Brunswick Ballmaster Open and International Hammer Challenge will no longer be part of the European Bowling Tour (EBT), Oy Bowling Ab, the organizer of both events has announced.
Citing recent rule changes and a perceived decline in value, the organizers, along with main partner Brunswick, have opted to remove the two major tournaments from the EBT. The Ballmaster, for instance, was a true gem of the EBT, being part of the tour since its start in 2000.
Nevertheless, the tournaments will remain open to all players, with enhanced prize funds for the upcoming 2025 events, organozers say.
"During the last years Oy Bowling Ab, the organizer of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open and International Hammer Challenge has been the biggest individual tournament organizer in the European Bowling Tour. Last 14 years Brunswick Ballmaster Open has been organized by Oy Bowling Ab. Brunswick Ballmaster Open is the only still active tournament since the beginning of the European Bowling Tour 2000.
Unfortunately, we see that the European Bowling Tour will not give us the value like before. During the Covid, Brunswick Ballmaster Open was one of the few tournaments organized yearly and paying the fees. Or maybe the only one? After the Covid the European Bowling Tour has not recovered. After accepting the rules of the Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2025 we got the new rules for the European Bowling Tour 2025. Those rules are not going to [the] correct direction and are also affecting our main partner Brunswick. Due to those reasons, together with Brunswick we have decided to remove Brunswick Ballmaster Open and International Hammer Challenge from the European Bowling Tour.
The European Bowling Tour needs total renovation. Currently less organizers are paying the fees for less known EBT Masters. We hope to see something more valuable or reduced fees in 2026.
The Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2025 will be the European Bowling Federation and the International Bowling Federation approved tournament like before and it's open for all international bowlers.
We will add the European Bowling Tour fee and additional sponsorship from Brunswick to the Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2025 prize fund, a total of 6.300€ more. 2.500€ for Ladies special prizes and 3.800€ for open. The total prize fund in Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2025 will be 88.900€ and the top prize 12.000€. The new rules and prize fund will publish soon.
We and our partner Brunswick have also decided to increase the International Hammer Challenge prize fund with the EBT fee and the additional sponsorship from Brunswick. Totally more than 5.000 euros. The rules of the International Hammer Challenge 2025 are published soon after the Brunswick Ballmaster Open 2025.”
The Brunswick Ballmaster Open and International Hammer Challenge were among the key events on the EBT Tour, holding Gold and Silver status respectively.
