The PWBA's Player of the Year Race is Heating Up -- October 29, 2021
After two rounds of match play at the PWBA Tour Championship, with a major title and the Player of the Year award at stake, nothing has been decided.
The bowling gods took the PWBA Tour Championship qualifying standings and shook ‘em up like Darla in Finding Nemo. That’s the only explanation for the standings after two rounds of match play.

Diana Zavjalova dominated all day, averaging over 230 to rocket to the top of the leaderboard. Bryanna Coté dipped to 6th after the morning block, but climbed back into second overall by the day’s end. Shannon Pluhowsky jumped to third place with a 267 her final game.Â
Missy Parkin, 4th, told Aaron Smith and Emil Williams Jr. that her ability to (intentionally) spin the ball and use more ball speed allowed her to stay in the same zone for almost the entire day.
Shannon Sellens, a non-member (whatever that’s worth), made the day’s largest ascent: from 21st to 5th. She holds a 56-pin lead over Daria Pajak for the final spot on Sunday’s stepladder finals. That may sound like a significant margin to some of you, but I assure you: It is not.
As noted in yesterday's newsletter, not only is a major title at stake, but the Player of the Year award is up for grabs, something of which I have become obsessed. Here’s an update to how those standings would look if — IF! — the tournament ended tonight.
Bryanna Coté (2nd) — 129,445
Verity Crawley (13th) — 128,000
Dasha Kovalova (15th) — 127,100
Shannon O'Keefe (8th) — 126,670
Missy Parkin (4th) — 125,262.5
Liz Johnson (9th) — 120,660
Julia Bond (22nd) — 118,945
Verity Crawley entered match play in third place, fell to 21st after the first round, and rebounded back into 13th. Her resilience saved her POY prospects.
While Crawley sits over 250 pins back from the show, she trails Coté by only 1,500 points based on their current place in the standings. (Worth mentioning: Crawley missed the first three tournaments of the season due to issues with her travel visa.)
However, Crawley’s comeback will be moot if Coté, Parkin or Johnson wins the major title (or if she drops in the standings). Per PWBA rules, the champion will earn 25,000 points, while second and third will receive 18,000 and 16,500, respectively. That 1,500 point difference between second and third represents Coté’s lead over Crawley, which means…
If the standings stayed the same and Coté lost her first match on the show, Crawley would win POY by 55 points.
Securing the top seed could lock up the Player of the Year for Coté, regardless of the outcome on the show — but I’m getting ahead of myself. Everything can (and will) change in a matter of frames.
The third and final round of match play begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST.
Eight games and a show remain to determine a major champion and Player of the Year.
ICYMI: Stephanie Zavala and Julia Bond each collected their third PWBA titles of the 2021 season. Zavala also clinched the PWBA Rookie of the Year award on Thursday.