'Keefe of O'Fallon, Illinois, 235-226, to finish third.
The Sonoma County Open was the first opportunity for many to see New in action, but it would not be the last as the 24-year-old right-hander advanced to the championship round at the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open (third-place finish) and U.S. Women's Open (fourth-place finish). She competed in just five events this season but performed well enough to earn a spot in the Tour Championship.
New made match play in each event she entered, finishing no lower than seventh place in her five tournament appearances.
An argument certainly could be made that New would be in contention for PWBA Player of the Year if she had competed in all 13 events on the 2016 schedule leading up to the Tour Championship. New and her teammates from Singapore returned home after competing in the first four tournaments of the season, which kicked off in late April, and returned for the U.S. Women's Open in August.
"Bowling with the best women bowlers in the world has been one of the greatest learning experiences I've ever had, and bowling on tour definitely has made me a better bowler," said New, who captured two gold medals for Singapore (trios and Masters) at the 2015 Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Bangkok. "Making it to the Tour Championship is a huge bonus for me, and I'm just going to put my best out there and whatever happens, happens. Personally, it would mean a lot to win Rookie of the Year, but it would mean the world if I'm able to bring this honor home for my country."
With only the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open stepladder finals remaining before the Tour Championship, the possibility of an opening-round match between Higgins and New will hinge on the performance of Lindsay Boomershine of Perry, Utah, the top seed at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open.
The finals of the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open will air Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network.
Higgins already has secured the No. 10 seed for the best-of-five match-play bracket at the Tour Championship and will take on the No. 11 seed in the first round, which currently is New.
If Boomershine is able to win her first career PWBA title, she would sneak ahead of New in points and bump her down to the No. 12 seed, where New would bowl against 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open champion Diana Zavjalova of Latvia in the opening round.
If Boomershine is unable to record the victory, Higgins and New will face off in the opening round. New would have to defeat Higgins and win her next match to make up the point difference and claim rookie-of-the-year honors.
The 16-player field will include all eligible champions from the 2016 season, and the remaining spaces in the bracket will be filled from the points list.
The top two players on the 2016 PWBA points list earn automatic spots on the TV show, while the third and fourth seeds will earn first-round byes based on their standing on the points list.
The remaining 12 players will kick off the competition Sept. 2 with the first round of best-of-five matches.
Both Jennifer Higgins of Westerville, Ohio, and New Hui Fen of Singapore have earned enough points to secure spots among the 16 competitors invited to the PWBA Tour Championship, which will take place at Uptown Alley in Midlothian, Virginia, from Sept. 1-4.
It is the final major of the 2016 PWBA Tour season and will determine whether it's Higgins or New who claims the honor.
The finals of the 2016 PWBA Tour Championship will air live on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. Eastern, while coverage of the single-elimination match-play bracket will be broadcast live on Xtra Frame, the exclusive online bowling channel for the Professional Bowlers Association.
Higgins, a former Team USA and Junior Team USA member, will enter the Tour Championship with nearly a 4,000-point advantage over New. The PWBA Rookie of the Year is determined by competition points accrued over the course of the PWBA Tour season.
Higgins enters the Tour Championship with 56,025 points, while New sits at 52,250 points. Stefanie Johnson of Grand Prairie, Texas, earned the award in 2015.
Higgins began the 2016 season as a favorite for rookie of the year after making three match-play appearances during the 2015 season as a non-member and recording back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the United States Bowling Congress Queens in 2013 and 2014.The 34-year-old right-hander was steady throughout the 2016 season, making five match-play appearances in 12 events and advancing to the championship round at the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open, where she finished fourth.
"If I had to sum up this season in one word, it would be 'consistent,'" Higgins said. "I'm definitely disappointed that I did not get a win and was hoping to make a few more shows, but the ladies on tour are just so good, so it's nothing to hang my head about. I know my time will come if I stay determined. It would be a great honor to get my name in the record books as Rookie of the Year. It would be something that I always would be proud of winning."
In the opening stepladder match of the Sonoma County Open, televised on CBS Sports Network, Higgins faced off against New, who was making her first career championship-round appearance. New defeated Higgins, 225-211, to advance to the semifinal, where she fell to eventual champion Shannon O'Keefe of O'Fallon, Illinois, 235-226, to finish third.
The Sonoma County Open was the first opportunity for many to see New in action, but it would not be the last as the 24-year-old right-hander advanced to the championship round at the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open (third-place finish) and U.S. Women's Open (fourth-place finish). She competed in just five events this season but performed well enough to earn a spot in the Tour Championship.
New made match play in each event she entered, finishing no lower than seventh place in her five tournament appearances. An argument certainly could be made that New would be in contention for PWBA Player of the Year if she had competed in all 13 events on the 2016 schedule leading up to the Tour Championship. New and her teammates from Singapore returned home after competing in the first four tournaments of the season, which kicked off in late April, and returned for the U.S. Women's Open in August.
"Bowling with the best women bowlers in the world has been one of the greatest learning experiences I've ever had, and bowling on tour definitely has made me a better bowler," said New, who captured two gold medals for Singapore (trios and Masters) at the 2015 Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Bangkok. "Making it to the Tour Championship is a huge bonus for me, and I'm just going to put my best out there and whatever happens, happens. Personally, it would mean a lot to win Rookie of the Year, but it would mean the world if I'm able to bring this honor home for my country."
With only the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open stepladder finals remaining before the Tour Championship, the possibility of an opening-round match between Higgins and New will hinge on the performance of Lindsay Boomershine of Perry, Utah, the top seed at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open.
The finals of the PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open will air Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network.
Higgins already has secured the No. 10 seed for the best-of-five match-play bracket at the Tour Championship and will take on the No. 11 seed in the first round, which currently is New.
If Boomershine is able to win her first career PWBA title, she would sneak ahead of New in points and bump her down to the No. 12 seed, where New would bowl against 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open champion Diana Zavjalova of Latvia in the opening round.
If Boomershine is unable to record the victory, Higgins and New will face off in the opening round. New would have to defeat Higgins and win her next match to make up the point difference and claim rookie-of-the-year honors.
The 16-player field will include all eligible champions from the 2016 season, and the remaining spaces in the bracket will be filled from the points list.
The top two players on the 2016 PWBA points list earn automatic spots on the TV show, while the third and fourth seeds will earn first-round byes based on their standing on the points list.
The remaining 12 players will kick off the competition Sept. 2 with the first round of best-of-five matches.