Cameron Weier cracks the 1500-bar to take a commanding lead in Qatar Open qualifying

    11/30/15

    2015 European Bowling Tour #16

    American averages 254 in Squad 9 to lead the 138-player field from 26 countries with 1524 total; another two Americans, Ronnie Sparks Jr., Marshall Kent move into the top 10; No. 34 score to beat to advance is now 1295 (215.83 average)

    2015EBT16CameronWeier.jpg2015EBT16RyanLalisang.jpgCameron Weier (pictured left), United States, averaged 254 Sunday afternoon at Qatar Bowling Center in Doha to become the first player to crack the 1500-bar at the Qatar Bowling Open and to take a commanding lead heading into the penultimate qualifying day.

    Weier fired games of 224, 234, 269, 276, 254 and 267 in the ninth qualifying squad to lead the 138-player field from 26 countries with 1524 six-game total. As the player with the highest series on Sunday, Weier received a 250 Dollar bonus.

    Weier, who made the finals in Qatar in the past two years finishing third in 2013 and fourth in 2015, out averaged previous leader Ryan Lalisang (right) of Indonesia by almost 10 pins to take 57-pin lead. Lalisang slipped to second place with 1467.

    2015EBT16RonnieSparks.jpg2015EBT16MarshallKent.jpgThird and fourth place belonged to newly crowned World Cup champion Wu Siu Hong of Hong Kong and Daniel Fransson of Sweden, both on 1448.

    Weier's compatriots Ronnie Sparks Jr. (left) and Marshall Kent (right) finished second and third in squad 9 to crack the top 10 in the overall qualifying standings. Sparks finished his set with 279 and 280 to jump into fifth place with 1428. Kent, who owns two European Bowling Tour titles is sixth with 1414.

    The average to make the top 10 and to receive a first-round bye is currently 231.83.

    2015EBT16DanielleMcEwan.jpg2015EBT16OskuPalermaa.jpgTeam USA's Danielle McEwan (left) and Finnish two-handed player Osku Palermaa (right) tied at 1387 to lead the 10th qualifying squad. McEwan, who is the best of eight women in the field, averaged 223.17 for 1339 scratch and added 48 pins handicap to sit in 12th place.

    Palermaa, who was a symbol of consistency posting six games between 224 and 235, leaped into 13th place (scroll down to the bottom of this article to find the tie rule).

    Once again the last squad of the day (#11) was a lower scoring affair with Qatar's Yousef Al-Jaber (below right) earning the bragging rights as the squad leader with 1339, good for 19th place overall.

    2015EBT16YousefAlJaber.jpgWith 11 of 17 qualifying squads completed, Joshua Chow of Hong Kong holds the 34th and last spot to advance to the finals from the overall leaderboard with 1295 or an average of 215.83.

    Qualifying continues on Monday, Nov. 30, with squads 12-14 scheduled to start at noon, 4 and 8 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (AST).

    2015EBT16QatarOpenLogo_small.jpg The 2015 Qatar Bowling Open is the 16th and last stop of the 2015 European Bowling Tour and also the 16th event of 2015 World Bowling Tour. The EBT "Platinum" tournament, the highest of four categories, will be held from Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 2015, in Doha, Qatar.

    The tournament offers total prize fund of 161,000 U.S. Dollars with $40,000 going to the winner, $20,000 to the runner-up and a last-to-cash payout of $1,300 for 43rd place.

    Qualifying (6 games, unlimited re-entries) runs from Thursday, Nov. 26 through Tuesday, Dec. 1 with the final Squad 17 scheduled to start at 8 p.m. local time. Qualifying will conclude with the one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11 p.m.

    Local Time is Arabia Standard Time (AST) - Central European Time (-2 hours), Eastern Standard Time (-8 hours) and Hong Kong Time (+5 hours).

    Total 43 players including the top 34 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 2 each of the Nov. 26 (#1 & 2), Nov. 27 (#3-5) and Nov. 28 squads (#6-8) and the top 3 of the Desperado Squad advance to the finals on Wednesday, Dec. 2. The top 10 qualifiers will receive a first-round bye.

    The other 33 finalists will bowl six games scratch with the top 18 advancing to the second round. Those 18 and the 10 qualifying leaders will roll another six-game block scratch to cut to the top 4, who will advance to the semifinals.

    The No. 1 bowls No. 4 and the No. 2 bowls No. 3 with the two-game total pinfall determining the winner. The two semifinal winners will bowl for the title in the championship match over two games total pins.

    2015EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 European Bowling Tour consists of 16 tournaments in 12 countries featuring three "Platinum" events, three "Gold", three "Silver" and seven "Satellite" events. All 16 tournaments together offer total prize fund of 850.000 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 9th EBT Masters July 25, 2016 at Rose'n Bowl in Serravalle, San Marino following the 12th San Marino Open.

    WBTLogo_small.jpg The 2015 World Bowling Tour, which actually got underway in November 2014, consists of 19 tournaments in 12 countries, eight in the Middle East, seven in the U.S., and two each in Asia and Europe, including seven "majors" (double ranking points) and 12 regular tournaments.

    If a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) wins a World Bowling Tour event, it counts as a PBA title.

    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 all points from the 2014 and 2015 are added to determine the points list.

    The top three men and top three women in the points list will compete in the season-ending WBT Finals in Indianapolis on Feb. 13, 2016. The qualifying standings for the World Bowling Tour Finals are different to the WBT Ranking as they include all WBT events since Nov. 1, 2013.

    World Bowling provides governance to international bowling and is made up of 134 bowling international federations. For more information on the World Bowling Tour, click here.

    Photos courtesy of Asian Bowling Federation (ABF)

     


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    2015 Qatar Bowling Open - Qualifying Standings after Squad 11/17


    Total 43 players including the top 34 in the overall qualifying standings, the top 2 each of the Nov. 28 (places 35 & 36), Nov. 27 (places 37 & 38) and Nov. 26 squads (places 39 & 40) and the top 3 of the Desperado Squad will advance to the finals on Wednesday, Dec. 2

    300 games (3) - Zakareya Al-Zoqari, Martin Larsen, Osku Palermaa.

    Tie Rule (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.

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