The 40th Ballmaster Open was big success to the organizers, but also big success to bowling. Mika Koivuniemi who after 12 years had a possibility to come to Ballmaster and Tali showed to all of us that he still is the Big Finn. He beat all three opponents in the stepladder and travelled home with the 15.000 euro in his pocket.

The legend of PBA bowling, Parker Bohn III, was a runaway leader in the round robin and took the first place for the stepladder. Also our female guest, very technical bowler star from Singapore, Cherie Tan jumped easily to the TV-show.

In the half way of the round robin the decisions are taking shape. Parker Bohn III has played clearly best bowling and he has taken the lead and is pulling away from the others.

Top four looks totally foreign at the moment; Dom Barrett is second, Cherie Tan third and Tomas Leandersson fourth. Best domestic player right now is young Tony Ranta, who is still very much in the picture. So is Kimmo Lehtonen and Mike Fagan, who started bad, but is climbing fast.

The first stage of the Ballmaster Open finals was real banging. There were three 300-games and that means there will be a one ball tie breaker after the tournament TV-final. These fireworks took the attention away from the final itself for a while.

1. Joonas Maunula    300
2. Joonas Jehkinen   258
3. Kai Virtanen         246
4. Magnus Lönnroth  245

Petri Mannonen only made it to the final with his fifth outing. With a spurt of 257 he gathered total of 1386 and made it to the Sunday finals.

The next to last squad in the Ballmaster Open was very even and it was only resolved in the last game. There the most effective was Petri Mannonen, who shot 257 and it lifted his score to 1386. Second was Joline Persson Planefors, 1364. Jarmo SInilaakso, who finished third must wait to the very end to see if his 1348 will hold. Samu Valaranta’s fate is hard. He shot 1345 twice and that is not enough to the finals.

Scoring level stays high and the qualification cut keeps on climbing squad after another. In the 13th squad Mathias Årup from Sweden made the best score 1436 and behind him at least five bowlers cleared their way to the finals. The qualification cut is rising at such speed that even last year’s winner Pasi Uotila has fallen out.

Saturday morning squad was full ant there were many high scores made. There were also two attempts for a perfect game, but both Markus Jansson from Sweden and Timo Alho from Finland had to satisfy for 299. A stubborn tenpin defied perfecto for both men.

Even more semi-serious attempts were made, but they ended after 8th frame. This happened also to Mika Koivuniemi. Mika was on the lanes to feel the new ball and it felt good. He had 755 in the first three, and he was happy about it.

The celebration squad, where the 19 previous tournament winners palyed, ended iin a glorious way in Mika Koivuniemi’s 300-game. Thus the Big Finn grabbed a hold on the eXtra prize pot. At the moment there are 7.000 euro in the pot.

“I felt from the very beginning that a 300-game is coming”, Mika told. This can be proved by Tore Torgersen and lane marshal Tatu Lehtonen. “Mika told me after the first strike that now the 300 comes”, Tatu reported before the last frame.

The Friday afternoon squad was won by Tina Hulsch, but at least as much attention got 10-year-old Vladimir Khebenev, although he finished last in the squad.

Hulsch’s secret was constancy. She did not have a very big game, but she also did not fail in any. With 1366 she will make it to the final.

In the eighth squad we got another score over 1400. Joonas Huolman scored 1404 with his big ending spurt. Three last games were 758. With those three last games Huolman passed the previous squad leader Petteri Salonen, whose scoring was descendent. Salonen did get a good enough score for the final, 1343. Also Pekka Mäyry passed Salonen in the end with his 1377.

The seventh squad of Ballmaster Open completely changed the qualification results list. There were a whole bunch of world stars on the lanes and it really looked like that.

In the sixth squad of the Ballmaster Open qualification we got a new top name in the list, when the younger of the Palermaa brothers, Toni, rolled new top score 1454.

For the first time in the history of the tournament there was a special squad for seniors. Obviously it was needed, since the squad was full. Although bowlers over 50 make good scores all the time, there were no scores high enough to make the finals.

Men from Kokkola are in good form in Ballmaster Open qualification. Matti Knutar of CPS took the lead on Saturday and now his club mate Veli-Matti Tissarinen was the best in squad 4 with 1388 and zoomed to second place. 

