23-time PBA champion Brian Voss (pictured left) won the qualifying in the Brunswick Euro Challenge at Le Plaza Bowling in Saint Maximin, France, en route to lead 64 players into the finals on Sunday. The PBA Hall of Famer had games of 193, 275, 267, 286, 258 and 258 in Squad 13 on Thursday evening for a score of 1537 and an average of 256.17 over six games.

Photos: Beat Grauwiler.

Fellow PBA champion Mike Fagan (right), United States, was third with 1473, a score he posted early in the tournament in Squad 8. Fagan targets to improve on a second-place finish last year.

Joanne Allsebrook (left), England, was sandwiched between the two PBA pros in second place with 1484 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour. The women did extremely well in the qualifying and had eight players among the top 11.

Places 4 through 9 belonged to 4. Kamilla Kjeldsen (right), Denmark, 1445; 5. Patricia Luoto, Germany, 1434; 6. Anja Ginge Jensen, Denmark, 1430; 7. Nina Flack, Sweden, 1423; 8. Zara Glover, England, and 9. Tanya Petty, Germany, both with 1420.

Rounding out the top 10 was Thomas Larsen (left), Denmark, with 1416. Mai Ginge Jensen, was the 8th women in the top 16 in 11th place with 1408.

Places 12 through 15 belonged to 12. Jimmy Mortensen, Denmark, 1395; 13. Petteri Salonen, Finland, 1391; 14. Stuart Williams, England, 1378; and 15. Jesper Agerbo, Denmark, 1378.

Alain Nicolas (right), France, took the 16th and final spot to earn one bye for Sunday's finals with 1377 or an average of 229.50.

Before the 23r and final qualifying squad, World Games champions Francois and Isabelle Sacco (pictured) from France was the couple "on the bubble" in 51st and 52nd place with 1331 and 1328, respectively.

Amazingly, no one from the final qualifying squad made the cut. 4-time PBA champion and 2008 USBC Masters winner, Sean Rash, needed a 215 in the last game to beat out Isabelle for the final spot by one pin, but a big split in the 7th frame sealed his fate.

Xavier Milet, Belgium, almost achieved perfection in the Desperado Squad. He finished with 298 to grab the 59th place. Oliver Blase, Germany, was next with 250. Matt O'Grady, United States, who missed the qualifying cut by one pin rolled a 249 game to advance in 61st place. Danes Paul Hutchinson (247) and Martin Klitte (240) were fourth and fifth in the Desperado Squad. 3-time EBT ranking champion Paul Moor, England, grabbed the 62nd and final spot to advance with 235.

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.

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

The following 48 players qualified 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.