Richard Teece wins qualifying at 46th Brunswick Ballmaster Open

    01/10/16

    2016 European Bowling Tour #1

    Englishman rolls 1448 series in the last qualifying squad to lead the top 54 of 528 players into the finals

    2016EBT01RichardTeece.jpg2016EBT01JaroslavLorenc.jpgRichard Teece (pictured left) of England averaged 241.33 for six games in the last squad (#18) Saturday evening at Tali Bowling Center in Helsinki, Finland, to win the qualifying of the 46th Brunswick Ballmaster Open with 1448 pinfall total.

    Teece, who had games of 248, 227, 242, 225, 289 and 217, led the top 54 out of 528 players from 18 countries into the first round of the finals. Qualifying pinfall will not carry over.

    Previous leader Jaroslav Lorenc (right) of the Czech Republic was second with 1433, followed by tournament organizer and former World Games and World Cup champion, Kai Virtanen of Finland, in third place with 1432.

    2016EBT01HadleyMorgan.jpg2016EBT01PaulMoor.jpgHadley Morgan (left) of England led the penultimate squad (#17) with 1428 and an average of 238, including games of 253, 216, 192, 279, 249 and 239 to sit in fourth place. 35-time PBA champion Parker Bohn III, United States, capped off the top five with 1416.

    Defending champion Paul Moor (right) of England, who was "on the bubble" after the Saturday's morning squad (#16), used high games of 254 and 269 and four games between 205 and 221, to finish second to Morgan in squad 17 and to leap into 19th place with 1371.

    2016EBT01PeterHellstrom.jpg2016EBT01DariaKovalova.jpgSweden's Peter Hellström (left), who is one of the coaches of the Swedish women's national team, led squad 16 with 1362, including high games of 278 and 266, and made the first cut in 24th place.

    European Singles champion Daria Kovalova (right) of Ukraine was the best 70 women in 23rd place with 1366, including eight pins handicap each game, an average of 219.67 scratch.

    Another four women finished in the top 44 of the overall qualifying standings, 2015 European Bowling Tour women's point ranking winner, Jenny Wegner of Sweden (33rd; 1343); Laura Beuthner of Germany (34th; 1341), who was second to Teece in squad 18; Lindsay Boomershine, United States (40th; 1331) and Finnish national team member Sanna Pasanen, who hit the cutoff number with 1324 (last year's cut was 1342).

    The top 44 from the overall qualifying standings will be joined in finals by six players from the early qualifying squads and the top 4 of the Desperado Squad.

    2016EBT01OlliPakonen2.jpg2015BWCMarkusJansson3.jpgRobert Andersson of Sweden and Juha Immonen of Finland led the desperados with 254, with Anton Elofsson (249) of Sweden and Gaëtan Mouveroux (246) of France in third and fourth place.

    As there was no 300 game in qualifying, the high game of the tournament is 299, achieved by Olli Pakonen (left) of Finland, Markus Jansson (right) of Sweden and Tim Mack (below right), United States. If there will be no 300 game in Round 1 and in round robin match play, all bowlers with a 299 game will split the 5.000 Euro high game award. There is an extra prize fund for a 300 game in the TV stepladder finals.

    2015BallmasterLogo_small.jpg 2014EBT04TimMack2.jpgSince its inception in the year 2000, the European Bowling Tour kicks off with Brunswick Ballmaster Open in Helsinki, Finland. The 46th edition of Europe's most prestigious bowling tournament will kick off the 17th EBT season from Tuesday, December 29, 2015 through Sunday January 10, 2016 at 36-lane Tali Bowling Center.

    The BBO is the first of three "EBT Platinum" events this season, the highest of the four EBT categories, and offers total prize money of 103.300 Euro, including all extra prizes, with 13.000 Euro going to the winner, 9.000 to the runner-up and 6.000 and 4.000 to the third and fourth place finishers, respectively. Low to cash is 54th place, worth 1.000 Euro.

    Qualifying (six games, unlimited re-entries) starts on Dec. 29 with squads 1 & 2 and concludes Jan. 9 with squad 18 followed by the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 8 p.m. Eastern European Time (EET - one hour ahead of CET).

    Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game (up to 292 - maximum score is 300), an equality handicap provided to women in all EBT events.

    Total 54 players - the top 44 from the overall qualifying standings, the top 6 from a separate leaderboard of squads 1-8 who are not among the top 44 and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - qualify for the finals. There is no bonus for the qualifying leaders this year.

    All 54 finalists bowl two blocks of five games with the top 12 advancing to the round robin match play portion. Those 12 bowl further 11 games of round robin match play (no position round) with the previous pinfall total carried over. During match play, players receive 30 bonus pins for winning a match and 15 pins each in the event of a tie.

    The top 4 players after 21 games including bonus pins determine the champion in a traditional stepladder final. The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match. The winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title and the 13.000 Euro top prize.

    The 46th Brunswick Ballmaster Open is not part of the 2016 World Bowling Tour and therefore the winner will not be awarded a Professional Bowlers Association Tour title.

    2016EBTLogo_small.jpg After the withdrawal of the Russian Open and the cancelation of the Istanbul Open, the 2016 European Bowling Tour currently consists of 16 tournaments in 11 countries featuring three "Platinum" events, three "Gold", four "Silver" and six "Satellite" events. All tournaments together offer total prize fund of roughly 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 10th EBT Masters February 27, 2017, at Dolfijn Bowling in Tilburg, Netherlands.

    Photos by Seija Lankinen.

     


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    2016 Brunswick Ballmaster Open - Standings after Qualifying (18 Squads)


    Top 44, top 6 from a separate leaderboard of squads 1-8 who are not among the top 44 (places 45-50) and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad (places 51-54) advance to the finals.

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