Slovenia’s Tomo Gaber Pinteric produced the biggest surprise of the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters qualification, holding off a field packed with PBA stars to take first place with 1,488 at Olympia Bowling in Helsingborg, Sweden.
His six-game score came in Squad 2 on the opening Friday, when he averaged 248
with games of 233, 207, 258, 237, 264 and 289. It was already leading when
qualification reached its halfway point, but many of the biggest names were still to bowl.
Even after
all 27 squads and more than 1,000 entries, nobody managed to catch him.
Pinteric moved to Helsingborg around 18 months ago, bowls for Swedish club IS Göta and works at Olympia Bowling. After helping with the hard work behind the tournament, he will now enter Sunday’s finals as the qualification winner.
Two-time PBA Tour champion Carsten Hansen of Denmark finished five pins behind with 1,483. Andrew Anderson made a late run at the lead with 1,477 in Squad 25, while Sweden’s Noel Haglund Torgersen took fourth with 1,474.
U21 world champion Emil Svensson finished fifth with 1,473. Sweden’s Albin Gullstrand posted the same score and took sixth place.
Only one pin behind them was Deo Benard with 1,472, while Nate Purches followed in eighth with 1,471. That left just two pins separating fifth from eighth.
Sweden’s Kevin Melin secured ninth place with 1,466, while Germany’s Max Lorenz completed the top 10 with 1,461. Only 12 pins separated fifth from 10th, showing just how tight the battle was behind the leaders.
The top 25 earned a bye into Final Step 2, where their run toward the SLLM title will begin.
Jesper Svensson, who won the SLLM two years ago, placed 31st with 1,420. PBA Player of the Year leader EJ Tackett finished 35th with 1,408, followed by former SLLM champion Kyle Troup in 36th with 1,407.
The final score needed to advance through the general standings was 1,400. Thomas McNeal and Jakub Sedlacek both finished on that number, while Brandon Bonta missed Sunday’s field by only five pins with 1,395.
The remaining places were awarded through the PBA Sweden, Early Bird, senior, U21, women’s and Turbo categories. The complete 55-player field is available on the official SLLM finalists page.
Sunday’s SLLM Finals Schedule
Final Stage 1 begins Sunday, August 30, at 9 a.m. local time. Thirty players will bowl five games from scratch, with the top 15 joining the 25 direct qualifiers in Final Stage 2.
Final Stage 2 starts at noon. All 40 players will bowl six games from scratch, and only the top 16 will continue.
At 4 p.m., those 16 players will move into head-to-head matches over three games. The top seed will face No. 16, No. 2 will meet No. 15 and the same format will continue through the rest of the bracket. The eight winners will advance to Final Stage 4 at 5:30 p.m., where four more three-game matches will decide Monday’s semifinalists.
The one-game semifinals are scheduled for approximately 7 p.m. on Monday,
August 31.
The one-game title match is expected to begin at
approximately 8 p.m. All rounds can be watched live on the
Storm Lucky Larsen Masters YouTube channel.
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