Brenda Pratt, Chris Vandamme win the season-ending Senior English Open
11/18/10
England's Brenda Pratt and Chris Vandamme, Belgium (l-r), ended the inaugural season of the International Seniors Bowling Tour with victory in the women's and men's division of the Senior English Open which was held from Nov. 11-14, 2010 at Lakeside Superbowl in Nuneaton, England.
The Senior English Open was supposed to be the 10th tournament of the 2010 International Seniors Bowling Tour, but due to the unexpected cancellation of the tour stop in Tilburg, Netherlands, it was actually the 9th event.
Due to excellent publicity by organizer Colin Crouch, there were a large number of bowlers from outside England, with a total of 36 bowlers from 7 overseas countries taking part. A strong English contingent swelled the total to over 110 participants.
The tournament format was unique on this years ISBT tour, with a single nine-game qualifying block determining qualification for the second day. Re-entry was allowed, and some bowlers were able to gain qualification through Turbo games.
In the men's section, England's Ron Oldfield decided to celebrate his birthday by setting a huge 2067 score with age bonus early on.
According to ISBT rules, 50 to 55 year-old players do not receive any age bonus, a 56-year-old gets 1 pin handicap per game, a 57 year-old got 2 pins, and so on. Maximum handicap is 20 pins per game.
By the end of qualification on Saturday night, only 5 men had broken the 2000 barrier, with Ernst Berndt from Germany leading the way on 2088. The cut at 36th fell to Dave Montgomery on 1799.
Scoring for the men was not particularly easy, with all the leaders having a mixture of good and not so good games. The Turbo allowed a further 4 men to progress to the next round courtesy of big games, led by England's Les Grant and Barry Eason.
In the women's section, scoring was comparatively modest, with Dutch player Farida Pascoal-Blom leading the way on 1855 with age bonus. She was closely followed by England's Angie Brown, being just 6 pins short of a 200 scratch average.
Again, scoring for even the top players was not easy, with both Farida and Angie having sub-160 games along the way. English players took the next three qualification spots, with Nicky Prout easily qualifying in fourth place, thanks to an opening three-game block of 692. The cut for the ladies fell at 1604, with England's Jane Meadus tying for 16th position, but losing on count back.
Some established English and European ladies struggled with the fairly dry condition, Belgium's Liliane Vintens, currently second in the ISBT rankings failed to qualify through the normal ranking list after three attempts, but did make the final day thanks to a 260 scratch game which led the Turbo qualification. The other lady to qualify through the Turbo was England's Irene O'Hara.
This event was also a Senior Team England qualifying tournament. Gary Barlow took maximum points in the men's section for the third time this season, and Angie Brown took the honors in the ladies section for the fourth time. Both Gary and Angie now comfortably lead the English Senior rankings with only the final tournament at Wolverhampton to come.
Qualification was followed by the traditional Saturday night meal, which was very well attended. The regular ISBT competitors have become very much a family throughout the year, and all enjoy the social side of the event almost as much as the bowling.
Sunday morning brought an early start for most of the remaining men, although the format provided byes to the top qualifiers. Scoring started again from scratch, with a four-game block qualifying for the second finals round. Al Bennett found his form in this squad, leading with 937, the cut falling at 780 for Ireland's Brendan Healy.
The top 18 men then bowled a further four-game block, joined by four players who had received a bye. England's Lol Ellis was the clear leader after this squad with 958. The cut at 12 places fell to Jack Smith on 811, with Nev Robinson unluckily missing the cut despite tying with Jack.
The women also resumed play at this time, but without the top four players who had byes. Despite only just making the cut through the Turbo, Liliane Vintens easily led this squad, with a total of 825 over the four games. The cut this time fell to Ireland's Yvonne Randell on 699.
On then to the final qualifying block, with all the remaining players looking to make the round robin finals. In the both divisions, the leaders after qualification now rejoined the action.
Dan Ahlquist from Sweden easily led the men's section with 969 over the four games. Once the round was completed, the qualifiers were one each from Sweden, Germany and Belgium, with the remaining five places taken by English bowlers.
