Francois Louw of South Africa defeated Frederik Øhrgaard of Denmark in the decisive game to win the World Bowling Tour’s 9th Kingdom International Open Monday at Universal Bowling Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and to pocket the $25,000 top prize.

Louw (pictured left), who lost the title match of the 51st QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup against Wu Siu Hong of Kong from top seed last month, fired a 300 game in the last game of the final round to earn the top seed in Riyadh.

As in most of the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) tournament’s the No. 1 seed in the Kingdom International Open must be defeated twice to win the title. Louw took full advantage of the rule as he rebounded from a 247-226 loss in game one with a 247-239 win in game two to seal the victory.

Øhrgaard (above right) , who survived the qualifying cut in 28th place, averaged 260.75 for four games in the stepladder finals. In the opening shootout match, the No. 3 seed fired the third 300 game of the tournament to eliminate Rickle Kam (left; 269) of Hong Kong and Asian Games champion Hassan Al-Shaikh (right; 181) of Saudi Arabia.

In the semi-final match, Øhrgaard made quick work of another Asian Games champion, Ryan Lalisang (below right) of Indonesia, 257-208, for the right to bowl Louw for the title.

Øhrgaard received $12,000 for second place, Lalisang got $7,000 for third place, Kam earned $4,500 for fourth place and Al-Shaikh garnered $4,000 for fifth place.

Qualifying leader and World Cup champion Wu, who had the first 300 game of the event in the qualifying, missed the cut to the top 5 by 55 pins to finish in 8th place worth $3,300.

The 9th Kingdom International Open Saudi Arabia, the 17th event of the 2015 World Bowling Tour, will be held December 3-7 at Universal Bowling Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Players will compete for total prize fund of roughly 110,000 US Dollar with $25,000 going to the champion, $12,000 to the first runner-up, $7,000 to the third, $4,500 to the fourth and $4,000 to the fifth place finishers. Last-to-cash payout is $1,000 for 32nd place.

Qualifying (12 games in six game blocks) runs from Dec. 3-5 (Day One: first block; Day Two: second block; Day Three: Optional re-entry – maximum one six-game block).

Total 32 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 6 & 7 and will be seeded as follows:

• Places 1-3: Top 3 qualifiers
• Place 4: Highest Saudi bowler
• Places 5-28: Next 24 qualifiers
• Place 29-32: Four highest Saudi bowlers

Bowlers ranked 1-4 will bypass the semi-final round. Players ranked 5-32 will bowl eight games scratch to cut to the top 11 plus the next bowler from Saudi Arabia, who will meet the top 4 qualifiers in the final round.

After another eight-game block scratch, the top five players will advance to the stepladder finals. Players ranked 3-5 will clash in the opening match. The winner takes on the No. 2 seed and the winner of that match meets the No. 1 seed in the championship match. The top seeded player must be defeated twice to win the title.

The top 16 Asian men will advance to the ninth and final leg of the 2015 Asian Bowling Federation (ABF) Tour which will be contested on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at Universal Bowling Center in Riyadh.

The 2015 World Bowling Tour, which actually got underway in November 2014, consists of 19 tournaments in 12 countries, eight in the Middle East, seven in the U.S., and two each in Asia and Europe, including seven “majors” (double ranking points) and 12 regular tournaments.

If a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) wins a World Bowling Tour event, it counts as a PBA title.

Players earn ranking points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so all points from the 2014 and 2015 are added to determine the points list.

The top three men and top three women in the points list will compete in the season-ending WBT Finals in Indianapolis on Feb. 13, 2016. The qualifying standings for the World Bowling Tour Finals are different to the WBT Ranking as they include all WBT events since Nov. 1, 2013.

World Bowling provides governance to international bowling and is made up of 134 bowling international federations. For more information on the World Bowling Tour, click here.

Photos courtesy of Asian Bowling Federation (ABF)

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9th Kingdom International Open – Stepladder Finals

Universal Bowling Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Dec. 3-7, 2015)

Championship Round:
1. Francois Louw, South Africa, 473 (2 games), $25,000
2. Frederik Øhrgaard, Denmark, 1043 (4 games), $12,000
3. Ryan Lalisang, Indonesia, 208 (1 game), $7,000
4. Rickle Kam, Hong Kong, 269 (1 game), $4,500
5. Hassan Al-Shaikh, Saudi Arabia, 181 (1 game), $4,000

L-R Lalisang, Louw, Øhrgaard, Kam and Al-Shaikh.

Playoff Results:
First Match: No. 3 Øhrgaard (300) def. No. 4 Kam (269) and No. 5 Al-Shaikh (181)
Semi-final Match: Øhrgaard def. No. 2 Lalisang, 257-208
Championship: Øhrgaard def. No. 1 Louw, 247-226
and in the decisive game: Louw def. Øhrgaard, 247-239.

9th Kingdom International Open – Cashers (Places 6-32)

6. Yaqoub Alshatti, Kuwait, $3,500
7. Eric Tseng, Hong Kong, $3,400
8. Wu Siu Hong, Hong Kong, $3,300
9. Mohamed Janahi, Bahrain, $3,200
10. Khaled Aldubyyan, Kuwait, $3,100
11. Lau Kwun Ho, Hong Kong, $3,000
12. Yannaphon Larp-apharat, Thailand, $2,900
13. Remy Ong, Singapore, $2,800
14. Ahmed Al-Hadyan, Saudi Arabia, $2,700
15. Yasser Abulreesh, Saudi Arabia, $2,600
16. Abdulhakim Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia, $2,500
17. Basel Alanzi, Kuwait, $1,700
18. Khalid Al Dosary, Qatar, $1,600
19. Abdullah Aldolijan, Saudi Arabia, $1,500
20. Bader Al Shaikh, Saudi Arabia, $1,400
21. Fahad Alreghab, Kuwait, $1,250
22. Talal Altowereb, Saudi Arabia, $1,200
23. Salem Alhajras, Kuwait, $1,150
24. Mohamed Najrani, Saudi Arabia, $1,100
25. Joshua Chow, Hong Kong, $1,050
26. Yousef Al-Jaber, Qatar, $1,050
27. Ayad Al Amiri, Kuwait, $1,000
28. Mohamed Al Saud, Saudi Arabia, $1,000
29. Ammar Tarrad, Saudi Arabia, $1,000
30. Adel Al Barqi, Saudi Arabia, $1,000
31. Moeedh Qahtani, Saudi Arabia, $1,000
32. Rushaidan Al-Rushaidan, Saudi Arabia, $1,000