Cherie Tan wins first PWBA title at 2016 Storm Sacramento Open

22 June, 2016

PWBA Tour

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Cherie Tan capped an impressive four-week stretch for her and her teammates from Singapore as she delivered in the final frame to capture the 2016 Professional Women’s Bowling Association Storm Sacramento Open.

Tan (pictured left), who earned the top seed for the stepladder finals by posting a 6-0 record in match play, connected on two strikes in the 10th frame of the title match to outlast Shannon Pluhowsky (right) of Dayton, Ohio, 208-205, to win her first PWBA title. The stepladder aired nationally on CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, June 21.

The back-and-forth championship match saw Tan make the first mistake, leaving a 4-6-7-10 split in the fifth frame, but Pluhowsky, who also attacks the lanes from the left side, returned the favor in the seventh when she was unable to convert a 7 pin.

Trailing by five pins heading into the 10th frame, Pluhowsky, who also was looking for her first PWBA title, stepped up first and recorded two strikes to force Tan to match the double for the top prize of $10,000.

The 28-year-old Tan trusted the ball change she made on the right lane in the eighth frame and matched Pluhowsky with two strikes and six pins to secure the win.

“The ball I was using was going a tad longer on that lane and wasn’t kicking out the 7 pin,” said Tan, the runner-up at the 2013 QubicaAMF World Cup. “I decided to move to something that reads up earlier, and it ended up kicking out the corners for me. It was intense. I just stuck to my routine and took it one shot at a time.”

Pluhowsky earned her spot in the finals by defeating New Hui Fen (left), one of six members of Team Singapore in the 80-player field, in an exciting semifinal match, 248-246. New needed to record a strike on her opening shot of the 10th frame to advance to the championship round but left a 10 pin to end her run up the stepladder.

New, the only right-hander on the show, recorded a 257-199 win over Colombia’s Anggie Ramirez (right) of Austin, Texas, in the opening match.

Tan’s victory also marked the first win for a southpaw on the PWBA Tour since June 2003, when Tiffany Stanbrough captured the second of back-to-back victories to start the 2003 season at the Pepsi Rockford Classic in Rockford, Illinois.

The PWBA went on hiatus later in the 2003 season but returned in 2015 after a commitment from the United States Bowling Congress and Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America.

The talented group from Singapore returned home after a successful opening quarter to the 2016 PWBA Tour season. Bernice Lim (right) captured the 2016 USBC Queens in Las Vegas, while New recorded a pair of championship-round appearances.

“It feels great,” Tan said. “Singapore has two wins, so this bodes well for our country and proves our program is doing well. We owe a big thanks to our federation and sponsors for their support.”

All qualifying and match-play rounds of the PWBA Storm Sacramento Open were held at Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, California, on May 13-14. The stepladder finals were held May 26 at The Orleans Bowling Center in conjunction with the USBC Queens and the finals of the PWBA Las Vegas Open and Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open.

The Queens finals aired live on CBS Sports Network, while the Las Vegas Open and Sonoma County Open aired on CBS Sports Network on June 7 and June 14, respectively.

For more information on the PWBA, click here.

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PWBA Storm Sacramento Open – Stepladder Finals

Qualifying and match-play rounds at Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, California (May 13-14, 2016); stepladder finals at The Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas (May 26, 2016)

Championship Round:
1, Cherie Tan, Singapore, 208 (1 game), $10,000
2, Shannon Pluhowsky, Dayton, Ohio, 453 (2 games), $5,000
3, New Hui Fen, Singapore, 503 (2 games), $3,500
4, Anggie Ramirez Perea, Austin, Texas, 199 (1 game), $3,000

L-R Sacramento Open finalists Tan, Pluhowsky, Ramirez and New.

Playoff Results:
First Match: No. 4 New def. No. 3 Ramirez, 257-199
Semifinal Match: No. 2 Pluhowsky def. New, 248-246
Championship: No. 1 Tan def. Pluhowsky, 208-205.

Herbert Bickel