Americans Nidiffer, Novak take qualifying lead in 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open

    10/01/14

    2014 European Bowling Tour #16

    Three U.S. duos 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open Craig Nidiffer becomes the first player who cracks the 1400-bar; Americans also dominate the Doubles standings after 6/10 squads; score to make the cut is currently 1120 (186.67 average)

    2014NMOpenCraigNidiffer2.jpg2013USBCOCSteveNovak.jpgCraig Nidiffer (pictured left) and Steven Novak (right), United States, led the fourth qualifying squad of the 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open Tuesday afternoon at Plus Bowling in Austria's capital city of Vienna en route to lead the field of 125 players from 14 countries after day two qualifying.

    Nidiffer became the first player, who cracked the 1400-bar bar, as he rolled games of 236, 240, 274, 214, 267 and 236 for 1467 and an average of 244.50. Nidiffer played in his own league as Novak was distant 132 pins behind to overtake second place with 1335 (222.50).

    Day one leaders Daniel Vezis of Latvia and Thomas Gross of Austria slipped to third and fourth place with 1330 and 1324.

    2013EBT18JeroenvanGeel.jpg2014EBT15BrianVoss.jpgSquad 5 bowlers Jeroen van Geel (left), Netherlands, and PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss (right), United States, took over fifth and sixth place with 1312 and 1307. Voss' compatriot JR Raymond, who led Squad 4 with 1286, improved by 16 pins in Squad 5 to move into seventh place with 1302.

    Rounding out the top 8, who will receive a first-round bye at the end of the qualifying is currently Tom Janetzki of Germany with 1259 (209.83). For the records, last year's score to make the top 8 was 1468 or an average of 244.67.

    Michael Rauscher of Austria led squad 6 with 1257 (209.50) to move into 11th place. However, as the highest-positioned player from each of the first nine squads, who is not among the top 51, will earn automatic berth in the finals, Rauscher is already safe by winning the squad.

    Tamara Adler of Austria is the best of 12 women in the field in 22nd place with 1203 including handicap. Bernd Bauhofer of Germany currently holds the 51st and last spot for the finals with 1120 (186.67).

    Three U.S. duos sit atop the Doubles standings with Craig Nidiffer & JR Raymond in first place on 2769, Steven Novak & Brian Voss in second place on 2642 and Steven Novak & JR Raymond in third place on 2552.

    Qualifying continues on Wednesday, October 1, with Squads 7, 8 and 9 starting at noon, 4 and 8 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST).

    2014ViennaOpenLogo2.jpg The 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open is the 16th stop of the 2014 European Bowling Tour and the last of six "gold" tournaments this season, the second-highest of four EBT categories. Players will compete for total prize fund of 73.130 Euro or approx. $100,000 - 62.900 € for Singles and 10.230 € for the Doubles event.

    The singles champion will walk away with the 7.000 € top prize, the runner-up earns 5.000 and the third and fourth-place finishers get 3.500 and 2.500, respectively. The winners of the doubles event will split 1.600 €.

    The VO14 will be contested on a 38 feet lane conditioning pattern with 24.605 mL volume oil total. Download the LaneMap™ Guide to get all information on Plus Bowling.

    BowlingdigitalBanner.gif For the 12th consecutive Bowlingdigital will cover the 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open live from Plus Bowling in Vienna commencing Thursday, Oct. 2 all the way through to the stepladder finals on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 5.

    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 partner or with different partners - are possible, but each player can only cash once with the same partner.

    Due to a partnership agreement between the organizers of the Columbia 300 Vienna Open, the Track Dream-Bowl Palace Open in Munich, Germany, and the Brunswick Etna Open in Catania, Italy, every squad winner in the Vienna Open (the player with the highest six-game total including handicap) receives a free re-entry into the 2015 Track Open. The best Austrian player in qualifying earns a free entry and a free re-entry into the Etna Open 2015, while the second-best Austrian bowlers gets a free re-entry.

    Qualifying runs from Monday, Sept. 29 through Saturday, Oct. 4 with the final Squad 20 scheduled to start 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, an equality handicap provided to women in every event on the European Bowling Tour.

    Total 64 players will qualify for the Vienna Open finals on Sunday, Oct. 5:
    • the top 51 players from the overall qualifying standings (Squads 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 receive a first-round bye. 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 and 150 EBT ranking points.

    2013Columbia300Logo.jpg Columbia 300, which sponsors the Vienna Open for the 10th consecutive year, offers the Columbia Perfect Game Award and the Columbia Early Bird Award. 300 U.S. Dollar will be awarded for the first 300 game in the tournament, which will be bowled with a ball manufactured by Columbia 300. The winners of Squad 1-6 (Sept. 29-30), will receive a $200 bonus by Columbia 300 if they were wearing a C300 shirt and used a C300 bowling ball.

    2014EBTLogo_small.jpg The 2014 European Bowling Tour features 19 tournaments in 13 countries. In its 15th season, the EBT consists of two Platinum, six Gold, three Silver and eight Satellite tournaments. The total prize fund is almost one million Euro.

    The top 50 men and the top 50 women in each event receive ranking points. Those points will be tabulated throughout the season to determine the top 12 men and top 12 women, who will compete in the eighth EBT Masters July 6, 2015 at Bowling ChamartĂ­n in Madrid, Spain, immediately following the III Brunswick Madrid Challenge.

     


    Related Articles


    Daniel Vezis takes early lead in 12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
    12th Columbia 300 Vienna Open Preview
    Mika Koivuniemi shoots big to win the 11th Columbia 300 Vienna Open
    2014 European Bowling Tour - Schedule, Champions and Money-breakdown
    2014 EBT Point Rankings by Bowlingdigital - Men and Women

     


    2014 Vienna Open - Singles Qualifying Standings after Squad 6/20


    Singles Squad 4 Results
    Singles Squad 5 Results
    Singles Squad 6 Results

     


    2014 Vienna Open - Doubles Standings after Squad 6/20


    Doubles Squad 4 Results
    Doubles Squad 5 Results
    Doubles Squad 6 Results


     

    Â