Veli-Matti Tissarinen says that Kokkola men do not have any special secret. “For myself I can say that I got just lucky. There is no reason to deny that”, he said frankly. “Matti (Knutar) bowled good scores already before Christmas. I am not at all surprised about his result”, Tissarinen continued.

Ville Häggman (27) continued the march forward of the young bowlers in the Ballmaster Open. With the top score of the third squad 1362 he took the third position of the qualification. Matti Knutar (19) and Jesse Lindholm (23) continue as the top duo.

Matti Knutar’s 1416 stayed in the lead in Ballmaster tournament. The best scorer in the second squad was Jesse Lindholm of Rännimestarit, Lohja. ”I played 1226 in the morning, I improved a bit, said Jesse Lindholm, who made his first attempt in the youth squad.

“The condition did not change at all. I played four first games the same line, then I changed the ball and used that for the two last games. I also moved five boards to the left. I did not find the condition very difficult”, Jesse said.

Matti Knutar from Kokkola started the Brunswick Ballmaster jubilee tournament with a six-pin shy perfect game. The shot that was pulled inward never looked like a strike, but Matti was only glad about it – he had not paid the 300-eXtra entry fee.

“The first ball in the 10th frame is the most difficult in making a 300-game, to my opinion. That one was a good shot, which feels good to me. Even more satisfied I am that the last shot was not a good one. For once”, Matti Knutar laughed. “Of course I did not throw a bad ball in purpose”, he stressed.

On December 31st we reached the new level on Ballmaster 40th anniversary tournament. There are now 500 players on the reservation list.

It feels great to look at the list of participants, so much old and new bowling friends have signed in.

The organizing committee wishes you all Happy New Year. Warmly welcome to Tali!

- seija lankinen

The 40th anniversary of the Ballamster Open will be celebrated not only in Tali, but also in BowlCircus Flamingo, where the tournament banquet will be on January 10th after the finals enjoying tasty food from the Mexican buffet and drinks.

The banquet is free for all tournament entrants, but it requires signing up. It is only a few days for the tournament to start and the feeling is slowly rising. There will be over 500 (497 at the moment) bowlers from 22 countries, so there is going to be a lot to see and experience in Tali.

In Brunswick Ballmaster Open jubilee tournament there is more than just the 105.000 euro available as prizes. There is also a 10.000 euro extra prize for a 300-game. Earlier Ballmaster eXtra has given away a car and a motorcycle, now there are euro up for grabs.

There will be also quests from Asia in Tali in January, when four national Team bowlers from Singapore sent their entries today. Number one in the team is world top bowler Remy Ong.

Singapore will send four of their national Team bowlers to the tournament. Remy Ong is absolutely number one of them. We will also see Yu-Wen Lee in the group.

Today we received confirmation that there will be another famous bowler in the Ballmaster Open, when Parker Bohn III sent final confirmation about his arrival to Finland in the beginning of January. Bohn III has bowled on PBA Tour since 1985 and he has made there a very successful career that still continues.

The cancellation of a PBA tournament scheduled to the beginning of January left a suitable slot for the players to drop by to Finland. With this lucky chance the 40th Anniversary Ballmaster Open is at perfect time.

Joonas Jehkinen is surely very familiar to Finnish and also foreign bowlers. That jolly fellow from Savo, the iceman of tight situations. On his spare time “Jehu” enjoys not only bowling lanes, but also behind a drum set.

His band, “Croowed”, will be performing in the Ballmaster Open banquet on January 10 in BowlCircus Flamingo.

The opening day of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open is approaching and you need to start considering the EBT- penalty point rules. According to the rules the late cancellations are divided to three groups and so are the penalty points and other consequences.

These rules concern the first reservation that the player has, cancelling the re-entries give no penalties.

Type A means that the organizer is notified by the player in the period of 30 days before the first day of the tournament until 8 days before the first day of the tournament.

One’s loss is other’s gain. So can you say, when the first tournament of the PBA in the beginning of January was cancelled. This is how we get to have Mika Koivuniemi in the 40th anniversary of the Ballmaster Open. Mika was glad to receive the news; he has wanted to come to Finland in January for many years now.

The 400 player limit on the entry lists of the January anniversary tournament was broken on October 19th! The 40th Anniversary will be celebrated with a new record of bowlers. Also first time in the Ballmaster Open history, we have a pleasure to see players from Poland in Tali!

The honour for breaking the “magical” limit goes to Christer Sjölund of Strike-52 from Vaasa. At the moment (on 27th October) we have 425 players booked to Ballmaster Open 2010.

