Austrian bowlers dominated day one qualifying in the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria. Alexander Rauscher (left) overtook the lead in the third of 17 qualifying squads Tuesday evening with 1367 six-game total and an average of 227.83.

Rauscher, who threw 1314 as a pacer in Squad 2, had games of 234, 278, 202, 247, 180 and 226 to beat out fellow countryman Michael Loos (right) by 21 pins.

Squad 2 leader Loos sits in second place with 1346 pinfall total including a high game of 253 and two 230s.

Third place belongs to Austria's No. 1, Thomas Gross, who checked in with 1263. Squad 1 leader Walter Rieger is still in fourth position with 1254. Rounding out the top five is Robert Skach, all from Austria, who used three 220s and three 190s for 1249.

György Bodis (left), Hungary, is the top non-Austrian bowler in the 78-player field with 1247. Next is Gery Fuchs, Austria, who has felled 1222 pins. Patricia Klug, who will represent Austria in the 44th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup in Hermosillo, Mexico, in November is the top-ranked woman with 1221 including 48 pins women's handicap.

With the help of Alexander Rauscher's 1367 series, he and Michael Rauscher set the tone in the Doubles competition. The brothers are the sole team with an average over 200. Michael contributed 1077 pins for a team total of 2444 or an average of 203.67.

Reigning European Doubles champions Thomas Tybl and Thomas Gross sit in second place with 2392. Gross led the duo with 1263 and "TT" added 1129. Third place belongs to Hungarians Bodis and Dan Sallai, who felled 2371 pins.

The Vienna Open, the 14th stop of the 2008 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Major", will be held from Sep. 30 - Oct. 5, in Vienna, Austria.

More than 290 players will compete for total prize money of 65.630 Euro - 55.400 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 6.000 € top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600 €.

Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals is contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolls at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.

The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap will be declared the winner (no finals will be played). The top 20 doubles will cash. Stuart Williams, England, and Germany's Tina Hulsch are the defending champions.

Qualifying runs from Tuesday through Saturday and ends with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 4 slated for 11.30 pm local time (GMT +1).

A total of 64 players from the qualifying will advance to the finals starting on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 8am:

• The top 8 players with the highest six-game qualifying result will earn one bye and will be seeded 1-8 in the match play Round of 32
• players positioned 9th to 52nd after qualifying
• the six leaders of Squads 1-6 and
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

All but the top 8 qualifiers (56 players overall) will bowl 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 24. Those 24 will be seeded 9-32 in the match play Round of 32.

The Round of 32, 16 and 8 will feature single-elimination match play in best-of-three games format. The highest seeded player bowls the lowest seeded player, the second-highest seeded player vs. the second-lowest seeded player, etc.

The semifinals (No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3) and the championship match will be decided in one game. A major on the European Bowling Tour, the top 50 men and the top 50 women will receive double ranking points.

For more information on the 6th Columbia 300 Vienna Open click here.