Singapore bowler New Hui Fen delivers Mother’s Day gift through PWBA Northern Colorado Open win

SINGAPORE – Since she was young, New Hui Fen has always received encouragement from her mother to pursue sports. Through her ups and downs, her mum Florence Ong has remained a constant figure of support in her bowling career.

After winning the Northern Colorado Open on May 9 for her sixth Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) title, the Singaporean dedicated the victory to her 71-year-old mother, saying: “Without her encouragement and support, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I hope my mum stays healthy and happy.”

As far as the 34-year-old’s performance on the lanes is concerned, New is in the pink of health and has every reason to smile.

In 2025, she won the BowlTV Open, Rock ’n’ Roll Open and US Women’s Open en route to becoming the first Singaporean to clinch the PWBA Player of the Year award.

She has carried over her fine form into 2026, finishing second at the Rockford Open on May 2 before lifting her first title of the new season by beating American Stephanie Zavala 228-202 in the Northern Colorado Open final to pick up a cheque for US$18,500 (S$23,400).

Amid challenging conditions at the Highland Park Lanes, she was one of the more consistent players among the 75 competitors.

With a perfect game in the second round, New led the competition as the field was cut to 25, 12 and then five following the second, third and fourth blocks of six games respectively, and had a 223.08 pinfall average after 24 games.

She said: “Rounds 3 and 4 were especially challenging because the lanes changed a lot. I had to try several different bowling balls before finding a shape and reaction that worked well for me.

“Keeping an open mind and staying observant of the lane conditions were very important. I also trusted myself and the adjustments I saw on the lanes.”

As the top seed going into the five-player stepladder finals, she had the luxury of watching Sweden’s Nora Johansson and Americans Jordan Snodgrass, Shannon Pluhowsky and Zavala slug it out before she took on Zavala in the deciding game.

Both players started with two strikes sandwiching a spare, but Zavala was the first to blink as she could only spare her fourth and fifth frames before leaving her seventh frame open.

This allowed New to comfortably take the win, although she did show some rare emotion when she required a messenger headpin to come off the side wall and knock down the 10-pin for a strike in her sixth frame.

Commenting on her little skip and fist pump, she said: “I’m not a very animated bowler and I felt a lot of pressure and anxiety. That was my way of loosening up.”

But there is no doubting that the Singapore Bowling Federation (SBF) Bowler of the Year is now at the top of her game mentally and physically.

She said: “I’m really happy and grateful that the preparation and hard work I’ve put in over the past year are paying off. It’s about being very intentional with everything and sticking to the routine, every thought that goes through my head is also intentional.

“I’ve had more confidence the last three or so seasons. I’m not worried like, ‘What if I slide and my knee starts to hurt?’

“That fear is gone, and I know my body is strong enough because of the work I’ve done. I know I can handle it.”

Other than New, six other Singaporeans – Cherie Tan (17th), Bernice Lim (18th), Shayna Ng (21st), Arianne Tay (28th), Daphne Tan (51st) and Charmaine Chang (67th) – also featured in the tournament. They will now turn their attention to the May 13-19 USBC Queens in Las Vegas.

SBF technical director Jason Yeong-Nathan said: “I’m very happy with the performances of all our seven ladies.

“Some were not matched up on the patterns, but we stayed focused on what we worked on in training and put it into action during the competition. We’ll continue finding ways to improve after every competition, striving to be the best version of ourselves.”