Pöllänen, Verbruggen, Uotila crack the 1400-bar in Brunswick Ballmaster Open

    01/03/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #1

    Osku Palermaa holds onto qualifying lead; cut for 44th place is 1239

    2011EBT01KristaPollanen.jpg2010EBT15GeryVerbruggen.jpgThree players, Krista Pöllänen (pictured left) of Finland, Belgium's Gery Verbruggen (right) and Pasi Uotila, Finland cracked the 1400-bar during the fourth qualifying squad of the 41st Brunswick Ballmaster Open Sunday at Tali Bowl in Helsinki, Finland.

    Reigning World Games champion Pölllänen won the squad by a whisker, finishing with 1412 including 48 pins handicap to move into second place in the overall qualifying standings. Pölllänen averaged 227.33 scratch behind games of 231, 235, 215, 237, 213 and 233.

    4-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion Verbruggen (2000-'03) was mere one pin behind with 1411 including high games of 279 and 267. The lefty averaged 235.17 to leap into third place.

    201011PBAOskuPalermaa.jpgThree-time Ballmaster champion Uotila (left; 2010EBT10PasiUotila.jpg2009, '04, '00) was another pin behind Verbruggen with 1410 and an average of 235.00. Uotila overtook fourth place.

    His compatriot Osku Palermaa remained in the lead with 1467. The two-hander, who has won his first PBA title in the GEICO Shark Championship in Nov. 2010, targets his first career Ballmaster title. Finnish bowlers have won the prestigious tournament in the past 14 years. The last non-Finnish winner was Tore Torgersen, Norway, back in 1996.

    Mika Määttä, Finland, led Squad 3 on Sunday morning with 1348 six-game total and sits in 10th place with his high series of 1350. 151 players - 147 Finns including 25 women - entered the Ballmaster Open on Saturday and Sunday. The four foreigner include Verbruggen, World Doubles champion Mathias Årup, Sweden (18th; 1312) and his compatriot Peter Ljung, who currently holds the 44th and last place to advance with 1239 or an average of 206.50. Ramil Zinatullin, Russia, is 53rd with 1224.

    Qualifying continues on Tuesday, Jam. 4 with Squads 5 at 7 p.m. local time (CET -1).

    2010BallmasterOpenBanner.jpg The 41st Brunswick Ballmaster Open kicks off the 2011 European Bowling Tour and is the first of six "EBT Gold" events in the 2011 season. The tournament will be held from Saturday Jan. 1 through Sunday Jan. 9, 2010 at 36-lane Tali Bowl in Finland's capital city Helsinki.

    The Ballmaster is also the first of five tournaments of the inaugural World Bowling Tour organized by the World Tenpin Bowling Association for 2011.

    Players compete for total prize money of 90.000 Euro with 12.000 Euro going to the winner, 8.000 to the runner-up and 4.000 and 3.000 to third and fourth place finishers, respectively.

    Since the inception of the European Bowling Tour in the year 2000, the Ballmaster has been the season-opening event of the Tour. Heading into its 12th season the 2011 EBT will feature 22 tournaments - 2 Platinum, 6 Gold, 7 Silver and 7 Satellite - in 17 countries, three in Denmark, two each in Finland and Spain and one each in Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. The total prize fund of the 2011 Tour exceeds 1.1 million Euro.

    201011PBAMikaKoivuniemi.jpg2010AGCherieTan.jpg The first edition of the Ballmaster Open back in 1971 was won by legendary Austrian player and coach, Josef Wiener. The "Big Finn", PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left) is the defending champion. Cherie Tan (right), Singapore has won the women's ranking in 2010.

    Among the players who have registered for the prestigious event are several U.S. professionals. Joining PBA champions Koivuniemi and Osku Palermaa, Finland, and PBA exempt player Stuart Williams, England are Brunswick pro staffers Sean Rash, Ronnie Russel, Tom Smallwood, Chris Loschetter and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard as well as 2007-08 PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes.

    Qualifying runs through Saturday, Jan. 8, and ends with Squad 16 and the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. local time (CET +2) on Saturday night. Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    A total of 48 players - the top 44 from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 4 from the Desperado Squad - will qualify for the finals on Sunday, Jan. 9. No byes will be given in this tournament.

    The finals are similar to the old PBA format. All 48 finalists will bowl 8 games starting from scratch to cut to the top 16 who will advance to the match play portion with the pinfall of Round 1 being carried forward

    Those 16 will bowl 15 games of round robin match play plus one game position round. Players earn 30 bonus pins for each match won and 15 points for a tied match. The top 4 players after 24 games including bonus will determine the champion in a traditional stepladder final.

    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, the 12.000 Euro top prize and 150 ranking points.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each tournament of the 2011 European Bowling Tour will cash ranking points no matter from which country or World Tenpin Bowling Association Zone (Europe, Asia, America) he or she comes.

    The 2011 Brunswick Ballmaster Open champion and the women's ranking leader will automatically take over the lead in the 2011 EBT men's and women's ranking.

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 EBT season will qualify for the 2012 EBT Masters to be held in conjunction with the 3rd Dream Bowl Palace Open in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany April 30 and May 1, 2012.

     


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