In the ladies section, both Brenda Pratt and Farida Pascoal-Blom showed that age is no handicap to scoring well, to lead with 885 and 851 respectively. Sandra Boswell made 8th and last place on 724, with England's Trish Outrim missing out by only 17 pins after a disappointing last game of 146.
The final round was an eight-person round robin, stating from zero pinfall again with 20 pins win bonus.
In the men's section Dan Ahlquist started fastest, and was leading after 3 rounds. By the start of the sixth match, Belgium's Chris Vandamme held a slim lead of 31 pins over Lol Ellis. The next match saw the two drawn against each other. In order for Lol to have a chance of winning the tournament, a win over Chris would be essential.
Thanks to a run of strikes at the end of the game, Lol easily won 243 to 213, and so took a slim 19-pin lead into the final games. Lol faced an on-form Mo Singleton, who found the double in the tenth frame he needed to narrowly defeat Lol.
Chris found a 257 game to finish with, and was the overall winner of the men's section, with Lol second, and Ron Oldfield finishing in third place. L-R Ellis, Vandamme and Oldfield.
In the ladies section, Brenda Pratt scored consistently well to open up a clear lead at the top. In the third game, Liliane Vintens had a huge 276 game to pull within a few pins of Brenda, but then was unable to maintain the scoring pace and fell away from the leaders.
As in the men's section, the sixth game was crucial. At this point, Brenda held an 82-pin lead over second place Angie Brown. Angie would need a substantial win to claw back the lead. In the event, a 236 game was good enough to win, but Brenda's 225 with age bonus limited the damage done to her lead.
In the end, Brenda was the clear winner, with Angie in second place being the only player to win all her round robin matches. Third place went to Farida Pascoal-Blom. L-R Brown, Pratt and Pascoal-Blom.
In the ISBT rankings, Chris Vandamme was the runaway victor, followed by Ron Oldfield and Dominique De Nolf, Belgium. Farida Pascoal-Blom won the female rankings for the year, followed by Liliane Vintens and Angie Brown.
The top 12 women and 32 men in the ISBT Rankings will now be invited to the ISBT masters tournament, to be held at Arthur Dähn's Vegas Bowling in Monheim, Germany on March sixth, 2011. The 2011 ISBT starts a few days earlier, again in Monheim on the third March.
Gisela Fehling, Dominique De Nolf capture their first ISBT title in Berlin Senior Open
Brown, Vandamme win their second ISBT title in French Senior Open
Vintens, Oldfield win back-to-back ISBT titles in Belgian Senior Open
Ron Oldfield, Liliane Vintens win the titles in Schiedam Senior Open
Ron Oldfield, Farida Pascoal-Blom win the titles in ALPA Senior Open
Pascoal-Blom, Horne set the pace in ALPA Senior Open after Day 2 Qualifying
Barry Horne starts ALPA Senior Open with a bang
2010 ISBT #1
Arthur's 5th Senior Open
Vegas Bowling in Monheim, Germany (March 10-14, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Yvette Murrath, Belgium
2010 ISBT #2
Italy Senior Open
Reno Bowling in Bologna, Italy (June 1-6, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Hildegard Kuhn, Italy
2010 ISBT #3
ALPA Senior Open
Alpa-Bowl in Buxtehude, Germany (June 30 - July 4, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Farida Pascoal-Blom, Netherlands
2010 ISBT #4
1st Flanders Senior Open
Real Bowling Latem in Latem, Belgium (July 21-25, 2010)
Men's champion: Barry Horne, United States
Women's champion: Angie Brown, England
2010 ISBT #5
5th Schiedam Senior Open
Chandra Schiedam in Schiedam, Netherlands (July 27 - August 1, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Liliane Vintens, Belgium
2010 ISBT #6
Belgian Senior Open
Bowlmaster in Brussels, Belgium (August 12-15, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Liliane Vintens, Belgium
2010 ISBT #7
French Senior Open
Planet Bowling in Lomme, France (September 1-5, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Angie Brown, England
2010 ISBT #8
Berlin Senior Open
Bowlingcenter Schillerpark in Berlin, Germany (September 30 - October 3, 2010)
Men's champion: Dominique De Nolf, Belgium
Women's champion: Gisela Fehling, Germany
2010 ISBT #9
Senior English Open
Lakeside Superbowl in Nuneaton, England (November 11-14, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Brenda Pratt, England
Players with position, country, age bonus (per game), seven games including 20 pins bonus for each victory and pinfall total.
