Osku Palermaa powers his way into the lead in Oslo

    08/27/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #14

    Six players crack top 10 on Friday; cut for 36th place is 1273

    2011EBT07OskuPalermaa.jpgThree-time European Bowling Tour ranking champion Osku Palermaa (pictured left) of Finland averaged almost 250 Friday afternoon at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo en route to shoot into the qualifying lead in the Linne Norwegian Open.

    The two-hander fired games of 222, 221, 257, 265, 242 and 289 in Squad 12 to lead the 136-player field from seven countries with 1496 pinfall total and an average of 249.33.

    2011EBT14EricSjoberg.jpgPrevious leader Thomas Fagerstrøm, Norway, slipped to second place with 1462 and is followed by Team Norway anchor Mads Sandbækken in third place with 1436. Total six players cracked the top 10 in the three squads on Friday (Squad 10 on Friday morning has been cancelled). Peter Westin led Squad 12 after five games with 1232 including three 260s but fell behind Palermaa due to a 203 final game to finish the day in fourth place overall with 1435.

    Fredrik Tjernes fell to fifth place with 1415 and is followed by Eric Sjöberg (right), who led Squad 11 with 1390 including a high game of 280. 2009 Norwegian champion Bjørn Einar Rudshagen started Squad 13 Friday evening with 298, the highest game of the tournament so far, and added games of 233, 222, 215, 224 and 191 to lead the squad and to move into seventh place with 1383.

    2011EBT10HeidiThorstensen.jpgNorwegian national team member Glenn Morten Pedersen and Lars Pejstrup were second and third to Sjöberg in Squad 11 with 1380 and 1374 en route to overtake eighth and tenth place, respectively, in the overall qualifying standings. Audun Boye Hansen fell from fourth to ninth place with 1376.

    Heidi Thorstensen (left) is the best of 18 women in the field and one of just three in the top 36 in 15th place with 1358 including 48 pins handicap. Randi Brogaard Christensen, Denmark, was 27th with 1308 and Thorstensen's fellow national team member Patcharin Torgersen held the 36th and last spot to advance with 1273.

    Qualifying ends on Saturday, Aug. 27 with Squads 14-17 scheduled for 9 a.m., 1, 5 and 9 p.m. CET.

    2011EBT14NorwegianOpenLogo.jpg After a three-year hiatus, the Linne Norwegian Open is back on the European Bowling Tour schedule. The tournament, which will be held Aug. 19-28, 2011 at 30-lane Veitvet Bowling Center in Norway's capital city Oslo, is the 14th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the third out of six EBT "Satellite" tournaments this season.

    The tournament offers total prize fund of 160.000 Norwegian Kronor (NOK), approx. 20.000 Euro with 30.000 NOK or 3.800 Euro going to the winner, 15.000 NOK to the runner-up and 10.000 NOK to the third place finisher.

    2009VOFinalTobiasKarlsson.jpg2007EBT17IngunnOien4.jpg Tobias Karlsson (left), Sweden, was the last EBT champion in Norway winning both of his two career EBT titles in the Norwegian Open 2006 and 2007. In 2007, Karlsson, seeded fourth, defeated tournament leader Ingunn Øien (right) in the semifinal, 226-219, and her compatriot Mads Sandbækken in the title match, 223-209, to wrap up the title. Øien finished third to win the women's ranking.

    The 2011 European Bowling Tour consists of 21 tour stops in 17 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, seven Silver and six Satellite tournaments.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. The winner of a Platinum tournament receives 250 ranking points, the winner of a Gold tournament gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament such as the Norwegian Open gets 50 ranking points.

    The top 16 men and the top 16 women at the end of the 2011 season qualify for the fifth EBT Masters to be held at Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring near Munich, Germany on April 30 and May 1, 2012. The event will become the first EBT Masters to be contested on single lane condition.

    Qualifying of the Linne Norwegian Open (six-game series, unlimited re-entries) runs from Friday, Aug. 19 through Saturday, Aug. 27 with the last Squad 17 scheduled for 9 p.m. CET Women will receive 8 pins handicap each game throughout the entire event, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    The Linne Norwegian Open features a 41 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 24.4ml volume oil total.

    A total of 40 players will advance to the finals on Sunday, Aug. 28: The top 36 players from the overall qualifying standings plus the top 2 from a separate leaderboard of Squads 1-7, who are not among the top 48, The last two spots are reserved for the leader of Turbo 1 and Turbo 2 (highest score in qualifying game #5 and #6, resp.; extra entry fee required).

    The top 2 qualifiers earn two byes, while players seeded 3-8 bypass the first round of the finals. The remaining 32 players will bowl four games starting from scratch with the top 14 advancing to the second round.

    Those 14 plus qualifiers 3-8 will bowl another four-game block from scratch to cut to the top 10, who will join the top 2 (seeded 1st and 2nd) qualifiers in Round 3. Those 12 will be split into four groups of three players (Group A: 1 - 8 - 12 seed; Group B: 2 - 7 - 11; Group C: 3 - 6 - 10; Group D: 4 - 5 - 9).

    Each of the following rounds will be decided in single-game matches. The player with the lowest score in each group will be eliminated. The four group winners advance to the finals. The player with the lowest score in quarterfinal will finish fourth and the player with the lowest score in the semifinal will finish third.

    The two remaining players will bowl for the title and the 30.000 NOK top prize.

     


    Related Articles


    Heidi Thorstensen takes over lead in Linne Norwegian Open 2011
    Thomas Fagerstrøm takes over lead in Linne Norwegian Open 2011
    Team Norway's Sandbækken, Tjernes set the pace in Linne Norwegian Open 2011
    2011 EBT Schedule and Champions

     


    Standings after Qualifying Squad 13/17

    Â