The 40th anniversary of Brunswick Ballmaster Open is expected to become a great tournament. It has been a pleasure to see how well both Finnish and foreign bowlers have taken to the tournament; only that will give a great week in Tali.

Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2010 will be bowled in festive feelings in January 2.10.2010. The tournament will take place for the 40th time and it will be the first EBT Platinum Tournament. To celebrate the occasion Kimmo Lehtonen is giving out 105.000 Euros.

The Ballmaster Open is something new, but is also returning to its roots. The prize sum, the first prize and also the prize for the last finalist is bigger than ever. On the other hand the format returns to the good old round robin, which was unique in Finland in those days.

39th Brunswick Ballmaster Open is behind us and every one of us has had time to melt the experiences and to rest after it. The tournament got an end it deserved when Pasi Uotila took his third victory in Ballmaster Open after very exciting final.

Now its time to say: “Thank you”.

Pasi Uotila won in a tremendous final his third Ballmaster Open championship, which puts him to the same amount with Simo Vähäkorpela and Lasse Lintilä.

Uotila beat Dominic Barrett 214-212 in a exciting final game. His victory came with the sweetest possible way. He stepped to bowl the tenth frame needing two strikes and nine count to win. He put the ball three times in the pocket and took three strikes.

Pasi Uotila advanced to the final by defeating Dennis Eklund 184-168. Uotila took an early lead, when Eklund missed the spare in the first frame.

Then the two played almost the same frame to frame, they both even made a 7-10 split in the fifth frame. Uotila made the crucial difference with two lazy strikes in seventh and eighth frame. When Eklund finished the game with no consecutive strikes, Uotila was a winner already before his tenth frame.

- seija lankinen -

Kimmo Lehtonen’s dream of third win in Ballmaster Open was stopped by Dominic Barrett’s fine bowling. The Englishman won the first semifinal 223-204 The beginning of the game was nervous.

Lehtonen made two splits to start the game and Barrett one in the second frame. Barrett then shot six strikes in a row and when Lehtonen only could answer with four the match was over after the ninth frame.
- I am not diappointed, Dom played well.
- This was great bowling for me. I am happy I reached the tv-finals.

- pekka korpi - 

Two of the fourth stage matches were straight 3-0 and two were decided with extra balls in the fifth game. Pasi Uotila knocked Petteri Salonen easily 3-0 with big figures.

Same did Dominic Barrett to Osku Palermaa. The finish of the third game was dramatia, when Palermaa missed a 3-6 spare. Converting it would have given him a victory in that game and a chance to play more.

In the matches the top eight qualifiers suffered seven defeats in eight matches. Only Kimmo Lehtonen won his match.

The matches were quite even, none ended with straight games 3-0. Four went to five games. Lehtonen defeated Or Aviram from Israel 3-1 quite easily.

The only lady, Nicole Sanders beat top seed Tobias Karlsson 3-1.
3-1 were also the figures between Dominic Barrett and Jason Belmonte. In the final frame of game four Barrett left a 6-7-10 split, but Belmonte also made a split, 4-6 and lost the game 157-167.

Osku Palermaa felt best at home in the second block of the where the line for the right-handers climbed very high. Palermaa passed the previous leader Dominic Barrett and took the top position. The second block was bowled on the same lanes as the first and without lane maintenance. This soon caused the playing line for the right-handers to go far to the left.

Osku Palermaa viihtyi parhaiten finaalin toisessa vaiheessa, jossa oikeakätisten pelipaikka nousi kovin ylös. Palermaa ohitti johtaneen Dominic Barrettin ja kirjasi itselleen ykköspaikan. Finaalin toinen vaihe keilattiin samoilla radoilla, kuin ensimmäinen ja ilman ratahoitoa.

The finals of the tournament started a eight in the morning. Dominic Barrett was clearly the best of the group. He bowled 1209 in five games and outdistanced the rest by almost hundred pins.

Barrett took the lead in the very start by opening with a 268 game. The rest of the block went also well, 217,243,234 and 247 in the last game. He kept on widening the gap all the time and with the last game it came to be 82 pins to the second place finisher Tero Suokas on Finland. Suokas jumped to the second position with his last game and ended with score 1127.

The finals of the tournament started a eight in the morning. Dominic Barrett was clearly the best of the group. He bowled 1209 in five games and outdistanced the rest by almost hundred pins.

