New Hui Fen opened the 2026 PWBA Tour Championship Week by taking the qualifying lead at the PWBA Cleveland Open on Wednesday at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights, Ohio.
The Singaporean finished the two six-game blocks with 2,688, an average of 224. She ended qualifying 79 pins ahead of Colombia’s Maria Jose Bohr, who moved into second with 2,609, while Singapore’s Shayna Ng placed third at 2,603.
The result keeps New in a strong position as she chases her second title of the season and a second consecutive PWBA Player of the Year award. She entered the final week with 73,400 tour points, only 2,400 ahead of Sin Li Jane.
“I found a shape that worked and kept it really in front of me,” New said to the press. “I think I was the only one who was able to play on the outside, so I just stuck with it until it went away for me in the last two games. Then I started watching people and realized I needed to be further left and found something that allowed me to play that shape.”
Yorktown Lanes has already been a successful stop for New. She won two titles at the center during the 2025 PWBA Summer Series and has kept notes from her previous appearances there.
Jordan Snodgrass finished qualifying fourth with 2,598, followed by Felicia Wong at 2,561 and Alexis Runk at 2,557. Morgan Kramer, who shot her first PWBA 300 during Wednesday's second block, secured seventh place with 2,556, one pin behind Runk.
Rocio Restrepo-Hostetler was eighth with 2,546, Jillian Martin took ninth with 2,539, and Maranda Pattison and Brittany Smith tied for 10th at 2,537. Carlene Beyer claimed the final match-play place with 2,517.
The Cleveland Open also marked Verity Crawley’s return to the PWBA Tour after nearly three months away due to a stress fracture in her right shin. She finished in 15th position with 2,484.
Match Play and Stepladder Finals Set for Thursday
All 12 qualifiers return Thursday for two six-game rounds of round-robin match play. The first begins at 9 a.m. Eastern, followed by the second at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Total pinfall will carry forward from qualifying, with bonus pins added for match-play wins. The top five players after 24 games will advance to the stepladder finals at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, where the first title of PWBA Tour Championship Week will be decided.
All remaining rounds will be streamed live on BowlTV, with the Tour Championship stepladder finals also airing on Bowling TV as one of three major live bowling events the channel will carry this summer.
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