Palermaa paces 5th Qualifying Squad in Vienna Open

Defending champion Osku Palermaa rolled the sole 1300-plus series in the fifth qualifying squad in the 4th Vienna Open powered by Columbia 300 to easily qualify for the finals on Sunday, October 22.

The Finn, who uses both hands to deliver the bowling ball, had games of 207, 256, 217, 265, 181 and 213 to move into ninth place in the overall standings with 1339 pinfall total and an average of 223.17.

As Palermaa's score should be high enough to finish among the top 56 qualifiers, who will advance to the finals, Franz Hahn from Austria, has a realistic chance to book his spot in the finals due to his second-place finish in Squad 5 with 1248. According to the rules the leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56 will make the first cut.

Palermaa, currently the No. 3 in the European rankings, teamed with the No. 2, Stuart Williams from England, in the qualifying. The qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. All players roll six-game blocks and no finals will be played. A bowler can only cash once with the same partner. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible. The winners of the Doubles event will split 1.600 Euro ($2,002).

Williams managed 1192 only to sit in 46th place in Singles but the duo was still the best of Squad 5 with 2531 pinfall total and an average of 210.92, good enough for sixth place overall.

Thomas Gross from Austria continued to lead the Singles with 1400 six-game total and also in Doubles together with his wife Ivonne, who contributed 1322 for 2722 pinfall total.

Qualifying continues through Saturday evening and ends with the ultimate 'Desperado Squad'. 68 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, October 22 at 8am:
- The eight players with the highest six-game blocks will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play Round of 32.
- Players positioned 9-56 after qualifying,
- the leaders of Squad 1 through 6 not among the top 56,
- and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

All but the top 8 qualifiers will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the play Round of 32.

Match Play Rounds of 32, 16 and 8 are in a best-of-three games format, highest seeded player vs. the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.

The semi-finals and the championship match will be decided in one game. The Vienna Open champion will receive the 7.000 Euro top prize (approx. $8,758).

The lane maintenance is done by John Janawicz (left) from Kegel. Janawicz is the 2005 USBC Open Singles and All Events Champion. Kegel is the official lane maintenance partner of the European Tenpin Bowling Federation.