Osku Palermaa leads 41st Brunswick Ballmaster Open after Day One Qualifying

    01/02/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #1

    PBA champion shoots 1467 series to lead a field of 112 players

    201011PBA05OskuPalermaa2.jpg2011EBT01KimmoLehtonen.jpgEurope's leading two-handed player, Osku Palermaa (pictured left), Finland, averaged 244.50 and knocked down 1467 pins to lead the 41st Brunswick Ballmaster Open after the first day of qualifying Saturday at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland. Palermaa, who has won his first PBA title in the GEICO Shark Championship in Nov. 2010, started his six-game series in Squad 2 with games of 203, 236 and 243 and closed out the set with 269, 257 and 259.

    112 players - 110 Finns and two Swedes - participated in the first two squads at 36-lane Tali Bowl. Lefty Kimmo Lehtonen (right) set the pace in Squad 1 with 1354 and an average of 225.67, but fell to sixth place at the end of day one.

    Perttu Jussila, who won his first EBT title in the penultimate event of the 2010 EBT in Rome, Italy, was second with 1408. Jussila posted six games between 256 and 214.

    Third place belonged to long-time Finnish national team member, Jouni Helminen, now the organizer of the EBT Lahti Open, who chalked up 1393 including a 279 game. Fourth place belonged to Jesse Lindholm with 1377. Rounding out the top five was Mika Heino with 1368.

    Heidi Manninen, all from Finland, was the best of 17 women on Saturday in ninth place with 1334 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    Qualifying continues on Sunday, Jam. 2 with Squads 3 and 4 at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time (CET -1).

    2010BallmasterOpenBanner.jpg The 41st Brunswick Ballmaster Open kicks off the 2011 European Bowling Tour and is the first of six "EBT Gold" events in the 2011 season. The tournament will be held from Saturday Jan. 1 through Sunday Jan. 9, 2010 at 36-lane Tali Bowl in Finland's capital city Helsinki.

    The Ballmaster is also the first of five tournaments of the inaugural World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association for 2011.

    Players compete for total prize money of 90.000 Euro with 12.000 Euro going to the winner, 8.000 to the runner-up and 4.000 and 3.000 to third and fourth place finishers, respectively.

    Since the inception of the European Bowling Tour in the year 2000, the Ballmaster has been the season-opening event of the Tour. Heading into its 12th season the 2011 EBT will feature 22 tournaments - 2 Platinum, 6 Gold, 7 Silver and 7 Satellite - in 17 countries, three in Denmark, two each in Finland and Spain and one each in Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. The total prize fund of the 2011 Tour exceeds 1.1 million Euro.

    201011PBAMikaKoivuniemi.jpg2010AGCherieTan.jpg The first edition of the Ballmaster Open back in 1971 was won by legendary Austrian player and coach, Josef Wiener. The "Big Finn", PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left) is the defending champion. Cherie Tan (right), Singapore has won the women's ranking in 2010.

    Among the players who have registered for the prestigious event are several U.S. professionals. Joining PBA champions Koivuniemi and Osku Palermaa, Finland, and PBA exempt player Stuart Williams, England are Brunswick pro staffers Sean Rash, Ronnie Russel, Tom Smallwood, Chris Loschetter and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard as well as 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes.

    Qualifying runs through Saturday, Jan. 8, and ends with Squad 16 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. local time (CET +2) on Saturday night. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    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. 9. No byes will be given in this tournament.

    The finals are similar to the old PBA format. All 48 finalists will bowl 8 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16 who will advance to the match play portion with the pinfall of Round 1 being carried forward

    Those 16 will bowl 15 games of round robin match play plus one game position round. Players earn 30 bonus pins for each match won and 15 points for a tied match. The top 4 players after 24 games including bonus will determine the champion in a traditional stepladder final.

    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 12.000 Euro top prize and 150 ranking points.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each tournament of the 2011 European Bowling Tour will cash ranking points no matter from which country or World Tenpin Bowling Association Zone (Europe, Asia, America) he or she comes.

    The 2011 Brunswick Ballmaster Open champion and the women's ranking leader will automatically take over the lead in the 2011 EBT men's and women's ranking.

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 EBT season will qualify for the 2012 EBT Masters to be held in conjunction with the 3rd Dream Bowl Palace Open in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany April 30 and May 1, 2012.

     


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