Barrett took the lead in the very start by opening with a 268 game. The rest of the block went also well, 217,243,234 and 247 in the last game. He kept on widening the gap all the time and with the last game it came to be 82 pins to the second place finisher Tero Suokas on Finland. Suokas jumped to the second position with his last game and ended with score 1127.

The finals of the tournament started a eight in the morning. Dominic Barrett was clearly the best of the group. He bowled 1209 in five games and outdistanced the rest by almost hundred pins.

Barrett took the lead in the very start by opening with a 268 game. The rest of the block went also well, 217,243,234 and 247 in the last game. He kept on widening the gap all the time and with the last game it came to be 82 pins to the second place finisher Tero Suokas on Finland. Suokas jumped to the second position with his last game and ended with score 1127.

Saturday changed to Sunday in Tali bowling center with very good Desperado. The winner, Jesse Kallio form Finland bowled 279, after starting with nine strikes.

Heikki Tiainen lost only one pin to Kallio and took the second place. Sami Salin, 276, and Mathias Årup, 257, are the last bowlers in the finals tomorrow. - seija lankinen -

Mikko Pietilä from Finland bowled the first 300 game in Brunswick Ballmaster Open this year. He shot it in the last squad and in the fith game. Mikko's total score was 1294, which is not enough to the finals. The last score for to the final is 1311.

44 players and four players form desperado will play the finals tomorrow. Eight best will start from 3rd step.

- seija lankinen -

Kari Hurri from Finland was on fire in Saturday afternoon squad. He bowled well all six games well and ended to the score 1396. That is quite surely bringing him directly to the matches of 16 best players.

Hurri was “practising” six games qualification on Tuesday and it gave him good confidence to this squad.
- After my squad on Tuesday I decided to play more outside line. But in the beginning it did not work at all and I made few open frames. Quite soon I drifted to the left and found the right line. Then I just concentrated to make good shots, Hurri told.

Or Aviram from Israel was the best bowler in the 13th qualification squad in Brunswick Ballmaster Open. With the score 1338 he could not change the top eight, but he will for sure play in the finals tomorrow. Aviram started the squad very well with games 216, 215, 258 and 257. It looked like he is earning a place directly to the matches of 16 players.

Jussi Turtianen of Finland was really well awake on Saturday morning at eight in Ballmaster Open qualification. He started with the marvellous game 290 and continued at the score 1397. Before last three squads Turtianen holds the fourth position.

- After the good start I bowled steadily around 220 scores, until in the last game I broke to 216. That game I started with four strikes in a row, but then I tried too much. Luckily I managed to make a double in 9th and 10th frames, so this might be enough to the top eight, Jussi laughed for his “brake down”.

The defending winner, Jouni Helminen, was the best bowler in the Friday evening squad with the score of 1382. Mads Sanbacken of Norway reach the same score but is behind Jouni because of the lower last game.

- I thought long time if I will come to play in this squad. I was rather frustrated yesterday and ready to put my bowling balls in the corner. I felt that I can’t find any solution for the differences on the lanes. But, today I played totally different way than before, Jouni told.

The leader of Brunswick Ballmaster Open changed on Friday afternoon, when Tobias Karlsson of Sweden dropped Kimmo Lehtonen to the second place with 26 pins. Karlsson who came to Helsinki just in the morning bowled the highest score 1431 (238,5).

We have got some feedback concerning our result page. We are updating the results on the page after each game, but the readers can't see updated results with out pushing the re-fresh button. We are sorry for this, but we can not change it any how.

We have got some feedback concerning our result page. We are updating the results on the page after each game, but the readers can't see updated results with out pushing the re-fresh button. We are sorry for this, but we can not change it any how.

Robert Andersson from Pergamon and Sweden was very near to drop Kimmo Lehtonen on the second position in Brunswick Ballmaster Open. Only the last open frame took that chance from “Robban” and gave him the third place after Kimmo and Jason Belmonte.

Jason Belmonte has been one of the players whom every one has waited to see in Tali and Brunswick Ballmaster Open this year. He showed that he is worth for that, by playing the second best score, 1402.

Jason Belmonte played in Ballmaster Open last time two years ago. After that his life has changed a lot. He has married with Kimberly and moved to France.
- We moved to Europe last May. France was more or les by coincidence, because my wife just took the map of Europe, closed her eyes and put her finger some where. And it was France, Jason laughed.

