Leo Grundschober shoots 299, 300 to take the lead in the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open

    10/01/13

    2013 European Bowling Tour #15

    Austrian leads a field of 118 players from 17 countries after the opening day with 1466 (244.33 average); cut for 51st place is 1198 (199.67); Germany's Tobias Börding and Martina Schütz set the pace in Doubles with 2786 (232.17 incl. hdcp)

    2013EBT15LeoGrundschober.jpg

    Local bowler Leo Grundschober (pictured left) took the early lead in the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open, a European Bowling Tour and World Bowling Tour event, which got underway Monday at Plus Bowling in Vienna, Austria.

    The former Austrian national team member sandwiched games between 206 and 228 around high games of 299 and 300 for 1466 and an average of 244.33 to lead a field of 118 players from 17 countries after the first three of 20 qualifying squads.

    As Grundschober used an Ebonite "Angular One" bowling ball for the tournament's first perfecto, he received the Ebonite International (EBI) Perfect Game award of $250. As Grundschober did not use EBI equipment for the whole series, he did not receive the Columbia Early Bird Award ($250 for the leaders of squads 1-9) for leading Squad 2.

    2013EBT14TobiasBording.jpg2013EBT15RomaFurbacher.jpgFresh off a fourth place finish in the BNC Open in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tobias Börding (left) of Germany led a full opening squad (60 players) with 1448 (241.33) including a 289 game to finish day one in second place. The German national team member used EBI equipment only and received a $250 bonus.

    Austrian international Roman Fürbacher (right) used four games between 245 and 254 to lead the third squad on Monday night and to move into third place overall with 1431 (238.50).

    As Fürbacher bowled his series with a Hammer "Nail" and wore a Columbia 300 shirt, he was also awarded $250.

    Finnish Team World Champion Perttu Jussila (below left) and his compatriot Sami Lampo were in fourth and fifth place with 1424 and 1418, respectively. Chad Roberts was the best of five U.S. bowlers, who came from near-by Bratislava, in sixth place with 1401.

    2013EBT04PerttuJussila.jpgImageSeventh place belonged to Božo Nagode of Slovenia with 1385. Rounding out the top 9 were Oliver Morig and Dirk Völkel of Germany with 1379 and 1359, respectively.

    One player from each of the first nine squads, who will not finish in the top 51 at the end of the qualifying, is automatically qualified for the finals. The top 8 qualifiers will receive a first-round bye.

    PBA and USBC Hall of Famer, Parker Bohn III (right), who won his first EBT title in the BNC Open, toppled 1274 pins to currently sit in 27th place.

    Alexander Pittesser of Austria holds the 51st and last place to directly qualify for the finals with 1198 (199.67).

    2013EBT14MartinaSchutz.jpgMartina Schütz (left), Germany, who won the women's ranking in Bratislava, was the best of 17 women on the first day in 13th place with 1338 including 48 pins handicap, a standard for women on the European Bowling Tour.

    Schütz teamed with fellow national team member Börding to set the pace in the Doubles competition with 2786 or an average of 232.17 including Schütz' handicap.

    Qualifying continues Tuesday, Oct. 1 with Squads 4-6 scheduled for noon, 4 and 8 p.m. CEST. Bowlingdigital will cover the Columbia 300 Vienna Open live from Plus Bowling in Vienna commencing Wednesday, Oct. 2 all the way through to the stepladder finals on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 6.

    2013ViennaOpenLogo.jpg The 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 15th stop of the 2013 European Bowling Tour and the last of six EBT "Gold" tournaments (the second-highest category) this season. Players will compete for total prize fund of 75.130 Euro or approx. $100,000 - 64.900 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.

    The singles champion will receive the 7.000 € top prize, the runner-up earns 5.000 and the third and fourth-place finishers get 3.500 apiece. The doubles champions will split 1.600 €.

    Due to an agreement between the World Tenpin Bowling Association and the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open will also award a PBA international title if won by a PBA member or a PBA international member.

    This year, the Vienna Open offers twenty qualifying squads - three each from Monday, Sept. 30 through Thursday, Oct. 3 and four each on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4 & 5 - with 60 spots (or 30 doubles spots) available in each squad.

    Qualifying of the Vienna Open is traditionally contested as a Doubles tournament with separate prize money. Each duo must roll at least one six-game block. Unlimited re-entries - with the same or with different partners - are possible but each player can only cash once with the same partner.

    Qualifying runs from Monday, Sept. 30 through Saturday, Oct. 5 with the final Squad 20 starting at 8 p.m. local time (CEST). Qualifying concludes with the one-game Desperado Squad slated for 11.30 p.m. Women receive 8 pins handicap each game, a standard on the European Bowling Tour

    A total of 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 6:
    • the top 51 players from the overall qualifying standings (Squad 1-20)
    • the highest-positioned player from each of the first nine squads, who is not among the top 51 (total 9 players)
    • and the top 4 players from the Desperado Squad.

    The top 8 qualifying leaders will bypass the first round of the finals. The other 56 players will bowl six games starting from scratch. The top 22 will join the top 8 qualifiers in Round Two.

    Those 30 players will bowl another six games starting from scratch after which the field will be trimmed to the top 18, who will carry the pinfall forward into Round Three. After another six-game block the top 4 players with the highest 12-game total will advance to the stepladder finals.

    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 7.000 Euro top prize, 150 EBT ranking points and 50 WBT ranking points.

    2013EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2013 European Bowling Tour consists of 19 stops in 13 countries including two Platinum, six Gold, four Silver and seven 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 such as the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open gets 150, the winner of a Silver tournament earns 100, and the winner of a Satellite tournament gets 50 ranking points.

    The top 12 men and the top 12 women at the end of the 2013 season qualify for the seventh EBT Masters to be held March 3, 2014 at Dolfijn Bowling in Tilburg, Netherlands immediately following the Hammer Bronzen Schietspoel Tournament 2014.

    WBTLogo_small.jpg The 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is also the 13th event of the 2013 World Bowling Tour, which actually got underway at the end of 2012.

    The 2013 WBT consists of 14 tournaments in America, Arabia, Asia and Europe - six in the United States and one each in Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar and Thailand.

    Players earn points based on how they finish in each event. The current points system is based on a continuous two-year cycle, so points include some events from 2011 and all events from 2012 in addition to the 2013 events.

    2011WTBALogo_small.jpg The top three men and top three women will be invited to compete in the World Bowling Tour Finals presented by the Professional Bowlers Association which will be held in conjunction with the PBA World Series of Bowling V from Friday, October 25 thru Sunday, November 3, 2013 at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

    The World Tenpin Bowling Association, which is made up of 110 bowling federations, governs the sport throughout the world. For more information on WTBA and the World Bowling Tour, visit WorldTenpinBowling.com.

     


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