Danielle McEwan is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Stony Point, New York. She currently competes on the PWBA Tour and in some events on the PBA Tour. She has been a member of Junior Team USA, and is currently a member of Team USA. McEwan received national-level NCAA accolades during her college years, and joined Team USA beginning in 2012. Since the rebirth of the PWBA Tour in 2015, McEwan has won five titles, including major wins at the 2015 Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship and 2019 U.S. Women's Open. She is one of two players to have captured at least one PWBA title in every season since the 2015 rebirth. She is also a two-time winner of the World Bowling Tour Women's Finals. McEwan is currently a member of the Storm, Turbo Grips, High 5 bowling gear and KT tape pro staffs.
Early life and amateur career
In high school, McEwan chose bowling over tennis as her preferred sport. In her freshman year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, McEwan was named MVP of the NCAA National Championships as her team won the title. McEwan was named FDU Female Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013, and NCAA All American, receiving the Professional Bowlers Association’s 2012 Billy Welu Scholarship. She was also named Northeast Conference Bowler of the Year and NCAA Player of the Year. Through her junior year, McEwan had maintained a 3.5 grade point average while majoring in psychology. McEwan has competed for Team USA for six years, beginning in 2012.
Professional bowling career
McEwan was one of the first beneficiaries of the 2015 re-launch of the Professional Women's Bowling Association. On September 13, 2015, shortly after her 24th birthday, McEwan won the Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship, considered her first major title. At that championship, which concluded the first full season of women’s professional bowling since 2003, McEwan ranked fourth for 2015 PWBA Player of the Year. On October 23, 2015, McEwan became the ninth woman to win a Professional Bowlers Association regional title, qualifying her to compete in the 2016 FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions. On October 23-24, 2015, her team "Dead Money" was the upset winner in the PBA Team Challenge. As the leading female bowler in the South Point events and the 2015 U.S. Open, McEwan was invited to participate in the 2016 DHC Japan Invitational tournament, along with 13 male PBA bowlers. In December 2015, McEwan and teammate Kelly Kulick won the gold medal in the doubles competition at the Women's World Bowling Championship in Abu Dhabi, and was on the Team USA team that won the gold medal in the WBC team competition. Individually, McEwan won a bronze medal in the Masters competition. McEwan was selected for the "Barbasol Motown Muscle" PBA League team, one of two women drafted for the 2016 season. She earned a spot in the three-woman field for the PBA's World Bowling Tour Women’s Finals, held in December, 2015. McEwan went on to win the WBT Finals, the event's finalists being chosen and seeded based on PBA International-WBT events over a two-year rolling WBT points competition. On March 2, 2016, McEwan won the 2016 PBA-WBT H.H. Emir Cup ; however, because she accepted the eight handicap pins per game offered to female bowlers, she became ineligible to earn a PBA or World Bowling Tour title. McEwan captured her second PWBA Tour title at the on June 26, 2016. Her 823 in match play was the first 800 series by any player since the 2015 re-launch of the PWBA Tour. On February 26, 2017, McEwan repeated as World Bowling Tour Women's Finals champion, defeating Liz Johnson in the final televised match to cash $20,000. On August 6, 2017, McEwan won her third PWBA Tour title at the. In the same year, McEwan won a silver medal at The World Games 2017 in Wrocław, Poland. McEwan was unsuccessful in her bid for a third straight World Bowling Tour Women's Finals championship, falling to top seed Diana Zavjalova of Latvia in the final stepladder match held on November 19, 2017. She rebounded on December 3, 2017, winning the Women's All-Events gold medal at the 2017 World Bowling Championships in Las Vegas. McEwan won her fourth PWBA title on May 12, 2018 at the . She is one of three players to have won at least one title every season since the re-launch of the PWBA Tour in 2015. She finished runner-up to Shannon O'Keefe for 2018 PWBA Player of the Year honors, also finishing second in championship round appearances and third in Tour average. McEwan won the PBA International-WBT Thailand tournament on September 28, 2018, topping England's Stuart Williams in a two-game final to win ฿1,000,000. Because McEwan accepted the eight pins per game handicap offered to female competitors, she was not credited with a PBA or WBT title. On June 23, 2019, McEwan won her fifth PWBA title and second career major at the U.S. Women's Open, defeating top seed Tannya Roumimper of Indonesia in the final match. For a second straight season, McEwan finished runner-up to Shannon O'Keefe for PWBA Player of the Year honors.
Training
In addition to bowling practice and gym work, McEwan works on her mental game by working with a sports psychologist and by researching books and articles.
Personal life
From 2013 to 2018, Danielle dated PBA bowler Marshall Kent. The two initially met when both were members of Junior Team USA, but did not officially become a couple until representing Team USA at an event in Bangkok, Thailand. After five years of dating, McEwan and Kent went their separate ways for unspecified personal reasons.
