Ronnie Russell wins qualifying in 42nd Brunswick Ballmaster Open

    01/15/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #1

    American leads a field of 48 players into Sunday's finals; cut for top 44 is 1319 (219.83)

    201112PBARonnieRussell.jpg2011EBT17PasiUotila.jpgRonnie Russell (pictured left), United States, finished the qualifying portion of the 42nd Brunswick Ballmaster Open atop the leaderboard to lead total 48 players into Sunday's finals at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland. The PBA exempt player, who led the 425-player field from 17 countries with 1455, a 242.50 average, pocketed a 2.000 Euro bonus.

    Pasi Uotila (right), Finland, was mere one pin behind in second place with 1454. The multi-year Team Finland member, one of four three-time Ballmaster Open winners (Simo Vähäkorpela, Lasse Lintilä, and two-time defending champion, Mika Koivuniemi, all Finland, are the others) received a 1.000 Euro bonus. Third place belonged to Kert Truus (below left), Estonia, with 1405 worth a 500 Euro bonus.

    2012EBT01KertTruus.jpg201112PBAPatrickAllen.jpgThe final day of qualifying featured another four qualifying squads and the ultimate chance to qualify fort he finals, the one-game Desperado Squad. Tony Ranta, Finland, rolled the highest series on Saturday in Squad 14 when the former European Youth Champion used a 279 game for 1391 to finish qualifying in eighth place.

    Fresh off a second-place finish in the 32nd AIK International Tournament, Magnus Johnson Jr. led the morning Squad 13 with 1386 including high games of 275 and 265 which propelled the son of former Swedish head coach Magnus Johnson to ninth place.

    2010KSAOAndrewFrawley.jpg201112PBAChrisLoschetter.jpgLong-time Australian national team member Andrew Frawley (left) led the penultimate Squad 15 with 1356, good for 19th place overall. 13-time PBA champion Patrick Allen (above right) paced the final Squad 16 with 1366 to land in 17th place.

    The PBA Player of the Year 2004-05 was one of twelve U.S. players, who survived the first cut. Joining Russell and Allen in the finals were Sean Rash (5th, 1395), Mike Fagan (15th, 1369), Tom Hess (20th, 1356), Dino Castillo (22nd, 1354), Ryan Ciminelli (31st, 1339), Bill O'Neill (32nd, 1338), Parker Bohn III (34th, 1337), Tommy Jones (39th, 1325), Chris Barnes (43rd, 1320) and Chris Loschetter.

    "C-Lo" (right), who is still looking for his first PBA title missed the cut in 70th place with 1282, but fired a huge 266 game to advance through the Desperado Squad. Next were Finns Jani Ketonen and Niko Kurppa with 254 and 236, respectively, with Doubles World Champion Mathias Ă…rup, Sweden, taking the last spot with 232.

    2011SSST05TomasLeandersson2.jpg2011WWCKristaPollanen.jpgSwedish national coach Tomas Leandersson (left) hit the cutoff number with 1319, an average of 219.83. The multiple world and European champion beat out Veronica Lantto (1319), Sweden, thanks to the higher last game, 221 to 212.

    With Lantto sidelined just two out of 40 women in the 425-player field advanced to the finals. World Games champion Krista Pöllänen (right), Finland (6th, 1395) or 2011 World Bowling Tour finalist Sandra Andersson (below right), Sweden (36th, 1335) will determine the first leader in both the European Bowling Tour and The World Bowling Tour women's ranking in the 2012 season.

    2012BallmasterLogo_small.jpg 2011BWCSandraAndersson2.jpgThe 42nd Brunswick Ballmaster Open is the first of five "EBT Gold" events, the second-highest EBT category, in the 2012 season. The tournament runs Friday Jan. 6 through Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at 36-lane Tali Bowl in Finland's capital city Helsinki.

    Players compete for total prize money of 90.300 Euro with 12.000 Euro going to the winner, 8.000 to the runner-up and 4.000 and 3.000 to the third and fourth place finishers, respectively.

    Note: As a consequence of the Finnish tax regulations, there is a tax on prize money for non-Finnish participants. The tax, which is 15% of any prize, will be deducted from the prizes by the organizer.

    Qualifying of the 2012 Brunswick Ballmaster Open ran through Saturday, Jan. 14, and ended with Squad 16 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    The BBO 2012 features a 39.5 feet lane conditioning pattern..

    A total of 48 players - the top 44 from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - qualified for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 15. No byes were 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. Players earn 30 bonus pins for each match won and 15 points for a tied match. The top 4 players after 23 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.

    2011EBT01KristaPollanen_small.jpg201112PBAMikaKoivuniemi_small.jpg Reigning PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left) is the two-time defending Ballmaster Open champion. In the 2012 title match, the "Big Finn" topped fellow PBA champion Sean Rash, United States, 236-191, to claim his third career Ballmaster title.

    2009 World Games champion Krista Pöllänen (right), Finland, finished the tournament in ninth place to win the women's ranking.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour consists of 22 tour stops in 17 countries including two Platinum, five Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

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

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2012 season qualify for the sixth EBT Masters to be held Sept. 23rd, 2013 at BNC Bowling Center in Bratislava, Slovakia.

    WBTLogo_small.jpg The Ballmaster is also the first event on World Bowling Tour, which was inaugurated in 2011. The 2012 WBT consists of 14 tournaments in America, Asia, Europe and Australia - five in the United States and one each in Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Thailand,.

     


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    2012 Brunswick Ballmaster Open - Standings after Qualifying and Desperado Squad


    The top 44 plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad qualified for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 15.

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