Two squads kicked off the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters 2024 on Friday at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
In the opening squad, Germany's Anton Kuptz delivered a phenomenal performance, scoring a total of 1455 pins (242.5 avg.) to take an early lead.
"I saw the oil pattern and was quite afraid of the heavy oil," Kuptz said in an interview with BowlingLife. "When I made the first practice shots, I saw the ball hook a lot. It suits my game."
Kuptz may have felt a bit nervous, but it didn’t show in his performance. The German was nearly perfect not once, but twice, scoring 277 and 279 in games 3 and 5, respectively.
This year's Storm Lucky Larsen Masters features a medium oil pattern of 42 feet.
Last year, Markus Jansson of Sweden scored 1480 at the very beginning of the tournament, holding the lead throughout the entire qualification.
When asked if he plans to stay in Helsingborg for the week, Kuptz shared his hopes that 1455 would be enough to advance, and expressed his excitement about having time to travel to Denmark for another bowling event.
"I hope it will be enough. I'm driving to Denmark tomorrow; there's another tournament I'll play in, and then I’ll come back here next weekend."
Kuptz found success playing with the Storm IQ Tour 78-U bowling ball near the gutter throughout the entire squad. Interestingly, he had this ball drilled just minutes before the squad began, as his original ball, which he intended to use, had a scratch too large to be allowed in the competition, forcing him to set it aside.
With the target on his back, Kuptz calmly sat in the crowd watching as another 18 players attempted to outscore him in the Squad 2.
Despite their efforts, none succeeded, and the German continued to hold the top spot.
In Squad 2, Peter Hellström of Sweden came closest, winning the squad with a total pinfall of 1402 (233.6 avg.)
Four qualification squads will be played tomorrow. Live-stream of the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters can be found here. Full results can be found here. Full picture gallery of each squad can be found here.
Storm Lucky Larsen Masters is the sole Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour event outside the U.S. Participants has a chance to win not only a signature Kosta Boda crystal trophy, but a PBA Tour title as well.
Over 300-player field, including dozens of bowling idols from the PBA Tour such as EJ Tackett, Kyle Troup, or Anthony Simonsen, will fill the Olympia Bowling venue from August 23rd to September 1st.
Enjoy the excitement of the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters by joining the BowlingLife Discord community and following all the on the lanes and off the lanes action from your device!
