OSKU PALERMAA BEATS CHRIS BARNES FOR HIS SECOND COLUMBIA 300 VIENNA OPEN
October 05, 2011
In front of a large crowd at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria, three-time EBT ranking champion, Osku Palermaa, Finland, defeated PBA super star and defending Vienna Open champion, Chris Barnes, United States, 192-184, to win his second title in the Columbia 300 Vienna Open after 2005.
Barnes, a 13-time PBA champion, averaged 237.92 over 12 games to earn the No. 1 seed for the stepladder finals for the second consecutive years. Current men’s European Bowling Tour ranking leader Palermaa was just 35 pins behind in second place with 234.75.
Reigning European Bowling Tour ranking champion Dominic Barrett, England, was third with a 229.67 average., Karl Wahlgren averaged 220.08 to beat out fellow Swedish national team member and qualifying leader Martin Larsen for the fourth and last spot in the stepladder by 26 pins.
In the opening match, Barrett rolled a seven-bagger to come back from a huge deficit to defeat Wahlgren, 246-226. In the semifinal match between Barrett and Palermaa, who dominated the EBT rankings in the past four years, Barrett made a critical mistake in the ninth frame which opened the door for Palermaa to win, 226-191.
Palermaa, who was just back from his trip to the WTBA PTT Thailand tournament earlier this week, kept the title match against Barnes open despite some tough breaks in the first half of the match. Both players were looking for their second Vienna Open title.
Barnes, who struggled on the right lane, but got a chance to shut out Palermaa with four strikes in frames 9 and 10. Finishing first, the 2010 Vienna Open winner left a 4-pin on lane 28 and when he left a pocket 7-10 split on lane 27 the match was over.
Needing two pins to win, Palermaa fired the ball down the lane getting a split but more than enough to win the match and the tournament, 192-184.
It was Palermaa’s third victory on the European Bowling Tour this season and the 11th of his career.
The 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open was the 17th stop of the 2011 European Bowling Tour and the last of six EBT “Gold” tournaments this season. 324 players featuring 270 men and 54 women from 28 countries competed for total prize fund of 70.630 Euro (approx. $95,000) - 60.400 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.
The singles champion received the 7.000 € top prize, the runner-up earned 5.000 and the third-place finisher got 3.500 Euro. The doubles winners, Martin Larsen, Sweden, and Perttu Jussila, Finland, split 1.600 €. Larsen also teamed with Chris Barnes to land in second place, worth 1.200 Euro.
The 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open featured a 41 feet Kegel lane conditioning pattern with 26.2ml volume oil total.
The qualifying of the Vienna Open was traditionally contested as a Doubles tournament with separate prize money. 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. A total of 358 doubles participated in this year’s qualifying.
Qualifying ran from Tuesday through Saturday and concluded with Squad 17 Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. and ended with the ultimate one-game Desperado Squad on Saturday night which drew record 70 players. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour.
A total of 64 players survived the first cut of the 9th Columbia 300 Vienna Open at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.
The finals started Sunday morning a 8 a.m. CET with the first round in which all but the top 8 qualifiers face off. Those 56 players bowled 6 games scratch to cut to the top 22, who joined the top 8 qualifiers in Round Two.
The remaining 30 players bowled another 6 games scratch after which the field was trimmed to the top 18, who carried the pinfall forward into Round Three. After another 6-game block the top 4 with the highest 12-game total advanced to the stepladder finals.
The No. 4 seed met the No. 3 in the opening match and the winner took 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.
Courtesy of bowlingdigital.com
To join our eClub, just enter your email address below and click join.
