Clemmer earns top seed at 2022 PWBA St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open
June 04, 2022
SEMINOLE, Fla. - Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, continued her run toward her first career title after earning the top seed for the Professional Women’s Bowling Association St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open.
The finals will be broadcast live Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network with the champion taking home the $20,000 first-place prize. All qualifying rounds leading up to the televised finals were broadcast live at BowlTV.com.
Clemmer will be joined in the stepladder by No. 2 Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, No. 3 Jordan Richard of Maumee, Ohio, No. 4 Bryanna Coté of Tucson, Arizona, and No. 5 Verity Crawley of England.
The 24-year-old right-hander traded places with Zavjalova almost every game during the Round of 12, but when it mattered most, Clemmer buckled down and tossed games of 258 and 266 during the final two games of competition Saturday to pull away and take the top seed.
Clemmer entered the day in the lead after rolling the highest six-game block since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour on Friday night with 1,595. The block included a four-game run of 289, 300, 300 and 279. The final three games of the block broke the PWBA Tour record for highest three-game set at 879.
Clemmer was in a similar situation at the season-opening PWBA Rockford Open, where she held the top seed until the final two games, when two-time champion Liz Kuhlkin stepped in and seized the top spot.
Today, it was a different Clemmer, who was determined to not only leave Seminole Lanes as the No. 1 seed, but also trust her instincts when it came to ball changes and lane moves. This was something she did not do in the previous two events, the United States Bowling Congress Queens and last week’s Twin Cities Open, where she missed both cuts.
“I was very hesitant to make moves and ball changes at the Queens and in Minnesota,” said Clemmer, who is making her second championship-round appearance of 2022. “I didn’t trust what my gut was telling me to do. And, when I finally trusted what my gut was telling me to do, it was too late. I went 150 over and didn't make the cut in Minnesota. So, it's very frustrating. This weekend, I trusted my gut, I did what I wanted to do, and I went with it. I just committed to every single shot. I think that was the difference between the Queens and Minnesota to now.”
Zavjalova, whose last title came at the 2018 St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, will look to defend her crown and win for the first time in two seasons. Zavjalova was looking forward to getting back on the lanes at this event and now will have a chance to be the event’s first two-time winner and claim her fifth title overall.
Richard, who moved from sixth to third in the final block, also is making a return trip to the finals at this event after she finished fourth in 2018 during her PWBA Rookie of the Year campaign. She is searching for her third career PWBA Tour title.
Coté, the reigning PWBA Player of the Year, moved from 11th to fourth during the Round of 12 and is returning to the bright lights of television for the second consecutive week after a fourth-place finish at the Twin Cities Open. She is in search of her third career title.
Crawley is making her first championship-round appearance of the season after jumping from eighth to fifth during the final round. She nabbed her first career PWBA Tour title last season at the 2021 Greater Nashville Open and accumulated six finals appearances in 2021. She was tied for the lead in that category with Coté, Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova and Stephanie Zavala of Downey, California.
The finals will be broadcast live Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS Sports Network with the champion taking home the $20,000 first-place prize. All qualifying rounds leading up to the televised finals were broadcast live at BowlTV.com.
Clemmer will be joined in the stepladder by No. 2 Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, No. 3 Jordan Richard of Maumee, Ohio, No. 4 Bryanna Coté of Tucson, Arizona, and No. 5 Verity Crawley of England.
The 24-year-old right-hander traded places with Zavjalova almost every game during the Round of 12, but when it mattered most, Clemmer buckled down and tossed games of 258 and 266 during the final two games of competition Saturday to pull away and take the top seed.
Clemmer entered the day in the lead after rolling the highest six-game block since the relaunch of the PWBA Tour on Friday night with 1,595. The block included a four-game run of 289, 300, 300 and 279. The final three games of the block broke the PWBA Tour record for highest three-game set at 879.
Clemmer was in a similar situation at the season-opening PWBA Rockford Open, where she held the top seed until the final two games, when two-time champion Liz Kuhlkin stepped in and seized the top spot.
Today, it was a different Clemmer, who was determined to not only leave Seminole Lanes as the No. 1 seed, but also trust her instincts when it came to ball changes and lane moves. This was something she did not do in the previous two events, the United States Bowling Congress Queens and last week’s Twin Cities Open, where she missed both cuts.
“I was very hesitant to make moves and ball changes at the Queens and in Minnesota,” said Clemmer, who is making her second championship-round appearance of 2022. “I didn’t trust what my gut was telling me to do. And, when I finally trusted what my gut was telling me to do, it was too late. I went 150 over and didn't make the cut in Minnesota. So, it's very frustrating. This weekend, I trusted my gut, I did what I wanted to do, and I went with it. I just committed to every single shot. I think that was the difference between the Queens and Minnesota to now.”
Zavjalova, whose last title came at the 2018 St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, will look to defend her crown and win for the first time in two seasons. Zavjalova was looking forward to getting back on the lanes at this event and now will have a chance to be the event’s first two-time winner and claim her fifth title overall.
Richard, who moved from sixth to third in the final block, also is making a return trip to the finals at this event after she finished fourth in 2018 during her PWBA Rookie of the Year campaign. She is searching for her third career PWBA Tour title.
Coté, the reigning PWBA Player of the Year, moved from 11th to fourth during the Round of 12 and is returning to the bright lights of television for the second consecutive week after a fourth-place finish at the Twin Cities Open. She is in search of her third career title.
Crawley is making her first championship-round appearance of the season after jumping from eighth to fifth during the final round. She nabbed her first career PWBA Tour title last season at the 2021 Greater Nashville Open and accumulated six finals appearances in 2021. She was tied for the lead in that category with Coté, Ukraine’s Dasha Kovalova and Stephanie Zavala of Downey, California.