The runner up in World Championships 2008, Jesper Agerbo of Denmark, came to Finland and Tali on Thursday at noon. He started Brunswick Ballmaster Open qualification at 15:00 and found the right way to bowl immediately. Jesper Agerbo scored 1354, which is enough for the fifth place after seven squads.

Juhani Tonteri (21) was the second best player in Brunswick Ballmaster Open qualification on Tuesday. He kept the result level almost until end over 200 and ended to the score 1311. At the moment it gives him the 11th place.

Pasi Uotila was the best bowler in Brunswick Ballmaster Open qualification squad on Tuesday morning. With the high score 1378 he signed up on the second place on result list. The lead is still in Kimmo Lehtonen’s hands with the score 1405.

Brunswick Ballmaster Open manager Kimmo Lehtonen is on the top again. Last year he was not able to bowl in tournament, today he scored 1405 on his third try during this year. None of his game was bad.

Even Lehtonen was the best; he was not the evening star in Tali. The star was Maria Koshel (8) from Russia.

Samuli Tiainen, 16, was the best bowler in third squad of Brunswick Ballmaster Open qualification. His six games score was 1311. That was enough to beat his father Olli Tiainen by four points. Samuli came to Tali with Olli, just looking at, but decided to take part to tournament when he walked in.

Samuli was ready to play, because they were on they way home form bowling trip to Sweden.

Jussi Lindgren, Ailec Team Helsinki, took the lead in his hands in the second qualification squad with the high score 1375. He played all six games on very good level with out low games. His bowling looked all the time quite convincing.

- There were not so amazing games, I managed to avoid some problems. There were quite clear differences between the pairs of lanes. Luckily I had today such a bowling ball in my hand, which patched up many “man’s” mistakes. That made my score level much milder, Jussi Lindgren praised the Columbia Momentum which he used.

We have got some feedback concerning our result page. We are updating the results on the page after each game, but the readers can't see updated results with out pushing the re-fresh button.

We are sorry for this, but we can not change it at the moment.

- seija lankinen -

Jarno Blomberg from team Mainarit Finland is in the lead in Brunswick Ballmaster Open after the first squad.

On Friday he decided to play in the first squad and was happy about it. In two last games he found the right line to bowl and made scores 255 and 279. His total score in six games was 1361.

Brunswick Ballmaster Open will start tomorrow. The photo gallery has been opened up today. You can find it under the “media” headline.

It’s our pleasure to announce you all that in Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2009 we will arrange transportation to the players as much we can. At the moment it looks like we can take care of you even better than last year.

The official hotel is situated near to the airport, all the players who will give us the arrival details will be picked up. Our drivers will take you in the hotel or to Tali bowling centre, just as you wish. Important note is that all transportation will be available only for the players, who will stay in our official hotel, Sokos Flamingo.

The opening day of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open is approaching and you need to start considering the EBT- penalty point rules. According to the rules the late cancellations are divided to three groups and so are the penalty points and other consequences.

These rules concern the first reservation that the player has, cancelling the re-entries give no penalties.

The official hotel for Brunswick Ballmaster Open ha changed, but the level of accommodation will certainly stay high. New is Sokos Hotel Flamingo, which was opened this autumn. Hotel itself, being brand new, is very tidy and cosy. Extra is the situation in the entertainment centre Flamingo and shopping centre Jumbo.

The new reservation for Brunswick Ballmaster Open is finished and has been opened. Players with e-mail address can make their reservations in the internet starting from today.

The online ineternet bookingsystem is made by Swedish Erik Fischbach, Meriq, will serve the players well and very extensively. Making reservations is easy and confirmation for each reservation will be sent to the player via e-mail. The online system will update the reservations also to the tournament homepage, so the reservations in the internet are always up to date.

Much has happened since this year’s Brunswick Ballmaster Open ended in Jouni Helminen’s victory. As you can see, the tournament has new web pages, which we hope will serve you even better than before.

Brunswick Ballmaster Open will have a new reservation system. It is already well know to most players from Euro Challenge. We will have the system ready in few days.

Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2009 will be again the first stop in The European Bowling Tour 2009 (EBT Major).  This will be the 39th Ballmaster Open tournament in Tali Bowling Centre, Helsinki.

Tournament starts in 3rd of January and the final is played in 11 January 2009.