Brunswick pro staffer Zara Glover (pictured left) from England set the pace in the 15th qualifying squad of the Brunswick Euro Challenge Friday morning at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France. The 3-time World Champion (2003, Malaysia) started with four games between 214 and 234 and finished with back-to-back 244 games and a 1372 pinfall total, an average of 228.67. With 1420 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour, Glover jumped into fourth place in the overall qualifying standings.

EBT Masters queen Kamilla Kjeldsen (pictured right), Denmark, was second with 1373 including handicap, good for seventh place overall. With 8 qualifying squads to go, the top 10 spots are equally divided among men and women.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

PBA super star Brian Voss (left) continued to lead the field of now 229 players with 1537 six-game total and is the sole player who has cracked the 1500-bar. PBA champion Mike Fagan is second with 1473, followed by the top-ranked woman, Anja Ginge Jensen (right), Denmark, with 1430.

Trailing Glover by four pins to sit in fifth place is Thomas Larsen, Denmark (1416) with Alain Nicolas, France, in sixth place at 1377. Sanna Helldén, Sweden, is six pins behind Kjeldsen in 8th place with 1367.

9th place belongs to Michael Bai Ernst, Denmark, with 1364 and rounding out the top 10 is Marie Gauton, France, with 1360. Australian two-hander Jason Belmonte mans the 16th and final place to earn a bye with 1344.

Marco Baade, Germany (1243), Sascha Wedel (left), Denmark (1241) and Diana Zavjalova (right), Latvia (1233) were next to Glover and Kjeldsen on Friday morning but failed to make the top 52. Wim Claessens, Belgium, is the man on the bubble in 52md place with 1246 or an average of 207.67.

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 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.