The QubicaAMF UK Grand Slam launches in 2020

With generous Sponsorship from Qubica/AMF of £1,500  the QubicaAMF UK Grandslam will now carry cash prizes for the top two male and female bowlers who rank highest in three or more Home Nation open championships in 2020.

Rankings will be compiled from the English, Scottish, Northern Ireland and Welsh Opens.

The QubicaAMF UK Grand Slam with be administered by the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame based on the following criteria:

To be eligible for a share of the sponsorship you must have played in at least 3 of the Opens.

  1. Points will be awarded at each Open from 20 points to the winner down to 1 point for the 20th place in each event.
  2. Points gained from all events will count.
  3. A minimum of 20 points from all events must be gained to be eligible.
  4. The Sponsorship will be distributed as follows for those meeting the criteria:
    1. Top Male £500
    2. Top Female £500
    3. Second place Male £250
    4. Second place Female £250

We hope this will serve as an additional incentive for bowlers, both from the UK and International, to support and win our home open championships. They carry higher points in the UK Tenpin Hall of Fame for winning and can help a player up the all time rankings.

A few words from our Sponsor and home nation events

QubicaAMF were delighted to be asked if we could support this fantastic new series that spans the whole of the United Kingdom and takes in four amazing bowling tournaments. As a company we have long supported sport bowling and this fits perfectly with our desire to inspire people to participate in sport and leisure bowling”.

Darren Lewis – QubicaAMF UK Business Manager

The UK Grand Slam in conjunction with our sponsors QubicaAMF is a welcome addition to the UK bowling scene. It will encourage and reward competitors to support and participate in home nations’ events during the season, particularly with an incentive bonuses on offer. We look forward to playing our part and welcoming all competitors to the 2020 Northern Ireland Open this May.

Grant Dugan, Northern Ireland Open

It has long been necessary to ‘pool resources’ amongst the home nations opens and this initiative will be a huge step in that direction. The encouragement for players to participate in UK events will help to boost the quality of the events, which in turn will attract more local players. Our thanks go out to QubicaAMF for their continued support to the sport, and specifically the UK events.

Andy James, English Open

Over the last few years there has been a shift within UK bowling to be more supportive and inclusive of each of our associations, members and events. We have seen this markedly in how the home nations have interacted and supported each other whilst representing nationally and internationally and now with the Grand Slam, we have an opportunity to support and cross promote our flagship events. With the help of QubicaAMF the grand Slam will help bring some much needed incentives to the premier events and helping all our bowlers to see our events as part of the UK bowling as a whole. Not as individual stand alone events. Thank you to all involved at these events and within our associations the continued efforts to push our sport as a whole within the UK. We look forward to seeing bowlers from all associations at the Welsh open in May and the Northern Irish Open, Scottish Open and English Open throughout 2020 and beyond.

Pip Wellsteed, Welsh Open

Scottish Tenpin Bowling are excited to be part of the Qubica AMF UK Grand Slam. We see this as an excellent opportunity for athletes, with additional incentives for competing. In addition, we expect to see an increase in home federation support and communication, which will help increase develop sport bowling in the UK. We’d like to thank all involved, especially UK Tenpin Hall of Fame and Qubica AMF for sponsoring the initiative.

Calvin Murray, STB Sports Development Director

 

What do we know about the history?

It is true to say there have not been many years in our history where a Grand Slam of more than three events has been possible. They overlap and in the case of British Open, changes to English Open. The British Open starts us off in 1983 and we have to wait until 1989 for the first Scottish Open and in 1993 the Welsh Open. The UK Tenpin Hall of Fame are still sourcing winners from the Northern Ireland Open and some Scottish Open and British Open winners but an almost complete list has formed showing who has won and in which years.

England’s Lisa John and Scotland’s Laura Rhoney are the only players currently recorded as winning three of the four Home nation opens in their current form in a career. Lisa having won the English, Scottish and Welsh and Laura the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Opens. Wayne Greenall winning in old form of British Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open.

Kirsten Penny is the only bowler to have won three home opens in a year when the British Open ran by collecting the British Open, Welsh Open and Scottish Open in 2000.

Players winning two home nation opens in a year include

1993 Pauline Buck British and Welsh
2004 Wayne Greenall Scottish and Welsh
2009 Vicki Burbridge English and Welsh
2011 Laura Rhoney Scottish and Welsh
2012 Hayley White Scottish and Welsh
2013 Hayley White Scottish and Welsh
2019 Paul Moor English and Welsh

Wayne Greenall has won the most home opens, collecting The British Open plus six Scottish Opens and four Welsh opens for a fantastic total of 11. Paul Moor has seven titles (1 British, 2 English and 4 Welsh). Hayley Russell and Laura Rhoney have won the most female titles with six titles at current format and Kirsten Penny has won six titles including the British Open.

Technically speaking, No player has won the four current UK Home Opens in a career and this honor is there to be gained as is the much harder task of winning all FOUR Opens in a single year for a SUPER Grand Slam.