Players with position, country, age bonus (per game), seven games including 20 pins bonus for each victory and pinfall total.
2010 International Seniors Bowling Tour #9
Farida Pascoal-Blom, Chris Vandamme win 2010 ISBT rankings
England's Brenda Pratt and Chris Vandamme, Belgium (l-r), ended the inaugural season of the International Seniors Bowling Tour with victory in the women's and men's division of the Senior English Open which was held from Nov. 11-14, 2010 at Lakeside Superbowl in Nuneaton, England. The Senior English Open was supposed to be the 10th tournament of the 2010 International Seniors Bowling Tour, but due to the unexpected cancellation of the tour stop in Tilburg, Netherlands, it was actually the 9th event.
Due to excellent publicity by organizer Colin Crouch, there were a large number of bowlers from outside England, with a total of 36 bowlers from 7 overseas countries taking part. A strong English contingent swelled the total to over 110 participants.
The tournament format was unique on this years ISBT tour, with a single nine-game qualifying block determining qualification for the second day. Re-entry was allowed, and some bowlers were able to gain qualification through Turbo games.
In the men's section, England's Ron Oldfield decided to celebrate his birthday by setting a huge 2067 score with age bonus early on.
According to ISBT rules, 50 to 55 year-old players do not receive any age bonus, a 56-year-old gets 1 pin handicap per game, a 57 year-old got 2 pins, and so on. Maximum handicap is 20 pins per game.
By the end of qualification on Saturday night, only 5 men had broken the 2000 barrier, with Ernst Berndt from Germany leading the way on 2088. The cut at 36th fell to Dave Montgomery on 1799.
Scoring for the men was not particularly easy, with all the leaders having a mixture of good and not so good games. The Turbo allowed a further 4 men to progress to the next round courtesy of big games, led by England's Les Grant and Barry Eason.
In the women's section, scoring was comparatively modest, with Dutch player Farida Pascoal-Blom leading the way on 1855 with age bonus. She was closely followed by England's Angie Brown, being just 6 pins short of a 200 scratch average.
Again, scoring for even the top players was not easy, with both Farida and Angie having sub-160 games along the way. English players took the next three qualification spots, with Nicky Prout easily qualifying in fourth place, thanks to an opening three-game block of 692. The cut for the ladies fell at 1604, with England's Jane Meadus tying for 16th position, but losing on count back.
Some established English and European ladies struggled with the fairly dry condition, Belgium's Liliane Vintens, currently second in the ISBT rankings failed to qualify through the normal ranking list after three attempts, but did make the final day thanks to a 260 scratch game which led the Turbo qualification. The other lady to qualify through the Turbo was England's Irene O'Hara.
This event was also a Senior Team England qualifying tournament. Gary Barlow took maximum points in the men's section for the third time this season, and Angie Brown took the honors in the ladies section for the fourth time. Both Gary and Angie now comfortably lead the English Senior rankings with only the final tournament at Wolverhampton to come.
Qualification was followed by the traditional Saturday night meal, which was very well attended. The regular ISBT competitors have become very much a family throughout the year, and all enjoy the social side of the event almost as much as the bowling.
Sunday morning brought an early start for most of the remaining men, although the format provided byes to the top qualifiers. Scoring started again from scratch, with a four-game block qualifying for the second finals round. Al Bennett found his form in this squad, leading with 937, the cut falling at 780 for Ireland's Brendan Healy.
