.S. Women's Open champion Liz Johnson turns focus to upcoming USBC Masters
By Matt Cannizzaro USBC Communications
WAUWATOSA, Wis. - Since winning the 2007 U.S. Women's Open, a USBC event, last Sunday, Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, N.Y., has enjoyed a whirlwind celebration that included a trip to the Women's Sports Foundation's Annual Salute to Girls and Women in Sports Awards Gala and Auction in New York on Monday.
The celebration will be short-lived, however, as the 33-year-old right-hander refocuses her attention on the upcoming USBC Masters, the first major championship of the 2007-08 Denny's Professional Bowlers Association Tour season, which also will lead into the four-event PBA Women's Series.
"To win and then hop on the plane to be in the company of the best female athletes in the country was an amazing experience because you watch all of them on TV, and to be sitting there next to them is a great feeling of accomplishment," said Johnson, who also won the U.S. Women's Open in 1996. "A few of them even said they saw me on TV. They were excited to see a women's event live on television, and that made me feel really proud."
The 2007 USBC Masters, scheduled for Oct. 23-28 in Milwaukee, will feature nearly 500 of the best professional and amateur bowlers in the world competing for a top prize of $100,000 and an overall prize fund of $350,000. Last year, Doug Kent of Newark, N.Y., won his second Masters title, while Johnson finished in the top 24.
Johnson, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion and 11-time Professional Women's Bowling Association titlist, is no stranger to success on bowling's biggest stages and hasn't missed a step since the PWBA ceased operations in 2003.
In the years since, Johnson has proven herself against the men in the PBA. In 2005, she made history by becoming the first woman to win a PBA regional and later became the first woman to appear in a Denny's PBA Tour championship round on the way to a second-place finish at the 2005 Banquet Open. Last season, Johnson found regular success in the weekly Tour Qualifying Rounds and earned a wealth of experience while competing alongside the men.
"I'm still riding the high from winning this weekend, and I don't think it has completely sunk in yet, but it really has given me a lot of confidence and momentum heading into the Masters," Johnson said. "I've improved at the Masters each year I've bowled, so I'm really looking forward to it."
Johnson is one of 17 women scheduled to compete in this year's Masters. The field also includes Diandra Asbaty, Lynda Barnes, Missy Bellinder, Amanda Burgoyne, Elysia Current, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, April Ellis, Joy Esterson, Michelle Feldman, Tish Johnson, Kelly Kulick, Jen Petrick, Olivia Sandham, Heidi Septer, Amy Stolz and Karen Stroud.
All participants will bowl two five-game blocks of qualifying at AMF Bowlero Lanes on Oct. 23 and 24 before the first cut is made to the top 25 percent. After another five games the morning of Oct. 25, the top 63 bowlers will join Kent in match play, which continues until the top four bowlers are determined Oct. 26 for the TV finals.
The finals of the Masters will be held on Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. EDT at Miller Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers, and televised live on ESPN.
For tickets to the finals, visit tickets.com, the Miller Park box office or call the Miller Park box office at (414) 902-4000. Tickets range in price from $12.50 to $77.50 and each ticket also includes admission to Bowlfest, a special event to be held at Miller Park on Oct. 27 from 6-9 p.m.