Three American and one Australian professional led Squad 8, which started the second week of qualifying in the Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009 Wednesday afternoon at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France.

PBA champion Mike Fagan (pictured left) started his six-game block with 255, 226 and 238, then rolled the tournament's second perfecto (Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, had the first) in game #4 and closed out the series with 234 and 220. His 1473 pinfall total, an average of 245.50, was 96 pins higher than the 1377 of first week leader Alain Nicolas, France, who slipped to second place.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

Marie Gauton, France, is the top-ranked woman in third place with 1360 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour, Christian Chemery, France, is fourth with 1347.

Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte (right, with Bill O'Neill, left) was second to Fagan in Squad 8 and moved into fifth place in the overall qualifying standings with 1344 (224.00).

Belmonte drew widespread media attention during his short stint on the PBA Tour earlier this year including a front page coverage in the Wall Street Journal, a featured segment on ABC's Good Morning America, and lead stories in the LA Times, Denver Post and many other publications.

Brad Angelo (pictured left), who won his first PBA title in the PBA Viper Championship in November last year, was 33 pins behind Belmonte to overtake 9th place with 1311 (218.50). Bill O'Neill, currently the No. 2 in the PBA Point ranking, was another 31 pins behind with 1280, good for 13th place.

All four, Fagan, Belmonte, Angelo and O'Neill, made their first attempt in the Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009. The cutoff number for 52nd place is currently 1119 (186.50).

In 2008, the first time that the BEC was staged at Le Plaza Bowling Saint Maximin, Swede Martin Larsen won the qualifying with 1448 (241.33) and the cutoff number for 52nd place was 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 Round 1:

• 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.