Winners of Home Opens

Year Brit/Eng Scottish N.I Welsh Year Brit/Eng Scottish N.I Welsh
1983 Mats Karlsson 1983 Judy Howlett
1984 Kevin Pollard 1984 Shelagh Leonard
1985 Dave Taylor 1985 Judy Howlett
1986 Gunnar Samuelsson 1986 Tina Darvill
1987 Philip Dunne 1987 Jill Owen
1988 Teemu Raatkainen Bruce Pearce 1988 Gina Wardle
1989 Larry Shultz Chris Buck 1989 Hannele Uotila Jill Sutton
1990 Adam Apo Andy McCraken 1990 Christina Dahlgren
1991 Marcel van den Bosch Geoff Buck 1991 Marianne Haultala
1992 Teemu Raatkainen 1992 Pauline Buck
1993 Ron Mohr Richard Hood Cliff Dew 1993 Pauline Buck Lynne Terrel Pauline Buck
1994 Chris van Damme Richard Hood Kenny Donnelly Kevin Hills 1994 Gina Wardle Judy Howlett Pauline Buck
1995 Mats Karlsson Paul Boyle Kenny Donnelly Lol Ellis 1995 Jody Ellis Susan Campbell Jan Steiner
1996 Goran Carlsson Ricky Froldi Paul Delany 1996 Susanne Olsson Ashley Craven Jan Hannan
1997 Thomas Leandersson Wayne Greenall Wayne Greenall 1997 Linda Norry Gemma Burden
1998 Mike Mullin Ron Oldfield 1998 Paulina Aalto Gemma Burden
1999 Wayne Greenall Richard Hood Wayne Greenall 1999 Kirsten Penny Mel Isaac
2000 Gery Verbruggen Wayne Greenall 2000 Kirsten Penny Kirsten Penny Kirsten Penny
2001 Phil Scammell Peter Lenders 2001 Gemma Burden
2002 Paul Moor Steve Thornton 2002 Gemma Burden
2003 Nick Froggatt Wayne Greenall Dave Parker 2003 Lotte Houbo Pedersen Lisa John Kirsten Penny
2004 Tim Mack Wayne Greenall Wayne Greenall 2004 Jo Harries Laura Rhoney Pauline Buck
2005 Graham Turner Stephen O’Conner Nick Froggatt 2005 Katie Jowsey Anita Watts Pauline Buck
2006 Paul Moor Wayne Greenall Paul Stott Paul Evans 2006 Katie Jowsey Laura Rhoney Vicki Burbridge
2007 Stu Williams Paul Stott Alan Gibbons Dom Barrett 2007 Alan Gibbons Katie Jowsey Kerena Dykes Fiona Banks
2008 Kirsten Penny Nick Froggatt Chris Oates 2008 Kirsten Penny Debbie Watson Jemma Smith
2009 Vikki Burbridge Paul Stott Paul Moor 2009 Vikki Burbridge Nicki Ainge Vicki Burbridge
2010 Jo Cundy Ricki Froldi Matt Chamberlain 2010 Jo Cundy Laura Rhoney Laura Rhoney
2011 Steve Thornton Wayne Greenall Matt Chamberlain 2011 Laura Rhoney Laura Rhoney
2012 Lisa John Wayne Greenall Paul Moor 2012 Lisa John Hayley White Hayley White
2013 John Wells Steven Gill Dom Barrett 2013 Danni Hopcroft* Hayley White Hayley White
2014 Paul Moor Curtis Hooper Steve Thornton 2014 Danni Hopcroft* Hayley Russell Hayley Rumkee
2015 Ray Teece Alan Keddie Darren Cundy 2015 Lisa John* Laura Murphy Lisa John
2016 Steve Thornton Kenny Jamieson Paul Moor 2016 Jo Allsebrook* Ashleigh Gill Danni Hopcroft
2017 Steve Thornton Steven Gill Mark Patrick 2017 Tania Yusaf Jo Allsebrook
2018 Adam Michaels Rob Thurlby Peter Stevenson 2018 Samantha Hannan*
2019 Paul Moor Steven Gill Billy Nimick Paul Moor 2019 Franchesca Plewis* Debbie Longstaff

*In events that male and female played together the highest placed male or female has been listed with the combined winner of that year.

Important dates – When and where can you enter?


Welsh Open – 7th-10th May 2020 @ Stroud Bowl

In association with the TBAW

Website here – Download entry form here


Northern Ireland Open – 16th-24th May 2020 @ Dundonald International Ice Bowl

Proudly sponsored by QubicaAMF and supported by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council

Website Here – Online entry Here


English Open25 to 27th September @ Stroud Bowl

Website Here – Entry form soon


Scottish Open – 9th-11th October 2020 @L.A Bowl, Ayr

In association with Scottish Tenpin Bowling

Website here – Entry Form Soon


About QubicaAMF Worldwide

QubicaAMF is the largest and most innovative bowling equipment provider in the world with 600 employees worldwide. We build and modernize more bowling entertainment centers than any other company in the industry and have an installed base of more than 13,000 centers in 90 countries. The company has a sales and distribution network with worldwide reach and maintains the largest R&D team for electro-mechanical products, software, electronics and entertainment systems in the industry.

QubicaAMF has over 100 years of experience and can provide the perfect combination of bowling equipment, products and services for new or existing bowling entertainment centers, FECs, Cinemas or any other facility in the hospitality, retail or restaurant industry.

Our ongoing mission is Making Bowling Amazing. We are convinced that bowling has so much more potential to attract and entertain even more people. With our products, we will help our customers fully unleash that potential.

The company has U.S. headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and European headquarters in Bologna, Italy. To learn move visit www.qubicaamf.com.