Singapore bowler survives to make cut

18th July, Daejeon: Keith Saw of Singapore survived the first round of the Men’s Open Masters finals at It’s Daejeon International Open 2012 to advance into the Top 24 Round 2 finals with a top 10 finish on Wednesday.

Saw, who qualified for the masters finals in pole position, had a moderate start in his opening game with 191 but quickly settled down to a decent 211 in his second game. After two average games of 203 and 208, Saw found the going tough as he managed 196 in the fourth.

Koreans Cha Ji Hyun, who led with a sizzling opening game, was battling for the lead with ex-national Kim Byung Suk up to the seventh game when Singapore Open champion, Hong Hae Sol rolled the tournament’s first 300 in the eighth game to take over the lead.

The Singaporean was well outside the top 15 at the halfway mark but then quickened his pace with 222, 259, 209 and ending with a strong 243 to finish the squad in ninth position with 1942.

 

Hong topped the squad with 2167 surpassing the benchmark of 2133 set by his team-mate, Jang Dong Chul in the first squad to give the Korean national team a one-two finish.

Kim Byung Suk, who finished second in Squad B, took third spot overall with 2021. Saw finished 14th overall while American PBA pro, Ronnie Russell who finished 12th in the first squad, survived the cut in last and 24th position with 1907.

But the biggest disappointment was Singapore’s Ng Chiew Pang, missing the cut by just one pin. Ng had struck twice in the ninth and tenth frame but knocked down only 6 pins in the 11th frame and spared the 12th to finish with 198.

Remy Ong also narrowly missed the cut by 14 pins finishing in 27th position with 1893. Other Singaporeans, Ng Tiac Pin (57th-1788), Benjamin Lim (81st-1733) and Alexander Tan (109th-1587) all failed to advance.

The top 24 will contest the Round 2 finals over another 6 games with pins carried forward. The top 6 after Round 2 will advance to the TV Shootout finals on July 20. The Women’s Open Finals will be held on July 19 and Singapore has all six in the finals.

The women will bowl 9-games and the top 5 at the end of the finals will advance to the TV Shootout finals on July 20.

Detailed scores: Men’s Open Round 1 Combined | Men’s Open Round 1 Squad B | Men’s Open Round 1 Squad A | Phot Album.Photos by Terence Yaw in Daejeon.