18 bowlers, all from Catalonia, took on the lanes at Bowling Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday evening for the opening squad of the VII Catalonia Open - Trofeu Galasa, the third stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Majors".

Lluis Montfort started with a 186 game but bounced back with 223, 265, 247, 203 and 235 en route to take the early lead in the qualifying with 1359 six-game total and an average of 226.50.

As each leader of the 12 qualifying squads earns an automatic berth into the finals, Montfort has already done his job.

Moises Pérez, who led the squad after five games finished in second place with 1351. Marcial Ovide also cracked the 1300 bar with 1319.

Sandra Torrents was the best of three women with 1264 including 48 pins handicap, the standard on the EBT for women.

The VII Catalonia Open - Trofeu Galasa offers total prize fund of 55.000 Euro. The top 48 players cash with 12.000 going to the winner. Jari Ratia, Finland, is the defending champion.

Qualifying runs through Saturday evening, Feb. 28, with the final Squad 12 scheduled for 9 p.m. local time.

48 players, the top 30 qualifying leaders plus the 12 squad leaders not among the top 30 plus the next best six women, will advance to the finals and carry forward 50 per cent of their respective qualifying total.

Those 48 players will bowl 4 games to cut to the top 24, who will determine the three players for the stepladder finals in another 4-game block. No. 3 takes on No. 2 for the right to bowl No. 1 for the title and the 12.000 top prize.