The top 18 men then bowled a further four-game block, joined by four players who had received a bye. England's Lol Ellis was the clear leader after this squad with 958. The cut at 12 places fell to Jack Smith on 811, with Nev Robinson unluckily missing the cut despite tying with Jack.
The women also resumed play at this time, but without the top four players who had byes. Despite only just making the cut through the Turbo, Liliane Vintens easily led this squad, with a total of 825 over the four games. The cut this time fell to Ireland's Yvonne Randell on 699.
On then to the final qualifying block, with all the remaining players looking to make the round robin finals. In the both divisions, the leaders after qualification now rejoined the action.
Dan Ahlquist from Sweden easily led the men's section with 969 over the four games. Once the round was completed, the qualifiers were one each from Sweden, Germany and Belgium, with the remaining five places taken by English bowlers.
In the ladies section, both Brenda Pratt and Farida Pascoal-Blom showed that age is no handicap to scoring well, to lead with 885 and 851 respectively. Sandra Boswell made 8th and last place on 724, with England's Trish Outrim missing out by only 17 pins after a disappointing last game of 146.
The final round was an eight-person round robin, stating from zero pinfall again with 20 pins win bonus.
In the men's section Dan Ahlquist started fastest, and was leading after 3 rounds. By the start of the sixth match, Belgium's Chris Vandamme held a slim lead of 31 pins over Lol Ellis. The next match saw the two drawn against each other. In order for Lol to have a chance of winning the tournament, a win over Chris would be essential.
Thanks to a run of strikes at the end of the game, Lol easily won 243 to 213, and so took a slim 19-pin lead into the final games. Lol faced an on-form Mo Singleton, who found the double in the tenth frame he needed to narrowly defeat Lol.Chris found a 257 game to finish with, and was the overall winner of the men's section, with Lol second, and Ron Oldfield finishing in third place. L-R Ellis, Vandamme and Oldfield.
In the ladies section, Brenda Pratt scored consistently well to open up a clear lead at the top. In the third game, Liliane Vintens had a huge 276 game to pull within a few pins of Brenda, but then was unable to maintain the scoring pace and fell away from the leaders.
As in the men's section, the sixth game was crucial. At this point, Brenda held an 82-pin lead over second place Angie Brown. Angie would need a substantial win to claw back the lead. In the event, a 236 game was good enough to win, but Brenda's 225 with age bonus limited the damage done to her lead.
In the end, Brenda was the clear winner, with Angie in second place being the only player to win all her round robin matches. Third place went to Farida Pascoal-Blom. L-R Brown, Pratt and Pascoal-Blom. In the ISBT rankings, Chris Vandamme was the runaway victor, followed by Ron Oldfield and Dominique De Nolf, Belgium. Farida Pascoal-Blom won the female rankings for the year, followed by Liliane Vintens and Angie Brown.
The top 12 women and 32 men in the ISBT Rankings will now be invited to the ISBT masters tournament, to be held at Arthur Dähn's Vegas Bowling in Monheim, Germany on March sixth, 2011. The 2011 ISBT starts a few days earlier, again in Monheim on the third March.
