Squad 12 and 13 leaders Alho, Ã…rup move into top 10 in Brunswick Ballmaster Open

    01/10/10

    2010 European Bowling Tour #1

    Defending champ Pasi Uotila falls out of the top 44 with his 1343 total

    2009VOTimoAlho300.jpg2009EBT04MathiasArup.jpgTimo Alho (pictured left) from Finland and Swede Mathias Ã…rup (right) set the pace in qualifying squads 12 and 13 Saturday at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland en route to move into the top 10 in the overall qualifying standings of the 40th Brunswick Ballmaster Open,, the season-opening event of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's Platinum tournaments.

    Alho felled 1452 pins in Squad 12 including a 299 game in the fifth to improve on a 1334 and to leap from 41st to 6th place. His compatriot, PBA super star Mika Koivuniemi, who rolled one of just two 300 games of the tournament in Squad 11 on Friday night, tested a new ball improving his previous high score by three pins to 1344, good for 8th place overall.

    Ã…rup led Squad 13 with 1436 including 280 and 279 en route to land right behind Koivuniemi in 9th place. His compatriot Markus Jansson also had a 299 in Squad 12 and sits in 40th place with 1348. Jansson was one of a handful players, who started into the tournament on Saturday and the only one of this group, who made it among the top 44.

    With 497 players in the books, Jussi Turtiainen, Finland, currently holds the 44th and final spot to advance with 1344 or an average of 224.00. Defending champion Pasi Uotila, Finland, who started the day in 32nd place with 1343 from Squad 2, slipped all the way out of the top 44 to 45th place within two squads.

    2010BallmasterOpenBanner.jpg The 40th Brunswick Ballmaster Open will be held from Saturday, Jan. 2 through Sunday Jan. 10 at the 36-lane Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland. Pasi Uotila, Finland, is the defending champion. Norwegian Tore Torgersen was the last non-Finnish winner back in 1996.

    About 500 players will compete for increased total prize money of 105.000 Euro or approximately 150.000 USD. The champion will walk away with the 15.000 Euro top prize. In addition the Ballmaster offers a 10.000 Euro extra prize for a 300-game.

    Qualifying ends on Saturday Jan. 9 with squads 14 and 15, which is scheduled for 8pm. The ultimate one-game Desperado Squad will conclude the qualifying at 11.30pm. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game.

    Squad 1 was reserved youth bowlers, who must not have reached the age of 24 on Jan. 2, and Squad 5 was reserved for senior bowlers, who must have reached the age of 50 on Jan. 6.

    A total of 48 players - the top 44 from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 10. No byes are given in this tournament.

    The finals will be contested in a format similar to the old PBA tournaments. All 48 finalists will bowl 8 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16 who will advance to match play portion. Those 16 will bowl 15 games of round robin match play plus one game position round with the pinfall of Round 1 being carried forward to determine the top 4 players for the stepladder finals.

    The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, the 15.000 Euro top prize and 250 ranking points. (Note: The winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50, the winner of a Silver tournament gets 100, and the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150 ranking points.)

     


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    Brunswick Ballmaster Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 13/15


    The top 44 qualifiers plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 10.


    300 games - (2) Karl Wahlgren, Sweden; Mike Koivuniemi, Finland.

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