Lucas Legnani (pictured left), Argentina, set the pace in the ninth qualifying squad Wednesday evening at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, en route to move into 4th place in the overall qualifying standings in the Brunswick Euro Challenge 2009.

Fresh off his victory in the Catalonia Open in Spain 10 days ago, Legnani had games of 225, 257, 181, 223, 218 and 246 and a 1350 pinfall total, an average of 225.00 over six games.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

PBA champion Mike Fagan (right) leads the field of 118 players since Squad 8 with a huge 1473 pinfall total, an average of 245.50, including the tournament's second 300 game (Gery Verbruggen, Belgium, had the first).

Alain Nicolas, France, is a distant second with 1377, while Marie Gauton, France, remained the top-ranked woman in third place with 1360 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, a familiar face on the European Bowling Tour, rolled six games between 202 and 247 to crack the top 10 with 1315 (219.179). 4-time PBA champ Sean Rash (left) was third in Squad 9 with 1296, good for 13th place overall.

With three qualifying days to go, Nico Joris, Belgium, is the "man on the bubble" in 52nd place with 1138 or an average 189.67.

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.