Just when the world of women's professional bowling happened upon an attractive competitive

rivalry between Kelly Kulick and Cheektowaga's Liz Johnson to build on, there is some gloom on

the horizon.

Kulick defeated Johnson, 233-203, this week in the nationally televised championship match

of the USBC Women's Open in Arlington, Texas. However, it may be the last Women's Open for a

while. The USBC no longer will fund the Open and the status of the PBA Women's Series, seven

tournaments held in conjunction with PBA Lumber Liquidator Tour events, also is in doubt for

the 2010-11 season. The USBC also supports the Women's Series.

Johnson and Kulick have taken turns, it seems, breaking down gender barriers in the sport.

What Liz hasn't been able to accomplish, Kelly has managed to do.

Liz became the first woman to qualify for a PBA TV final and first to win a PBA Regional

title. In 2006 Kulick was the first woman to earn a PBA Tour Exemption with a sixth-place

finish in the Tour Qualifier. She lost her exemption after the 2006-07 season when she made it

to match play in only five of 19 Tour events.

Last September, Kulick began an amazing run of four straight major championships when she

won the first PBA Women's World Championship in Allen Park, Mich. That qualified her to be the

first woman to compete in the PBA Tournament of Champions.

Amazingly, Kulick won the TOC, one of the sport's most coveted titles, defeating Chris

Barnes in the final in January. She's followed that by winning the USBC Queens Tournament,

climbing the stepladder from the fifth position. Next came the U.S. Open.

Kulick led the PBA Women's Series in points. Liz was third.

Liz led the Women's Series with a 217.05 average; Kulick was second with 214.77. Kulick was

second in Women's Series earnings ($39,100); Liz was third with $32,300.

Head-to-head, Kulick and Johnson are even in majors. Liz won the 2009 U.S. Queens,

defeating Kulick, 247-204, in the championship match. Kulick returned the favor this week in

the Women's Open final.

"This has just been a magical run for me," Kulick said after her victory this week.

It's also been a profitable run: Kulick earned $100,000 for her four major wins.

Johnson needs no excuses, but it's not always advantageous to be the No. 1 seed in a

stepladder final format. She sat by while Kulick was defeating Caroyln Dorin-Ballard in the

semifinal match. Also, the final was bowled at the USBC International Training and Research

Center in Arlington, Texas, after the previous days of competition were held at Cityview Lanes

in Fort Worth.

Johnson made no alibi.

"I felt good and got lined up in practice, but the first couple of shots didn't come off my

hand well," she said. "After that I was pretty close, but the pins just didn't fall for me.

Kelly just bowled great."

Now, the question is how many Kulick-Johnson showdowns can we look forward to?

Masters matters

Sometimes bowling in the Obenauer Masters can be a crapshoot. Bowl a 723 series and you can

lose if you run into a 780. That's what happened to Gary Kinyon of Lockport last year in his

first-round match against Jeff Tycz of Cheektowaga. Bowl a 557 and you can lose by 202 pins.

That's what happened to Justin Hart against eventual champion Joe Ciccone in 2008. In the same

year, matches were won with totals of 549, 552 and 553. Three-time Obenauer champion Mike

Hanes won a match in 2008 with a 567.

Through Thursday's Obenauer matches, though, good scores have been mostly rewarded and low

scores have been punished.

There were only two winning totals under 600. Nineteen-year-old Ted Chojecki had the

misfortune of bowling a high losing score, a 658 (219 average) in his match against Chris

Weiler of Buffalo, who bowled a 722.

Of the three former champions entered, only Hanes made it to match play. Mike Mallwitz,

last year's runner-up to Johnson, was sent to the once-defeated bracket with his loss to Joe

DiNardo of Kenmore (611-566). Mallwitz came back with a 722 series in eliminating Pete

Zmozynski of Depew, 723-549.

Top qualifier Ryan Ciminelli, Hanes, Mallwitz, Mike Zarcone and Mike Bedford of Lockport

appear to be the most obvious contenders, but it's still a wide-open affair. It all will come

down to Sunday's 3 p.m. finals.