Norwegian international Ingunn Øien (pictured left) led the field of 52 players after day one qualifying in the Norwegian Open at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo, Norway.

Øien, who won the European Champions Cup last weekend had games of 247, 258, 220, 190, 237 and 266 for 1418 six-game total, an average of 236.33. She added 48 pins handicap, a standard on the European Bowling Tour, to set the pace in the first of 18 squads with 1466 pinfall total.

Second place belongs to Norwegian national team member Svein Roger Olsen, who posted the highest scratch total thus far with 1426 or an average of 237.66. Jan Egil Hansen was mere four pins behind in third place with 1422.

Nils Christian Stensrud (right) led Squad 2 on Saturday afternoon en route to move into fourth place with 1383.

Stensrud was on pace for 1400 after five games (237, 234, 222, 279, 215) but missed it by 17 pins behind a 196 in the final game. The top 4 players from the first weekend (Squads 1-4) will earn a berth into the finals on Sunday, October 7.

The Norwegian Open 2007 is the 17th stop of the 2007 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's Challenger events. The tournament offers total prize money of 351.000 Norwegian Kronor, approximately 65,250 U.S. Dollar or 45.715 Euro. The winner will receive the 60.000 NOK top prize ($11,150/€7.815).

Qualifying continues on Sunday, September 30, with Squads 3 and 4 and runs through Saturday, October 6 with the final Squad 18 scheduled for 8 p.m. local time. (GMT +1). Qualifying ends with the one-game Desperado Squad around Midnight.

The top 40 players from the qualifying will automatically advance to the finals. They will be joined by the top four players from the first weekend and the top 4 from the Desperado Squad.

The top 12 earn two byes, while players ranked 13-24 will bypass the first round. The first three rounds of the final consist of four games from scratch with half of the field advancing to the next round.

Once the field is cut to the top 12, players bowl two games from scratch to cut to the top 8, then the top four, who advance to the semi-finals (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3). The winners of these one-game matches will bowl for the title and the 60.000 NOK top prize.

Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Oslo commencing Friday, October 5 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, October 7.