Juhani Tonteri becomes the first player to reach the 1500-plateau in San Marino

    07/18/15

    2015 European Bowling Tour #11

    Finn leads the 198-player field with 1509; second-place Chris Sloan and another six players crack the top 8; Richard Teece, Sloan shoot 4th and 5th perfecto; score to make the cut in 35th place is now 1376 (229.33 average)

    2015EBT11JuhaniTonteri.jpg2015EBT11ChristopherSloan.jpgFor the second consecutive day, the qualifying leaderboard of the 11th Storm San Marino Open got a whole new look as 10 players from squads 15, 16 and 17 cracked the 1400-bar while Juhani Tonteri (pictured left) of Finland became the first player who reached the 1500-plateau Friday at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino.

    Tonteri had games of 214, 265, 258, 237, 269 and 266 in Squad 15 to move to the top of the 198-player leaderboard with 1509 total and an average of 251.50.

    Christopher Sloan (above right) missed the 1500-mark by just two pins in Squad 16. The Irish two-hander used the fifth 300 game of the tournament to leap into second place with 1498 (249.67), also including games of 204, 246, 255, 279 and 214.

    2015EBT11MikaKoivuniemi2.jpg2015EBT11PeterHellstrom.jpgPrevious leaders, Finnish-American Mika Koivuniemi (left) and Peter Hellström (right) of Sweden slipped to third and fourth place with 1493 and 1492, respectively.

    Robin Persson of Sweden paced Squad 17 on Friday evening to jump into fifth place in the overall standings with 1489 (248.17). Persson had games of 256, 268, 203, 248, 235 and 279.

    Another eight players of Squads 15 and 16 cracked the 1400-bar on Friday, bringing the total number of 1400-series to 22.

    Americans Marshall Kent and Tim Mack toppled 1487 and 1462 pins to surge into sixth and seventh place. Martin Larsen of Sweden, who is sixth on the all-time European Bowling Tour titles list with eight wins, rounds out the top 8 with 1460.

    2015EBT11RichardTeece.jpg2015EBT10RebeckaLarsen.jpgThe top eight qualifiers will earn byes into the third round of the finals, while the 9th through 16th qualifiers earn first-round byes.

    Richard Teece (left) of England started Squad 15 with the fourth perfecto and added 183, 237, 244, 218 and 246 to take 12th place with 1428 (238.00). His compatriot, defending San Marino champion Dom Barrett (right), just missed the top 16 (Marco Baade, Germany, 1414) by one pin sitting in 17th place with 1414.

    Rebecka Larsen (right) of Sweden is the best of 17 women in the field and one of two women in the top 35 in 21st first place with 1407 including 48 pins handicap. 27th place Maxime de Rooij, Germany, is the other with 1394.

    Fresh off his victory in the Bowling World Open, Osku Palermaa of Finland, improved his high series to 1377 but is still in danger to miss the qualifying cut. The two-hander sits in 34th place, just one pin above the cut line of 1376, an average of 229.33, set by Björn Lindqvist of Sweden.

    Qualifying commences Saturday, July 18, with Squads 18-20 scheduled to start at 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST) and concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad slated for 10 p.m.

    2015EBT11SanMarinoOpenLogo2.jpg
    The Storm San Marino Open is the 11th stop of the 2015 European Bowling Tour and the first out of three EBT "Gold" tournaments this season. The 11th edition will be held July 11-19 at 18-lane Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino and offers total prize fund of 61.050 Euro with 8.000 Euro going to the winner, 5.000 to the runner-up, 3.300 to the third and 2.400 to the fourth place finisher.

    Qualifying of the San Marino Open (six-game series, unlimited re-entries) runs from Saturday July 11 through Saturday, July 18 with the last qualifying squad 20 scheduled for 7 p.m. CEST. The qualifying winner will receive a 1.000 Euro bonus.

    Qualifying concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad scheduled to start at 10 p.m. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire tournament, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. The top three women based on the finals standings will receive 500, 350 and 200 Euro bonuses, respectively.

    Total 48 players will advance to the finals on Sunday, July 19, including the top 35 qualifiers plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 11-12, the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 13-14, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 15-16, and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad.

    The top 8 qualifiers receive two byes and qualifiers 9-16 get a first-round bye. The other 32 players will bowl four games from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet qualifiers 9-16 in the second round. Those 24 bowl another four games from scratch to cut to the top 10, who will join the top eight in a six-game round before the cut to the top 4.

    The four finalists will determine the winner in an eliminator-format finals which will feature three one-game rounds. All four players bowl the opening game, with the lowest-scoring player being eliminated. In the two rounds to follow, the same "low man out" format applies. The last man standing will be declared the champion.

    2015EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 European Bowling Tour currently consists of 17 tournaments in 13 countries featuring three "Platinum" events, three "Gold", three "Silver" and eight "Satellite" events. All 17 tournaments together offer total prize fund of 870.000 Euro or 961.500 U.S. Dollar.

    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 9th EBT Masters July 25, 2016 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino following the 12th San Marino Open.

     


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    11th Storm San Marino Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 17/20


    Top 35 qualifiers plus the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 11-12, the top 3 from the squads conducted on July 13-14, the top 4 from the squads conducted on July 15-16, and the top 3 from the Desperado Squad will advance to the finals.

    300 games (5) - Nicola Pongolini, Davide Spagnoli, Marco Baade, Richard Teece and Chris Sloan.

    Tie Rules (Qualifying)
    In case of a tie in the qualifying, "the highest positioned player will be the player scoring the highest total of all counting qualification games minus the score of the lowest game. If a tie still exists, the highest positioned player will be the player with the highest total of all counting qualification games minus the score of the two lowest games, etc."