Laura Beuthner of Germany and Chris Klerk, United States, rolled 1400-plus series Sunday morning at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria, to set the pace in Final Round 1 at the 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open and to lead the top 22 into the second round.

Lefty Beuthner (pictured left), one of seven women who made the qualifying cut, had six games between 212 and 238 for 1370 scratch, an average of 228.33, and added 48 pins handicap to lead the 56-player field with 1418 total.

Klerk (above right), who barely made the cut by one pin in the last qualifying squad Saturday night, carried the momentum into Round 1 averaging 235 for 1410 including games of 232, 222, 268, 196, 248 and 244.

Daniel Fransson (left) of Sweden missed the 1400-mark by two pins in third place with 1398 including a 285 first game. Kimmo Lehtonen (right) of Finland, was the second-best lefty in the field in fourth place with 1388.

Two-time Vienna Open champion Chris Barnes (2012, 2012), United States, was one pin behind in fifth place with 1387. The only other two-time winner, Osku Palermaa (2005, 2011 - defeated Barnes in the title match), needed a big last game to avoid elimination. The two-hander fired a 277 last game to jump into 16th place with 1327.

Sandra Gongora (left) was the only other women who made the cut in 19th place with 1313. She is also the last player in the race for the title of the Mexican national squad, who bowled the Vienna Open to prepare for the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games Nov. 14-30 in Veracruz, Mexico.

It took a 1300-series to make the second cut. Palermaa's fellow countryman Petteri Salonen (right) took the final berth into the Round of 30 with 1307 and an average of 217.83.

Among the players, who failed to advance, were last week's German Open champion Jesper Svensson, Sweden; two-time PBA champion Andres Gomez, Colombia; defending Vienna Open champion Mika Koivuniemi, Finland; local favorite and 2009 VO champion Thomas Gross, Austria; last week's women's ranking winner Ida Andersson, Sweden; and PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, United States.

The 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 16th stop of the 2014 European Bowling Tour and the last of six "gold" tournaments this season, the second-highest of four EBT categories. Players will compete for total prize fund of 73.130 Euro or approx. $100,000 - 62.900 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.

The singles champion will walk away with the 7.000 € top prize, the runner-up earns 5.000 and the third and fourth-place finishers get 3.500 and 2.500, respectively. The winners of the doubles event will split 1.600 €.

The VO14 will be contested on a 38 feet lane conditioning pattern with 24.605 mL volume oil total. Download the LaneMapâ„¢ Guide to get all information on Plus Bowling.

For the 12th consecutive Bowlingdigital covers the 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open live from Plus Bowling in Vienna commencing Thursday, Oct. 2 all the way through to the stepladder finals on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 5.

Qualifying ran from Monday, Sept. 29 through Saturday, Oct. 4. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, an equality handicap provided to women in every event on the European Bowling Tour.

Total 64 players qualified for the finals on Sunday, Oct. 5. The top 8 qualifying leaders received a first-round bye. The other 56 players bowled six games starting from scratch. The top 22 join the top 8 qualifiers in Round Two.

Those 30 players will bowl another six games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry the pinfall forward into Round Three. After another six-game block the top 4 players with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

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 7.000 Euro top prize and 150 EBT ranking points.

The 2014 European Bowling Tour features 19 tournaments in 13 countries. In its 15th season, the EBT consists of two Platinum, six Gold, three Silver and eight Satellite tournaments. The total prize fund is almost one million Euro.

The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 12 men and top 12 women, who will compete in the eighth EBT Masters July 6, 2015 at Bowling Chamartín in Madrid, Spain, immediately following the III Brunswick Madrid Challenge.