The Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009 got underway on Saturday afternoon at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, with 15 players - 11 men and 4 women from France, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy.

Yoan Alix (pictured left), France, set the tone in Squad 2 (#1 has been cancelled) with 1322 six-game total and an average of 220.33. Alix, who finished 31st in last year's BEC, improved his score in each of the first five games (204, 217, 226, 236, 243) before he closed out the set with a 196.

Michael Haest was second with 1294 including a high game of 264. Nicky Verbeke, both Belgium, was a distant third with 1213. Marilyn Planchard, France, was the leading female bowler in fourth place with 1120 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

In the 2008 BEC, which marked the first time that the event was staged at Le Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin, Swede Martin Larsen won the qualifying with 1448 (241.33) and Alex Cavagnaro, United States and Habib Dogan, Turkey, hit the cutoff number for 52nd place with 1263 (210.50). Peter Ljung (pictured right) from Sweden is the defending champion.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge is the fourth stop of the 2009 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "majors". The total prize fund is 90,000 Euro (currently about US$114,000), and includes special prizes that will be given in categories such as youth encouragement, B Bowlers, and Women. In addition Brunswick offers up to $1,000 bonus for shooting a 300 game with the new Brunswick "Wilde Ride" bowling ball in the 2009 BEC.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009 sponsored by Brunswick Bowling is organized by Brunswick distributor Valcke Bowling.

Qualifying will run through Saturday, March 14, with the final qualifying squad 23 scheduled for 8pm and ends with the ultimate Desperado Squad at 11pm.

A total of 64 players will qualify for the finals on Sunday, March 15. The top 16 players will receive one bye and will seeded 1-16 in Round 2.

The following 48 players will qualify for the first round of the finals:

• Players positioned 17th-52nd in qualifying
• the top 6 from a separate standing for the squads conducted March 6-8, who are not among the top 52
• the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.

Those 48 will bowl six games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16, who will meet the top 16 qualifiers in the first match play round. Match play is best-of-three games single-elimination. The No. 1 seed will take on No. 32, No. 2 bowls No. 31, etc. The field will be cut to 16, 8 and then four, who will determine the champion in a stepladder final. The winner will receive the 16.000 Euro top prize.



Bowlingdigital will cover the event live from Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin with results and updates after each round commencing March 12 all the way through to the finals on Sunday, March 15.