MEN - SQUAD 3 - Dual lane condition
Game 1:
Maybe the legendary five minutes of fame for Thomas Gross of Austria to head the table along with Rolando Sebelen after the first game. One of two of the players seem to have difficulties in sorting out which of the pair of lanes has the long pattern and which the short as it varies from pair to pair.
Nevertheless, the scoring has been pretty good, except for Francisco Colon with a 153.
At the end of this squad we will know the top eight qualifiers for the best-of-three game quarter finals, so from now on each and every ball should count for those in contention.

Game 2:
A 276 from Osku Palermaa on this dual lane condition is one mighty achievement and must have pleased him no end. He now has 131 pins over Stuart Williams in the overall standings. After that it is going to be a tough fight.
It was an embarrassing 133, probably the low game of the tournament so far, for Rolando Sebelen.

Game 3:
Osku Palermaa is carrying on where he left off last night, slamming ball after ball into the 1-3 pocket and blasting the pins into infinity. His 777 so far this evening is likened to the 817 put up by Paul Moor in Squad 1. Only one other player has mastered this dual condition enough to hit over 700 and that's Peter Ljung with 714.
Stuart Williams, number two in the overall standings, had a 256 and lost ground on the vibrant Finn, but as long he maintains a position in the top eight it doesn't really matter where you finish unless you have a chance to be number one and take the $1,000 top qualifier bonus. Osku could take that and another thousand for the squad prize, and he took that for Squad 2 last night with his perfect game finish.

Game 4:
Osku dropped the pace to a 236 in the fourth game and Jason Belmonte came up into second place on the squad with a 255. Osku is the first to break into four figures, compiling 1013 over his first four games. If he doubles that score it will be the highest of the three series.
It is becoming a dogfight for the lower of the eight places and teeth are grinding throughout the center.

Game 5:
Peter Ljung's 287 in game five has made up a lot of ground on Osku's lead and if he can maintain a good average will certainly be in the top eight when the dust of battle settles after the next three games.
Most of the games from the top half of the table are over 200 now, so they are adapting to this unique lane condition.
Martin Larsen of Sweden sits on eighth position right now but there are a lot of players seeking to knock him off his perch.

Game 6:
I understand that the traffic is so high on the Kegel.net website that it is interfering with the scoring system. Evidently the 'hits' so far have heavily outnumbered those of the 2005 event, which is great news, although too heavy at the moment. Therefore, I'm not currently able to post the squad leaders, but the important statistics are for the qualifiers in the top eight positions overall.
Osku Palermaa looks set for both the top qualifier and squad winner, so should pocket another $2,000 tonight. In roughly another hour, it would be a good time to ask to be taken out to dinner.

Game 7:
It's lock city now for Osku and the $2,000 will be his at the end of the next game. Last night he stated he was good for 1900 on the dual condition and he only needs a 150 game for that. He already has that, so with a 250 he can make 2000.
The top seven look pretty safe, but Martin Larsen could drift off the pace with a low game.
With the top seed playing the best-of-three against the low seed, it could be some time before Osku would meet Jason if they both stay with the game.

Game 8:
Whew! What a finale to the qualifying. Just as we thought the lower places were pretty consolidated, along comes Austria's Thomas Gross and shoots a 279 and knocks out Remy Ong and takes eighth place.
Now the field for the best-of-three quarter finals has seven players representing Europe and one American, the host pick.
If you're going to disagree with me about Belmonte being from the Asian zone, you're right. He did qualify for both the European and Asian zones but chose to represent Europe.
Photo: John Davis present both prizes to Osku.

FINAL QUALIFYING STANDINGS: