03/18/12 Kuwait
PBA World Champion leads a group of 38 players into the finals
PBA players dominated the qualifying in the 9th Kuwait International Open, the sixth event of the 2012 World Bowling Tour, currently underway at Cozmo Bowling Center in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Osku Palermaa of Finland, a two-time PBA champion and winner of the 2011 PBA World Championship, averaged 245.23 over 15 games to lead the 110-player field with 3683 pinfall total. 2009 PBA World Championship winner Tom Smallwood, United States, was second with 3667 and was followed by defending Kuwait Open champion Chris Loschetter in third place with 3608.
Dominic Barrett, who won his first PBA title in the 2011 PBA World Series of Bowling, was fourth with 3590 and was followed by PBA exempt player Ronnie Russell, United States, with 3577.
Sixth place belonged to the best Kuwaiti, Abdulla Ahmed, who toppled 3555 pins. The top six plus the next Kuwaiti, Khaled Al-Dubyyan (3470), will bypass the first three rounds of the finals and will be seeded into Round 5.
Shayna Ng, Singapore, was the best of five women, who survived the first cut in eighth place with 3529 including five pins handicap each game, an average of 230.27.
Annop Aromsaranon, Thailand, and Indonesia's women's national team member Novie Phang tied for the 34th and last place to advance at 3306 (220.40 avg.). Aromsaranon advanced due to the higher last game, 223 to 206.
The top 34 players will be joined in the finals by the next four Kuwaitis, Jassem Darwish, Fadhel Al-Mousawi, Rakan Al-Amiri and Mohannad Ebrahim.
The 9th Kuwait International Open drew 110 players, 99 men and 11 women, from 19 countries. All players - men and women in the same division - bowled 15 games of qualifying (three 3 blocks of 5 games) over three days. Women received 5 pins handicap each game.
A total of 38 players advanced to the second round: The top 6 plus the best Kuwaiti (ranked 7th), the next 27 players in the overall standings plus the next four Kuwaitis (ranked 35 to 38).
Places 1-7 earned three byes, places 8-14 got two byes and places 15-22 received one bye. The remaining 16 players (places 23-38) will bowl six games scratch with the top 8 advancing to Round 3.
Qualifiers 15-22 and the top 8 of Round 2 will bowl another six games scratch to cut to the top 9, who will meet qualifiers 8-14 in Round 4. Those 16 will bowl another six games scratch with the top 8 advancing to fifth Round.
Those eight and the top six qualifiers plus the top Kuwaiti will bowl four games with the pinfall total being carried forward into a "Modified Match Play Round". Match play consists of seven games plus one game position round with three bowlers on each pair of lanes. The winner of each match on a pair of lanes will receive 20 bonus pins while the second place will receive 10 bonus pins.
The top 5 after match play will advance to the stepladder finals. The No. 1 seed must be defeated twice to win the title. Since the PBA Tour's new alliance with the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) the winner of the 9th Kuwait International Open will be awarded the first PBA Tour international title, the $25,000 top prize and 50 points in the World Bowling Tour ranking.
Women who compete in the Kuwait Open (or other WTBA events) on equal terms with men are eligible to win PBA Tour titles, but women who accept "handicap" pins which are commonly awarded to women in WTBA tournament are not eligible to win PBA titles.
