Mike Fagan becomes third player to crack the 1500-mark at Plaza Saint Maximin

    03/23/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #4

    USBC Masters champion shoots 1514 to take over third place; Stuart Williams, Zulmazran Zulkifli move into top 12; cut for 52nd place is now 1308 (218 avg.)

    2012EBT04MikeFagan.jpg2012EBT04DinoCastillo.jpgUSBC Masters champion Mike Fagan (pictured left), United States, posted a 1514 series in Squad 14 to become the third player in the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge who cracked the 1500-bar.

    Fagan, who finished second in this year's U.S. Open, started his block with three consecutive 250-plus games (255, 256 and 258) and added 231 269 and 245, an average of 252.33 for six games, to leap into third place in the qualifying standings.

    Fagan is sandwiched between 2011 Masters champion Tom Hess (1st; 1533), Dino Castillo (right; 2nd, 1531) and 2007 Masters champion Sean Rash (4th; 1488) giving the U.S. the first four spots in the 282-player field from 25 countries.

    2012EBT04StuartWilliams.jpg2012EBT04ZulmazranZulkifli.jpgStuart Williams (left), who became England's first PBA champion in the 2011 PBA World Series of Bowling (Dominic Barrett is the second), finished Squad 14 with 1475 to move into fifth place.

    Malaysian International Zulmazran Zulkifli (right) was next with 1417, good for 10th place overall. Rounding out the top 12, who will earn one bye for the finals, were Liz Johnson (below left), United States, and Zandra Aziela, Malaysia, with 1417 and 1415 total including 8 pins handicap each game.

    Fresh off his victories in the Bahrain Open and Kuwait Open, two-hander Osku Palermaa (below right), Finland, toppled 1338 pins including a 279 game to sit in 32nd place.

    2012EBT04LizJohnson.jpg2012EBT04OskuPalermaa.jpgThe title in Kuwait was the first PBA Tour international title since the PBA Tour's new alliance with the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA). It was Palermaa's third career PBA title and the second this season after winning the PBA World Champion in November 2011.

    The winner of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge will be awarded PBA Tour international title. With another eleven qualifying squads to go, George Patel, England, holds the 52nd place and last place to advance to Sunday's finals with 1308 or an average of 218.

    Qualifying continues on Thursday with Squad 15 scheduled for 8 p.m. CET followed by Squad 16 starting at Midnight.

    Photo Gallery Part 1

    2011EBT17ClaraGuerrero2_small.jpg The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth tournament on the 2012 European Bowling Tour schedule and one of only two "Platinum" events, the EBT's highest category. The BEC is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour and the second of three WBT events in Europe this season. Colombia's Clara Juliana Guerrero (left) is the defending champion.

    The tournament will be held from March 16-25 at 28-laner Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin near Paris, France and offers total prize money of 106.000 Euro, approximately US $140,000 with 15.000 Euro going to the winner, 7.500 Euro to the runner-up and 5.000 Euro to the third place finisher.

    ValckeBowling.jpg BowlingdigitalBanner.gif The 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge is organized and conducted by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling. Bowlingdigital.com will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling with stories and results after each round including live streaming, high definition videos and high quality photos.

    Live streaming of the 2012 Brunswick Euro Challenge stepladder finals starts on Sunday, March 25th at 6.30 p.m. Central European Time (12.30 p.m. EST; 12.30 a.m. on the 26th Hong Kong time). The award ceremonies are scheduled for 7.30 p.m. CET.

    The live stream of the stepladder finals of the World Bowling Tour's WTBA International Open, which was contested Wednesday, March 20th at Plaza St. Maximim, can be found here.

    2012BECLogo_small.jpg BEC qualifying runs through Saturday, March. 24 with the final Squad 25 slated for 8 p.m. Qualifying concludes with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad at 11.30 p.m. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 25, the top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads conducted March 16-19 plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad. The top 12 qualifiers will receive one bye.

    The remaining 52 finalists will bowl six games scratch to cut to the top 16 who will join the top 12 qualifiers in Round Two. Those 28 will bowl another six games scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 8 players who will carry their pinfall total forward into the match play round.

    After seven games round robin match play (30 for each win; 15 for each tie) the top 3 players will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The No. 3 seed bowls the No. 2 seed and the winner of the semifinal match takes on the No. 1 seed for the title, and the 15.00 Euro top prize.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 21 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver and seven Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event earn ranking points based on how they finish in the event. The winner of a Platinum tournament such as the Brunswick Euro Challenge 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.

    Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 16 men and top 16 women who will compete in the sixth EBT Masters in Bratislava, Slovakia in Sept. 2013.

    2012 European Bowling Tour Rankings
    EBT Women's Ranking
    EBT Men's Ranking

    WBTLogo_small.jpgThe ninth edition of the Brunswick Euro Challenge is also the seventh event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association. After the Bahamas Classic has been postponed the 2012 WBT consists of 13 tournaments in America, Asia, Europe and Australia - five in the United States and one each in Australia, Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Kuwait and Thailand.

    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 points earned in 2011 are added to points earned in 2012 to determine the points list.

    The top three men and top three women will be invited to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association at the end of 2012 featuring total prize fund of $70,000.

    World Bowling Tour Rankings
    WBT Women's Ranking
    WBT Men's Ranking

    The World Tenpin Bowling Association, which is made up of 115 bowling federations, governs the sport throughout the world. For more information on WTBA and the World Bowling Tour, visit WorldTenpinBowling.com.

     


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    Qualifying Standings after Squad 14/25


    The top 52 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 8 of a separate leaderboard of the squads 1-8 (places 53-60) plus the top 4 of the Desperado Squad (places 61-64) will advance to the finals. The top 12 qualifiers will receive one bye.

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