Rebecka Larsen waits until the last minute to win qualifying at Norwegian Open

    10/14/12

    2012 European Bowling Tour #17

    Swede shoots the tournament's first 1500-series to beat out 18-year-old Tanner Spacey for the top spot by 66 pins; cut for 36th place is 1319 (219.83 average)

    2012EBT17RebeckaLarsen.jpg

    2012EBT17TannerSpacey.jpgTwo-time European champion Rebecka Larsen (pictured left) of Sweden waited until the last squad to make the cut for Sunday's finals in the Norwegian Open 2012 by Brunswick at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway.

    The gold medalist in Trios and All Events at the 2012 Women's European Championships in Holland posted a 1538 series including 48 pins handicap averaging 248.33 scratch for six games en route to win the qualifying and to earn three byes for the finals.

    Larsen averaged over 260 for the first four games (257, 269, 244, 273 - 1043 scratch), then had a 190 game for 1273 total. Needing 192 scratch to overtake Tanner Spacey (right), United States, the Swede fired another big 257 game to seal the victory.

    2012EBT17GlennMortonPedersen2.jpg2012EBT17ChristerAker.jpg18-year-old Spacey, who led the tournament since Squad 8 with 1472 total, a 245.33 average, including the lone 300 game of the tournament so far, finished in second place. Glenn Morten Pedersen (left) of Norway was third with 1436 followed by Swedes Raymond Jansson and Mikael Roos in fourth and fifth place with 1434 and 1423, respectively.

    The only player who was able to follow Larsen was Arnar David Jonsson of Iceland, who averaged 236.33 to finish 120 pins behind in sixth place with 1418 including games of 212, 247, 279, 259, 226 and 195.

    Norwegian Christer Aker (right), who had just 590 pins after three games due to 167 in the second game, finished with 268, 275 and 232 (775) to easily make the cut in 15th place with 1365 total (227.50).

    2012EBT17LarsLindback.jpg2012EBT17BrittBrondsted2.jpgMartin Olsen of Norway started his set with five games between 203 and 232 before he finished with a 246 high game for 1324 to become the fourth and last player of Squad 16 to advance the finals in 30th place.

    Sweden's Lars Lindbäck (left) and Norwegian Øyvin Kulseng tied for 36th place at 1319, an average of 219.83. Lindbäck took the last place to advance and Kulseng was seeded 37th due to the higher last game, 225 to 202 in Lindbäck's favor.

    The cut for the top 8, who received three byes for the finals, was 1401 (233.50). The cut for places 9-16 (two byes) was 1357 (226.17) and the cut for places 17-24 (one bye) was 1334 (222.33).

    2012EBT17JolinePerssonPlanefors.jpg2012EBT17HeidiThorstensen.jpgLarsen was the best of 31 women in the 180-player field from ten countries and one of six, who survived the first cut. The others were Britt Brøndsted (above right), Denmark (7th, 1412), Joline Persson-Planefors (left), Sweden (22nd, 1338), Kamilla Kjeldsen, Denmark (24th, 1334), and Monica Lislien, Norway (27th, 1328).

    The sixth woman in the finals was Norwegian national team member Heidi Thorstensen (right), who advanced with the highest sixth game (Turbo 2- 267). Joining Thorstensen with the highest fifth game (Turbo 1 - 286) was her compatriot Thor Kristian Østlie Solberg.

    Advancing from the "early bird" standings - a separate leaderboard of Squads 1-6 - were Anders Holmqvist of Sweden (1306) and Jan Cato Sparby of Norway (1272). All other 130 players were eliminated.

    2012NorwegianOpenLogo.jpg The Norwegian Open 2012 by Brunswick, which will be held from Oct. 5-14 at 26-lane Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway, is the 17th event of the 2012 European Bowling Tour and the sixth out of seven EBT "Satellite" tournaments this season.

    Players will compete for an increased total prize fund of approx. 25.700 Euro (194.000 Norwegian Kronor). The eventual winner will receive the 3.980 € top prize (30.000 NOK), the runner-up earns 2.650 (20.000 NOK) and the third finisher get 1.990 Euro (15.000 NOK), respectively.

    The qualifying of the Norwegian Open ran from Friday, Oct. 5 through Saturday, Oct. 13. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

    A total of 40 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, Oct. 14:
    • the top 36 players from the overall qualifying standings
    • two players from a separate leaderboard of Squad 1-6, who are not among the top 36
    • and one player each from the Turbo 1 and 2 list (highest score in qualifying game 5 and 6, respectively; separate fee necessary).

    The top 8 qualifiers receive three byes, players in 9th through 16th place earn two byes and places 17-24 bypass the first round of the finals. The remaining 16 players will start the finals which consist of five three-game rounds.

    Each of the first four rounds starts at scratch with the top eight players advancing while players in 9th through 16th place are eliminated. The field will be trimmed to 32, 24, 16 and then eight players, who will determine the champion in a final three-game round with the pinfall from Round 4 carried over.

    The player with the highest six-game total of Round 4 and 5 will earn the title, 50 ranking points and the 30.000 NOK top prize.

    BowlingdigitalBanner.gif Bowlingdigital will cover the Norwegian Open 2012 live from Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo with stories and results after each round. Live coverage commences Oct. 11 with qualifying Squad 7 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, Oct. 14.

    2012EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2012 European Bowling Tour is made up of 19 events in 16 countries including two Platinum, four Gold, six 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 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 such as the Norwegian Open 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.

     


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    2012 Norwegian Open - Standings after Qualifying


    The top 36 qualifiers plus two players of the Squad 1-6 standings (places 37 & 38) and one player each from the Turbo 1 and 2 list (places 39 & 40) advance to Sunday's finals. The top 8 qualifiers receive three byes, players in 9th through 16th place earn two byes and places 17-24 bypass the first round of the finals.

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