Sean Rash powers his way into the lead in 8th Columbia 300 Vienna Open

    10/03/10

    2010 European Bowling Tour #15

    Averages 247.5 to lead the top 18 into Final Round 3

    2010EBT15SeanRash.jpg2010EBT15KamillaKjeldsen.jpgFour-time Professional Bowlers Association champion Sean Rash (pictured left), United States, fired games of 243, 226, 249, 266, 266 and 235 to lead the top 18 players into Final Round Three in the 8th Columbia 300 Vienna Open.

    Rash's 1485 six-game series, an average of 247.50, is the highest in the tournament thus far.

    As the pinfall will be carried forward, Rash holds a 50-pin buffer over former PBA exempt player Tore Torgersen, Norway, who was second with 1435.

    2010EBT15PeteWeber2.jpg2010EBT15WendyMacpherson.jpgThird place belonged to the best of seven women, who survived the third cut. Three-time European Bowling Tour Women's Masters champion Kamilla Kjeldsen (right), Denmark, rollercoastered her way to 1407 pinfall total including 48 pins handicap with games of 248, 166, 255, 289, 188 and 213.

    35-time PBA champion and PBA and USBC Hall of Famer, Pete Weber (left), United States, closed out his set with back-to-back 269 and 258 for 1394, good for fourth place.

    Among the 18 players from eight countries - United States (7), England (4), Finland (2), Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherlands and Norway (1 each) - are seven women.

    2010EBT15NickiAinge2.jpg2010EBT15OrAviram.jpgJoining Kjeldsen in the third round are Wendy Macpherson (above right), United States (1354/6th), Nicki Ainge (left), England (1349/7th), Lynda Barnes, United States (1335/8th), Nadine Geissler, Germany (1322/9th), Bianca Wiekeraad, Netherlands (1294/14th) and Tina Stickney, United States (1272/16th).

    Or Aviram (right), Israel, took the 18th and final spot to advance with 1267 and an average of 211.17.

    Among those, who failed to advance, was three-time world champion Martin Larsen, Sweden (23rd, 1230), who rolled one of five perfect games in qualifying, qualifying leader Osku Palermaa, Finland (24th, 1226)and Wichita State University standout Josh Blanchard, United States (26th, 1198).

    The top 18 players from Round Two will advance to Round Three and bowl another six-game block with the pinfall from Round Two being carried forward. The top 4 players with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

    Bowlingdigital will be providing Live Streaming of the four-player stepladder finals on Sunday, Oct. third starting at 5pm CET.

    Bowlingdigital's Facebook account will be regularly updated with photos by Beat Grauwiler.
    Photo Album 1
    Photo Album 2

    2010VOLogo.jpg The 8th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 15th stop of the 2010 European Bowling Tour and one of the Tour's "Gold" events. The tournament will be held from Tuesday Sept. 28 through Sunday Oct. 3, 2010 at 32-lane Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

    Since the Ankara Open and the Austria Challenge have been cancelled and the English Open has lost its EBT status, the 2010 EBT Tour consists of 18 events - 2 EBT Platinum tournament (formerly Premier), 6 EBT Gold tournaments (formerly Major), 6 EBT Silver tournaments (formerly Challenger) and 4 EBT Satellite tournaments (new category).

    307 players from 25 countries compete for an increased total prize money of 70.630 Euro - 60.400 € in Singles and 10.230 € in Doubles. The singles champion will receive the 7.000 Euro top prize while the doubles winners will split 1.600.

    Once again the qualifying for the Vienna Open finals was contested as a doubles tournament. Each duo rolled at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries with different partners were possible but each player could only cash once with the same partner.

    The team with the highest total pinfall including handicap was declared the winner (no finals were played). The top 20 doubles cashed.

    Qualifying ran from Tuesday through Saturday and ended with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night Oct. 2.. Women received 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

    A total of 64 players qualified for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 3:
    • the top 52 players from the overall qualifying standings
    • the first player each from Squad 1-6, who is not among the top 52 (total 6 players)
    • and the top 6 from the Desperado Squad.


    2010EBT15OilPattern.jpg The top 8 qualifying leaders bypassed the first round of the finals.

    The other 52 players bowled 6 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 22, who will join the top qualifiers in Round Two.

    Those 30 players will bowl another 6 games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry their pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

    The No. 4 seed meets the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner takes on the No. 2 seed for the right to bowl the top seed for the title, 150 ranking points and the 7.000 Euro top prize.

    Tournament Format
    Schedule
    Prize Fund

    BowlingdigitalBanner.gif BowlingdigitalFlavioCuvaBeatGrauwiler_small.jpg Since the inaugural Vienna Open in the year 2003, Bowlingdigital covers the event live from Plus Bowling with stories and results after each round commencing Monday Sept. 27 all the way through to the finals on Sunday Oct. 3.

    Once again, our Swiss friends Flavio Cuva (left) and Beat Grauwiler (right) will be on hand to support the Live Coverage with our much-anticipated high definition videos and photos.

    USBCCommentatorLucasWiseman_small.jpg Lucas Wiseman (pictured left) of USBC Communications, also returned and will fill in as play-by-play announcer.

    Bowlingdigital will be providing free Live Streaming of the four-player stepladder finals on Sunday, Oct. third starting at 5pm CET. We are also planning to provide live streaming broadcasts of some of the final rounds prior to the stepladder.

     


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    2010 Vienna Open - Final Round 2


    The top 18 advance to Round Three with the pinfall total being carried forward.

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