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Gisela Fehling, Dominique De Nolf capture their first ISBT title in Berlin Senior Open
Brown, Vandamme win their second ISBT title in French Senior Open
Vintens, Oldfield win back-to-back ISBT titles in Belgian Senior Open
Ron Oldfield, Liliane Vintens win the titles in Schiedam Senior Open
Ron Oldfield, Farida Pascoal-Blom win the titles in ALPA Senior Open
Pascoal-Blom, Horne set the pace in ALPA Senior Open after Day 2 Qualifying
Barry Horne starts ALPA Senior Open with a bang
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2010 International Seniors Bowling Tour - Men's and Women's Champions
2010 ISBT #1
Arthur's 5th Senior Open
Vegas Bowling in Monheim, Germany (March 10-14, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Yvette Murrath, Belgium
2010 ISBT #2
Italy Senior Open
Reno Bowling in Bologna, Italy (June 1-6, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Hildegard Kuhn, Italy
2010 ISBT #3
ALPA Senior Open
Alpa-Bowl in Buxtehude, Germany (June 30 - July 4, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Farida Pascoal-Blom, Netherlands
2010 ISBT #4
1st Flanders Senior Open
Real Bowling Latem in Latem, Belgium (July 21-25, 2010)
Men's champion: Barry Horne, United States
Women's champion: Angie Brown, England
2010 ISBT #5
5th Schiedam Senior Open
Chandra Schiedam in Schiedam, Netherlands (July 27 - August 1, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Liliane Vintens, Belgium
2010 ISBT #6
Belgian Senior Open
Bowlmaster in Brussels, Belgium (August 12-15, 2010)
Men's champion: Ron Oldfield, England
Women's champion: Liliane Vintens, Belgium
2010 ISBT #7
French Senior Open
Planet Bowling in Lomme, France (September 1-5, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Angie Brown, England
2010 ISBT #8
Berlin Senior Open
Bowlingcenter Schillerpark in Berlin, Germany (September 30 - October 3, 2010)
Men's champion: Dominique De Nolf, Belgium
Women's champion: Gisela Fehling, Germany
2010 ISBT #9
Senior English Open
Lakeside Superbowl in Nuneaton, England (November 11-14, 2010)
Men's champion: Chris Vandamme, Belgium
Women's champion: Brenda Pratt, England
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Women's Division - Final Standings after Round Robin
Players with position, country, age bonus (per game), seven games including 20 pins bonus for each victory and pinfall total.
| Pos | Player | Country | Age Bonus | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | Total |
| 1. | Brenda Pratt | England | 14 | 196 | 213 | 222 | 256 | 202 | 211 | 215 | 1613 |
| 2. | Angie Brown | England | 0 | 184 | 228 | 236 | 215 | 214 | 256 | 205 | 1538 |
| 3. | Farida Pascoal | Netherlands | 10 | 177 | 169 | 246 | 218 | 179 | 221 | 213 | 1493 |
| 4. | Jackie Atkinson | England | 7 | 147 | 192 | 206 | 202 | 234 | 203 | 207 | 1440 |
| 5. | Yvonne Randell | Ireland | 13 | 205 | 127 | 190 | 193 | 232 | 199 | 176 | 1413 |
| 6. | Liliane Vintens | Belgium | 0 | 167 | 199 | 296 | 148 | 176 | 191 | 156 | 1333 |
| 7. | Sandra Boswell | England | 0 | 216 | 223 | 178 | 169 | 161 | 189 | 170 | 1306 |
| 8. | Carol Barter | England | 7 | 164 | 170 | 167 | 153 | 136 | 162 | 159 | 1160 |
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Men's Division - Final Standings after Round Robin
Players with position, country, age bonus (per game), seven games including 20 pins bonus for each victory and pinfall total.
| Pos | Player | Country | Age Bonus | G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | G5 | G6 | G7 | Total |
| 1. | Chris Vandamme | Belgium | 0 | 212 | 235 | 253 | 251 | 279 | 213 | 277 | 1720 |
| 2. | Lol Ellis | England | 5 | 227 | 206 | 226 | 227 | 288 | 258 | 222 | 1689 |
| 3. | Ron Oldfield | England | 14 | 160 | 235 | 263 | 224 | 241 | 190 | 198 | 1609 |
| 4. | Alan Jenkins | England | 14 | 190 | 200 | 232 | 214 | 222 | 260 | 191 | 1607 |
| 5. | peter cornwall | England | 10 | 211 | 216 | 193 | 212 | 193 | 193 | 288 | 1576 |
| 6. | Dan Ahlquist | Sweden | 5 | 254 | 263 | 181 | 199 | 179 | 216 | 168 | 1495 |
| 7. | Mo Singleton | England | 11 | 171 | 232 | 179 | 186 | 212 | 188 | 244 | 1489 |
| 8. | Ernst Berndt | Germany | 5 | 211 | 160 | 221 | 162 | 175 | 248 | 223 | 1435 |
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