The CBS Sports Network live stream will begin at 5 p.m. EST, with Coté looking to win her first major championship, a $ 50,000 top prize and the 2021 PWBA Female Player of the Year award.

The 35-year-old right-hander posted a 16-8 match play record to grab the seed with a total of 6,095, including bonus pins for every win.

She will be joined on the stepladder by Shannon Pluhowsky of Dayton, Ohio (6,026), Diana Zavjalova of Latvia (5,853), Stephanie Zavala of Downey, Calif. (5,768) and Shannon O’Keefe of Shiloh, Illinois (5,763 ).

The Tour Championship is the final and third major event of the 2021 PWBA Tour season. It also marks the conclusion of the PWBA Fall Classic series, which included the PWBA Reno Classic and the PWBA Pepsi Classic.

Coté was the top qualifier for the game circuit championship, which used the combined qualifying totals from the Reno Classic and the Pepsi Classic (24 games) to determine the 24 athletes qualifying for the season-ending major.

Pinfall fell early in the Tour Championship, but the fresh start didn’t slow Côté’s run this week at National Bowling Stadium. She was in second place after the first two blocks of round robin games on Friday and averaged over 257 for her first five games on Saturday to take first place on the 40-foot lane condition of the event. .

“I was pretty nervous this morning,” said Coté, who won his second career PWBA Tour title earlier this season at the ITRC PWBA Classic. “I still had eight games to play, and anything can happen in eight games, especially with the increased scores. I wanted to shoot good shots, see the clear path with my ball reaction and enjoy the big games. You usually. hit a pair or two with big plays, and I was grateful to have a few more where my ball reaction was great and my ball went really well through the pins. ”

Coté finished second behind Zavala on Tuesday at the Reno Classic and placed ninth at the Pepsi Classic on Thursday.

His performance this week at NBS, coupled with consistent performances throughout the 2021 season, propelled Coté to the top of the season points list, which determines the PWBA Player of the Year and PWBA Rookie of the Year awards. Year. She started the classic fall series eighth on the points list.

Zavala, a three-time PWBA Tour winner this year, secured his top rookie spot earlier in the week at the Pepsi Classic.

Côté will make his sixth championship round appearance of the season on Sunday and win the playoff award for the first time in his career with a victory in the title game.

It would also be possible for Côté to win the award before even throwing a shot on Sunday, if O’Keefe loses the stepladder opener to Zavala.

O’Keefe, the reigning two-time PWBA Player of the Year, can take home the award for the third season in a row if she finishes fourth or higher and Coté finishes second.

All the extra noise surrounding the Player of the Year race and the pressure of a major championship, the TV lights and the big paycheck are things Coté plans to put out of his mind.

“I really can’t think of all the outside factors,” Coté said. “If I let my mind do it, my body won’t know what to do. My mind has to focus on the task at hand, and everything else will fall into place if I do.”

While Coté secured his place at the top of the standings, Zavala upset the standings.

Zavala started the event with five straight open frames on her way to a 96 game, but she averaged 229 for the rest of the opening block to finish the first round in 16th place.

She slipped to 20th place after Friday’s eight-game second round, but a memorable comeback on Saturday earned her a sixth championship-round appearance of the year.

Zavala started Saturday’s final round with 338 pins outside the cut count, but averaged over 251 and went 7-1 to make an unlikely run to the show. She threw games of 286, 266, 269, 252, 231, 227, 265 and 217.

The 25-year-old right-hander entered fifth on Saturday, but was just four pins ahead of Poland’s Daria Pajak.

Zavala recorded a 217-205 victory throwing three strikes in her last frame and moved up to fourth place overall. Pajak finished in sixth place with a total of 5,722.

Zavala will make her second consecutive appearance in a championship round after finishing fourth at the US Women’s Open in August.

Pluhowsky is hoping to win his second major title at the 78-lane venue. She won her only PWBA Tour title at the Queens United States Bowling Congress 2006. She also performed at the US Women’s Open this year, finishing in third place.

Zavjalova is the only athlete to qualify for the championship round in every major this season.

She recorded a fifth place finish at the USBC Queens, held at the NBS in May, and the US Women’s Open. She is looking for her third major title (Queens 2013 and 2017) and her fifth career title on the PWBA Tour.

O’Keefe is the reigning Tour Championship champion and the only player to have won the event twice (2017 and 2019). She won the season-opening PWBA Bowlers Journal Classic in January and is chasing her fourth major championship and 15th PWBA Tour title.

O’Keefe won Queens 2018 at NBS, beating Coté in the title match, 221-189.