“We really try to see the glass as half full rather than half empty,” Kulick said. She believes that comes from a steady dose of positive thinking from her mother Carol who was on hand Sunday. “Being in a position where I had to work my way back into the top four took pressure off of me,” Kulick said. Kulick averaged 250 over her last six games Friday night to climb from sixth place to second after 48 games of qualifying and match play. “When I came back and got a strike after the 7-10 it really calmed me down,” she said. She started the championship game with four strikes before leaving the 7-10 split in the fifth but rallied for six straight strikes, including one in the ninth to lock up the title. 2-seed, then defeated Koivuniemi, 227-223. In the first playoff game, Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi eliminated Rhino Page, 255-215. And I probably outweigh Norm Duke by 20 or 30 pounds,” she said of the diminutive reigning PBA player of the year. I hope all of America was watching,” said Kulick, who earned a degree in physical and health education from Morehead State in Kentucky where she was a two-time collegiate bowler of the year. “I’m just happy for the sport of bowling. Her best efforts in the 2006-07 season were two 22nd-place finishes.

Her foray into the male-dominated PBA world began in 2006 when she became the first woman to earn a PBA Tour exemption by finishing sixth in the PBA Tour Trials tournament.

Bowling Congress Women’s Open (2001) and Queens (2007). She is one of the top woman bowlers in the world and owns two major women’s titles: U.S. Bowling Congress began funding two years ago a part-time division for women in the PBA. Kulick earned a berth in the prestigious event by winning the PBA Women’s World Championship in September, the first PBA women’s major tournament since the U.S. The previous best finish for a woman in a PBA Tour event was Liz Johnson’s second-place finish in the 2005 Banquet Open. In addition to winning $40,000, the right-hander from Union, N.J., will be assured a spot in PBA Tour event starting fields for two years. “This day will never be forgotten, and my mom was here to see it.” “It’s been a dream of mine to win a PBA Tour event, but I couldn’t have imagined it would come in the Tournament of Champions,” Kulick said moments after defeating Chris Barnes 265-195 in the championship game aired live on ESPN. Kulick, 32, accomplished the milestone Sunday at Red Rock Lanes in the Tournament of Champions, one of four “major” events in the Professional Bowlers Association. Kelly Kulick used a 15-pound bowling ball to smash a 52-year barrier when she became the first woman to win a PBA Tour tournament.

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