Osku Palermaa remains unchallenged; wins qualifying in Linne Norwegian Open

    08/28/11

    2011 European Bowling Tour #14

    Squad 15 leader Arvid Espen moves in top 8; cut for 36th place is 1304

    201011PBA06OskuPalermaa.jpg2009NOThomasFagerstrom.jpgTwo-hander Osku Palermaa (pictured left) of Finland led a field of 167 players - 140 men and 27 women - from eight countries with 1496 six-game total and an average of 249.33 en route to win the qualifying of the Linne Norwegian Open.

    The PBA champion, who led the European Bowling Tour men's ranking from 2007 through 2009, remained unchallenged in the last four qualifying squads Saturday at Veitvet Bowling Center in Oslo and led a group of 40 players into Sunday's finals.

    Thomas Fagerstrøm (right) was the best Norwegian bowler in second place with 1462 (243.67). The top 2 players receive two byes for the finals. Places 3-8, who will bypass the first round on Sunday morning, belonged to Norwegians.

    2011EBT14RogerEspen.jpg2011EBT14MatthiasJansson.jpgTeam Norway anchor Mads Sandbækken finished third with 1436 and was followed by Peter Westin in fourth with 1435, Fredrik Tjernes in fifth with 415 and Eric Sjöberg in sixth with 1387.

    Arvid Espen (left) led Squad 15 with 1387, the highest series on Saturday, to move into seventh place. Rounding out the top 8 was 2009 Norwegian champion Bjørn Einar Rudshagen with 1383.

    Swede Mattias Jansson (right) led Squad 14 on Saturday morning with 1376 to leap into tenth place. Squad 17 leader Stig Rune Barstad made the first cut in 13th place with 1370.

    2011EBT14AndreaEHansen.jpg2011EBT14JennyWegner.jpgHeidi Thorstensen, Norway, was the best of four women, who survived the cut to the top 36 in 19th place with 1358 including 48 pins handicap. 16-year-old Team Norway youth bowler Andrea E. Hansen (left) led Squad 16 with 1333 en route to land in 25th place.

    Randi Brogaard Christensen, Denmark, and Jenny Wegner (right), Sweden, took the last two spots to advance in 35th and 36 place with 1308 and 1304, respectively.

    Joining the top 36 in the finals are "early birds" Klas Thunberg, Sweden (1290) and Hans Fredrik Gether (1284) together with Andreas Skoglund (267) and Tor-Øyvind Lunde (279), all from Norway, who were the leaders of Turbo 1 and Turbo 2 (highest score in qualifying game #5 and #6, resp.; extra entry fee required).

    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) ran from Friday, Aug. 19 through Saturday, Aug. 27. Women 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 advanced 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 were not among the top 48, The last two spots were reserved for the leaders of Turbo 1 and Turbo 2 (highest score in qualifying game #5 and #6, resp.; extra entry fee required).

    The top 2 qualifiers earned 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.

     


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    Heidi Thorstensen takes over lead in Linne Norwegian Open 2011
    Thomas Fagerstrøm takes over lead in Linne Norwegian Open 2011
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    Standings after Qualifying


    The top 36 players plus the top 2 from a separate leaderboard of Squads 1-7 (places 37 and 38) and the leaders of Turbo 1 and Turbo 2 (places 39 and 40) advance to the finals. The top 2 qualifiers earn two byes, while players seeded 3-8 get one bye.

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