PBAers set the tone on penultimate qualifying day at Qatar Open

    11/28/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #20

    Three players crack the top 9 on Sunday; cut for 36th place is now 1315 (219.17 average)

    201112PBABillONeill.jpg201112PBAMikaKoivuniemi.jpgThree U.S. professional bowlers led squads 12-14 on the penultimate qualifying day at the Qatar Bowling Open at Qatar Bowling Center in Doha.

    Three-time PBA champion Bill O'Neill (pictured left) rolled the highest six-game series on Sunday to pocket the High Series Award worth 200 Euro. The 2010 U.S. Open winner moved into third place in the overall qualifying standings behind games of 258, 198, 232, 232, 264 and 239 and a 1423 series (237.17 average).

    O'Neill achieved his feat in Squad 13 at 4 p.m. It marked the fifth consecutive day that a bowler of the 4 p.m. squads has won the High Series Award.

    Three-time Asian point ranking leader Hussain Al-Suwaidi, UAE, continued to lead the field of 118 players from 20 countries with 1449 and an average of 241.50. Reigning PBA Player of the Year, Mika Koivuniemi (above right), Finland, was one pin behind in second place with 1448.

    201112PBAMikeFagan.jpg201112PBASeanRash.jpgTwo-time PBA champion Mike Fagan (left), United States, had six games between 214 and 244 to lead Squad 14 and to jump into fifth place overall with 1390.

    Four-time PBA champion Sean Rash (right), United States, who qualified for six out of eight TV finals in the PBA World Series of Bowling earlier this month, paced Squad 12 with 1354 including high games of 270 and 256, good for 18th place.

    World champion Mai Ginge Jensen (below left) of Denmark, one of only five women in the field, averaged 221.83 scratch to finish second to O'Neill in Squad 13 and to land in seventh place with 1379 including handicap The top 9 in the overall qualifying standings will earn one bye for the finals on Tuesday.

    2011WWCMaiGingeJensen2.jpg2011WWCJolinePerssonPlanefors2.jpgThe only other women in the top 36 was EBT women's point ranking leader Joline Persson-Planefors (right), Sweden, who was 27th with 1334 total.

    Heading into the final qualifying day, Fahad Ali, Kuwait, is on the bubble in 36th place with 1315 or an average of 219.17.

    Qualifying ends on Monday, Nov. 28, with Squads 15-18 scheduled to start at 9 a.m., noon, 4 and 8 p.m. AST (CET -2/EST -8) and concludes with the single-game Desperado Squad slated for 11 p.m..

    2011EBT20QBFLogo_small.jpg The Qatar Bowling Open is the 20th and last stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the second "Platinum" event of the 2011 EBT season. The tournament will be held from Wednesday Nov. 23 through Tuesday Nov. 29, 2011 at 32-lane Qatar Bowling Center in Doha, Qatar.

    The tournament offers total prize money of 125.000 Euro (approx. $167,850) with 30.000 Euro going to the winner, 14.400 Euro to the first runner-up and 5.000 Euro to the third and fourth place finishers.

    201011PBAStuartWilliams_small.jpg2010EBT05MaiGingeJensen_small.jpg In the 2010 Qatar Bowling Open PBA exempt player Stuart Williams (pictured left), England, defeated Mai Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, over two games total pinfall, 422-417, en route to claim his sixth title on the European Bowling Tour and the 30.000 Euro top prize.

    Williams won the first game by four pins (202-198) and the second game by one pin (220-219) to wrap up the title. Jensen, who won the women's ranking in Qatar, was consoled with 15.000 Euro for second place.

    The 2011 European Bowling Tour consists of 20 tour stops in 16 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, six Silver and six Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament such as the Qatar Bowling Open receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    2011 European Bowling Tour Rankings by Bowlingdigital - Current Standings
    2011 EBT Men's Ranking
    2011 EBT Women's Ranking

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 season qualify for the fifth EBT Masters to be held at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on April 30 and May 1, 2012. The event will become the first EBT Masters to be contested on single lane condition.

    Qualifying of the Qatar Bowling Open (6 games, unlimited re-entries) runs through Monday, Nov. 28 and ends with Squad 18 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad scheduled for 11 p.m. local time. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players - the top 36 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 2 of the Nov. 23rd squads, the top 3 each of the Nov. 24 and 25 squads, plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - advance to the finals on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011.

    The top 9 qualifiers earn one bye. The remaining 39 players will bowl six games scratch with the top 19 advancing to the second round. Those 19 and the nine qualifying leaders will roll another six-game block scratch to cut to the top 4, who advance to the semifinals.

    The No. 1 bowls No. 4 and the No. 2 bowls No. 2 with the two-game total pinfall determining the winner. The two semifinal winners will bowl for the title and the 30.000 Euro top prize.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 14/18

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